wild/nhl

Nice article Dean, that Yeo is full of surprises, boy I bet the players were sure surprised. Backstrom has had a hard time getting confidence on the Wild hockey team since Lemaire and DR left when we had a steady linear focus on the team. It has not worked well for Nicklas or I guess Harding either (nice game against Nashville). He just has not done good with all of the changes, you know, Nick Schultz get up the ice : ), now Nick Schultz who use to be a good D guy is a lousy d guy, heck even "Bam Bam" Zanon who use to block shots and was mister iron man is a lousy dguy, Zidicchky "Paul Coffey junior" what is he thinking : ) ..... You can start seeing Backstroms pain and how hard it is for him to get his confidence on this team...... Only if the Wild had more scoring like St Louis, then we would win

All it takes is 1 solid win, to get Wild fans back on the train of thought again, "Maybe the Wild will go on a run and make the playoffs finally this year". Unfortunately, that is not reality. Can we just stop talking about it?

Let's take a look at some positives for a moment. First of all, the Wild is still ahead of Dallas and Colorado in the standings, beat both of them before the break and looked good doing it, and despite the end of the game against the Preds, look to have some momentum on their side. Second, Nick Schultz increasingly looks like he is becoming a leader in the locker room, and is playing some decent defense. Third, Heatley is starting to play the kind of hockey we knew he was capable of. Not only can he shoot the puck, (loved that mid-air PP goal!), but he is also passing the puck and getting into position in front of the net. We all know the playoffs are going to be tough again this year, but we all know that trades are likely before the deadline that should help the team going forward for next year, at the least.

Nick Johnson has really thrown on the "Stud" label since getting here, and no I'm not saying he's dreamy. It reminds me of when Lats got here and just lit it up.

Still not sure why Stoner continually gets time while Scandella is in Houston. Stoner is a turnover king and is more of a liability out there than Scandella. Scandella moves the puck a lot better. He's not as physical as Stoner, but he protects the puck a heck of a lot better.

I agree that Johnson has really turned out to be a great find for Fletcher. The fact that Heatley says he feels comfortable playing with him and Brodziak is something that I hope Yeo will take into consideration when Koivu returns. If Heatley is performing better when playing without Koivu, (and his current point streak is another indication of that), then keep Heatley where he is. As for Stoner vs. Scandella, we're now in a situation where we don't have enough competent defensemen to fill all the slots available. Do we send Stoner back down to Houston, (and risk losing him on waivers), just to bring up Scandella who was also sent down because he needed to improve his game? I guess I wouldn't do anything one way or another until after the trade deadline, as it looks like the biggest shakeup will be on defense, with at least one, maybe two or more defensemen being traded off the Wild, hopefully for a top defenseman like Suter. If that's the case, that will open up a slot for Scandella. I don't see Stoner leaving the Wild this season, unless he is part of a trade. That means he either plays to get better on the Wild, or sits as a healthy scratch.

I really think that Heatley will/would end up as a beautiful second line 25-30 goal/year wing in the Wild's future.

Of course his price has to come down..

I would like to see Scandella back up as well. But, I thought I saw Russo say that he was injured. I think Mikko and Heatley had some decent chemistry going before MK's injury. But, I like the way Broz and Johnson play with DH. Remember, it was Brodziak that seemed to play better with Havlat and Lats. Maybe MK needs to play with Seto and CC? And that might leave Cullen out of the picture a bit, but I don't think he's been playing all that well. 3rd line him and let him play some PP. A win tonight will show if this team can move past the last meltdown.

I think someone should ask the question about why none of the numerous guys that have played with Koivu have really put a lot of pucks in the net? Is it because the Wild hasn't had enough of the right talent playing with him? I think next year will be a big test of that if he plays on the same line with Granlund.