If the NHL were a color wheel, the Minnesota Wild would be grey. They aren’t offensive or brash. They aren’t anything really. You just hardly notice that they are around. They are kind of like the Minnesota Timberwolves—it must be something in the water in Minneapolis.
The Wild went through a transition last year—or at least that was the original plan. After Jacques Lemaire had led the team throughout their history to play a system in which defense was all that mattered and offense was an afterthought, new Coach Todd Richards was supposed to turn the team into a far more effective offensive threat.
It didn’t really turn out that way. They dropped from No. 2 to No. 21 in the defensive rankings in the league, and yet had only the 22nd best offense. It’s no wonder that they weren’t very good. Needless to say, Richards has some work to do this year.
One interesting development with this team is their renewed focus on conditioning in the offseason. Lemaire is an old school guy, so he didn’t place a lot of importance on offseason workouts. When Richards tried to turn up the speed on offense last year, he ...
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Article written by Doc Moseman
2010-11 Minnesota Wild NHL Predictions and Odds
October 11th, 2010 by Doc Moseman Leave a reply »
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