In years past, it was customary to see the Minnesota Wild with hot starts.
In the last few years of the Doug Risebrough/Jacques Lemaire/Marian Gaborik regime, the team would often start out at 6-0-1 or 7-0-1 clips, only to choke as the season went along.
To no one's surprise, last season's trading deadline ended with the Wild doing their typical passive nothing, only to see divisional rivals like the Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames add much needed firepower and depth for a legitimate playoff run.
The end result was the latter two teams missing the playoffs and the Wild missing out by a convenient three points.
Making matters worse, Calgary succeeded in acquiring one of the players the Wild had supposedly coveted but for whom they did not want to sacrifice their "prize" prospect, James Sheppard.
Minnesota was reluctant to swap Sheppard for Olli Jokinen, who went on to fill Calgary's top line perfectly when Wild fans knew they needed both a center and a playmaker—preferably someone who could win face-offs.
Jokinen does all that.
Disgusted with his team's lack of activity at the deadline, ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Joe Mikolai
Impatience Paying Off for Minnesota Wild and Their Fans
December 6th, 2009 by Joe Mikolai Leave a reply »
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