There is an old adage is that when at a neighbor's house you avoid talking about two things, religion and politics which really is a recognition just how divisive and potentially heated those subjects can be even in a simple conversation.  Consider the major political event of this event of this evening, the President of the United States' annual State of the Union address.  Or as I like to metaphorically describe it, the parent-teacher conference for the nation where you get a basic understanding of where we are headed as a country.  Through all of the standing ovations, the occasional boo's, the cheers and quick shots of congressman shaking their head in disagreement or in applause but through it all; one thing is certain.  We all see, hear and most importantly interpret what the President (and it doesn't matter who it is) says in our own way.  We filter that message through our own set of values and we either like or dislike what is said.  At certain points, someone will likely feel uncomfortable, perhaps even outraged while another may feel gratified or even humbled by praise.  So do politics and hockey mix?  Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas certainly expressed himself politically by not going to the White House with his teammates as is tradition for championship teams.  Thomas was quoted by NHL.com in his official statement, "I believe the Federal government has grown out of control, threatening the Rights, Liberties, and Property of the People.  This is being done at the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial level. This is in direct opposition to the Constitution and the Founding Fathers vision for the Federal government.  Because I believe this, today I exercised my right as a Free Citizen, and did not visit the White House. This was not about politics or party, as in my opinion both parties are responsible for the situation we are in as a country. This was about a choice I had to make as an INDIVIDUAL."  Interesting statement and bold, but equally obvious it was one made of sincere conviction.  Yet to go back to the State of the Union, if I may as I bring it back to hockey.  What would Wild General Manager Chuck Fletcher say about the Wild's state of affairs as of right now, January 24th, 2012?       

  What would Chuck Fletcher's 'State of the Wild' address be?

Maybe it would go a little like this. 

"Good evening Wild fans, all across the State of Hockey and beyond.  We stand before you today as an organization which sat atop the NHL standings in early December now currently is in 9th place in the Western Conference, exactly 1 point behind tonight's opponent the Colorado Avalanche.  Is it where we want to be?  No.  Is it where we feel we deserve to be?  No.  Injuries have helped derail a promising start but we feel as though there is hope in a more favorable home-dominated schedule throughout the month of February.  The team is at least 2 weeks away from having its captain and top playmaker Mikko Koivu as he's out with a left shoulder injury (excuse me, I mean an upper body injury) and so the Wild will have to soldier on with the league's 2nd worst offense as well as the 24th best power play.  Our goal is still the playoffs, but we will not mortgage our future to get there.  We have been presented with many daunting challenges we're struggling with in the short-term, but the right path is to avoid the impulse of selling the future for immediate help.  We must be vigilant for good offers that may come our way, and we pledge to consider those offers but not at the cost of our promising stable of prospects.  With hard work from our players, coaches and scouting staff we believe we are on the right path to becoming a Stanley Cup contender.  We believe we can do this, and with your support we have no doubt we will be successful!" 

Just like the real State of the Union address I am sure a statement like this would earn mixed reviews and that's just fine.  After all, like politics almost everyone has their own unique perspective.  So will the Wild go into the All Star break with a winning feeling or will they stumble as they hope to just get out of the month of January with no further damage? 

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	Record	Pts	Div. Rank	G/G	GA/G	PP%	PK%
Minnesota Wild	(23-18-7)	53	3rd Northwest	2.23 (29)	2.48 (8)	14.4% (24)	82.7% (14)
Colorado Avalanche	(26-22-2)	54	2nd Northwest	2.44 (24)	2.82 (18)	19.4% (7)	81.7% (20)

 

Minnesota Wild
Top 5 Scorers:	G	A	Pts
1. #15 Dany Heatley	14	19	33
2. #9 Mikko Koivu	9	24	33
3. #7 Matt Cullen	11	15	26
4. #21 Kyle Brodziak	13	11	24
5. #96 Pierre-Marc Bouchard	9	13	22
Top 3 Penalty Minutes:	PIM
1. #16 Brad Staubitz	73
2. #22 Cal Clutterbuck	58
3. #21 Kyle Brodziak	43
Goaltenders:	GAA	SV%
1. #32 Niklas Backstrom (12-12-4)	2.45	.921
2. #37 Josh Harding (9-6-3)	2.42	.925
3. #31 Matt Hackett (2-0-0)	0.85	.977
Colorado Avalanche
Top 5 Scorers:	G	A	Pts
1. #37 Ryan O'Reilly	14	22	36
2. #26 Paul Stastny	13	17	30
3. #23 Milan Hejduk	12	16	28
4. #92 Gabriel Landeskog	10	15	25
5. #9 Matt Duchene	12	12	24
Top 3 Penalty Minutes:	PIM
1. #55 Cody McLeod	110
2. #5 Shane O'Brien	75
3. #27 Kyle Quincey	48
Goaltenders:	GAA	SV%
1. #1 Semyon Varlamov (14-15-1)	3.00	.899
2. #35 Jean-Sebastien Giguere  (12-7-1)	2.11	.922

  
Is it wrong of me to hope that Saturday night's healthy scratches will remain the same for tonight's game?

I was out of town this past weekend, and didn't have my laptop with me, so I was pleasantly surprised when watching the game in our hotel room when I realized that Marek Zidlicky was not playing.  It was a long time coming, but I have to wonder why it took the powers that be that long to realize that something needed to be done with him.  Just because he's making $4 million a season is not an automatic pass to be in the lineup.  One still needs to earn their spot.  We've always heard about his offensive abilities, but it's something we definitely have not seen this season.  I've said it several times this season, that as a defenseman, if you're not scoring goals, you have to bring a physical presence.  Needless to say, Zidlicky has done neither.  Reading Michael Russo's take on the Zidlicky scratch in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, I got a good chuckle.  He mentioned that it was a shock to Zidlicky's ego.  I have to wonder what he can even have an ego about, because he certainly hasn't done anything to justify an ego.

Clearly the one person on the team who should have an ego, but seems to be rather humble and taking things in stride is Wild rookie, Nick Johnson.  With the absence of Mikko Koivu in next weekend's All-Star Game due to a shoulder injury, the team and the league had to make a decision on Koivu's spot.  For the game itself, his spot will go to Edmonton's Jordan Eberle.  While Johnson won't be playing in the main event, he was chosen as a rookie to participate in the skills competition.  Considering how things have been going recently for Minnesota, there truly wasn't anyone on the team who deserved to take Koivu's spot in the All-Star Game.  Johnson though has been one of those players who seems to work hard just about every shift.  On night's when the big name players like Dany Heatley and Devin Setoguchi seem invisible, Johnson would have a hard-working presence.  When things are going poorly, sometimes it helps to have at least one player who plays like he cares.

I'll admit, I'm not overly optimistic for tonight's game.  Of course, I wasn't expecting a game like Saturday's either.  A four-goal period game is almost unheard of for Minnesota, let alone a four-goal period.  I must say it was a bit of a confidence-booster that call-up and Minnesota-native Chad Rau scored his first NHL goal, and the game-winner no less.  Now it is once again up to the Wild bench how they choose to play tonight.  It would be nice if they can pour on the offense like they did Saturday night.  I know I'd like to see a repeat performance, but I'm not holding my breath.

Hopefully tonight, is another night of addition by subtraction.  I won't be heartbroken if Zidlicky sits again.   


Injury Report:

Minnesota:     Jarod Palmer (concussion), Guillaume Latendresse (concussion), Pierre-Marc Bouchard (concussion, groin),  Mikko Koivu (left shoulder)    

Colorado:  Mark Olver (head), Matt Duchene (knee), Ryan Wilson (groin, questionable)

 

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Knowing I wasn't going to be able to sit down and watch it all did grind on my emotions a bit.  As a hockey fan who loves the game at all levels, it really doesn't get much better than Hockey Day in Minnesota which really celebrates the games from its grassroots to the pros.  So to miss this annual celebration that has quickly become a tradition really makes me feel as though I missed out.  I did get a few sneak peeks here and there; most notably having the chance to watch the first two periods of the Grand Rapids vs. White Bear Lake game which opened up the day's festivities as well as the entire Wild vs. Stars game that evening.  I of course missed out on the high school thriller between #1 Duluth East and event host #2 Minnetonka as well as the big WCHA clash between Minnesota and Colorado College.  After a fun filled day spent with my family (which is why I missed Hockey Day in Minnesota for the most part) I was too tired to stay up and watch the taped delay girls game of Minnetonka vs. Hopkins.  No excuses though.  I pride myself on providing coverage of all things Minnesota-hockey with an admitted focus on the Wild, but this is a day where I feel honor bound to at least share my thoughts on the hockey action I did witness plus provide a few thoughts on some of the games I didn't see.  Not as much to analyze those games as talk about the greater effects of those outcomes that may put those wins into perspective.  So without further adieu, let's begin. 

Grand Rapids 4, White Bear Lake 3

I saw 2/3rds of this game, and I must admit this was the first Minnesota High School game I had seen with the new rules regarding hits from behind as well as boarding.  The new rules came into play right away as both clubs were tagged with 5-minute major plus 10-minute game misconducts for hits from behind.  The hits were not overly nasty, but the officials did not hesitate to saddle both clubs with some early major penalties; including two majors for kneeing on White Bear Lake.  The long power plays certainly opened up the game, but I didn't feel they detracted from the contest.  In my opinion, from a depth and skill perspective, Grand Rapids clearly was the superior team.  They had more team speed, better size as well as more skill and I would've been shocked if White Bear Lake had managed to win this game.  As it was, I thought it was interesting that White Bear Lake bench boss Tim Sager chose to split time between his two goaltenders Anthony Zappa and Jared Schletty.  Zappa was playing just fine in my opinion, and while I understand you want to give all of your players that Hockey Day in Minnesota experience, I probably would've waited a bit longer before making the switch.  Yet more power to him as Schletty and the Bears nearly came back for an upset victory.  Junior Thunderhawks defenseman Jake Bischoff was clearly one of the best blueliners in the state combining great skating, good on-ice awareness that really stood out amongst his peers.  His speed, and ability to move the puck quickly up the ice made me wonder if he was getting some time at forward but he's such a great skater he seemed to be everywhere at once.  Having the game in-doors and with somewhat spotty crowd did sort of ruin some of the ambiance that one comes to expect from Hockey Day in Minnesota, but is still was an exciting game where I think the Thunderhawks likely felt it got a little too close for comfort.  Thunderhawks' junior forward Cody Mann was very dangerous in just about every shift.  His explosive speed put White Bear Lake on their heels on more than a few occasions and his two goals carried Grand Rapids to a victory.  While I am sure junior league teams will press hard to convince Mann and Bischoff (who has already committed to play for the Gophers) to make the jump, if Grand Rapids head coach Bruce LaRoque can keep them in the orange and black next year he should have a very dangerous team on his hands. 

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I have looked forward to it, every year since 2007 when the first Hockey Day in Minnesota debuted in the bitterly cold winter setting of Baudette, Minnesota right along the U.S. / Canadian border.  It was fitting the first one was so close to Canada, where the day got its inspiration from Hockey Day in Canada which has also become an 20+ hour marathon of hockey coverage on CBC, the same group that brings you Hockey Night in Canada.  I can still remember watching Lake of the Woods play St. Paul Johnson on frozen Baudette Bay.  The hometown Lakers prevailed 5-3 over the city boys from St. Paul but it was a memory I'm sure anyone who was apart of it will never forget.  The NHL has embraced the novelty and marketing possibilities of an annual outdoor game with its Winter Classic, but in my opinion, Minnesota doesn't need it.  We know we appreciate the game, and we know that many of us started playing on outdoor rinks or frozen ponds / lakes before you hit the indoor ice.  You learned how to skate, which was a slow practice in trial and error with awkward strides as well quite few tumbles to the ice too.  Pretty soon you were skating and carrying a hockey stick and while the puck doesn't move quite the same on the uneven ice you find on most outdoor communities sheets, you also honed your game and became a better skater in the process.  So it would only be fitting to keep celebrating this tradition of outdoor hockey; unfortunately the weather conspired to alter this year's celebration.  The incredibly mild 1st half of winter, where temperatures were in the low to mid 50's made solid ice covering local ponds and lakes a rare find.  Thus, despite the recent arctic cold spell, 2012's Wells Fargo Hockey Day in Minnesota was forced to come indoors at the Pagel Ice Center instead of being played on Lake Minnetonka as originally planned.  Unfortunately for myself, personal schedules had already decided to alter my yearly routine.  A family function will prevent me from covering Hockey Day in Minnesota as I have done since 2007.  I always made a conscious effort to cover the entire day from start to finish; no matter how tired I was.  I hope you accept the most sincere apologies from the State of Hockey News, as I said before I look forward to this as much anyone. 

Will Hockey Day in Minnesota be as good with all of the games played indoors?

Time will tell whether the game brings out as many viewers with games played indoors versus its normal backdrop of outdoor hockey but I'm sure there will still be lots of great hockey to watch.  Afterall the boys games promises to have perhaps the best high school match up in Hockey Day in Minnesota-history as #1 Duluth East faces #2 Minnetonka for the 2nd time this season.  The Greyhounds dominated Minnetonka in their first game, 6-2.  Will the Skippers take round two or will Duluth East further solidify its #1 spot?  The Wild are hoping for something very different.  The Wild are hoping for something they haven't done in 10 road games; to win as they've been 0-8-2 over that stretch.  Minnesota General Manager Chuck Fletcher tried to explain it to the NHL's Adam Kimmelman yesterday right here.  What do you think?  Do you buy it or is he just trying to blow sunshine up our keisters?  He makes several valid points but I think the fans are tired of the excuses.  The team won a lot of games being without key forwards and defenseman.  Some of these guys have returned and done little at all and it could even be argued the team has played worse upon their return.  So will the Wild find a way to win in Toronto or will the Leafs keep the State of Hockey winless going into Hockey Day in Minnesota? 

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	Record	Pts	Div. Rank	G/G	GA/G	PP%	PK%
Minnesota Wild	(22-17-7)	51	3rd Northwest	2.20 (29)	2.46 (8)	14.1% (25)	82.5% (15)
Toronto Maple Leafs	(22-18-5)	49	3rd Northeast	3.02 (6)	3.07 (26)	20.6% (4)	74.4% (30)

 

Minnesota Wild
Top 5 Scorers:	G	A	Pts
1. #9 Mikko Koivu	9	24	33
2. #15 Dany Heatley	13	17	30
3. #7 Matt Cullen	11	14	25
4. #21 Kyle Brodziak	12	10	22
5. #96 Pierre-Marc Bouchard	9	13	22
Top 3 Penalty Minutes:	PIM
1. #16 Brad Staubitz	73
2. #22 Cal Clutterbuck	56
3. #4 Clayton Stoner	40
Goaltenders:	GAA	SV%
1. #32 Niklas Backstrom (12-11-4)	2.39	.923
2. #37 Josh Harding (8-6-3)	2.44	.925
3. #31 Matt Hackett (2-0-0)	0.85	.977
Toronto Maple Leafs
Top 5 Scorers:	G	A	Pts
1. #81 Phil Kessel	24	25	49
2. #19 Joffrey Lupul	20	28	48
3. #3 Dion Phaneuf	7	21	28
4. #84 Mikhail Grabovski	14	12	26
5. #42 Tyler Bozak	7	18	25
Top 3 Penalty Minutes:	PIM
1. #3 Dion Phaneuf	54
2. #19 Joffrey Lupul	40
3. #18 Mike Brown	38
Goaltenders:	GAA	SV%
1. #50 Jonas Gustavsson (13-9-0)	2.92	.906
2. #34 James Reimer  (7-5-4)	3.01	.899
3. #30 Ben Scrivens (2-4-1)	2.96	.904

  
We've all had them.  Those moments where things are so bad that there really isn't anything to say.  Well, I'm essentially at that point.  I thought last season was frustrating, but this recent downward spiral is even more frustrating.  Unfortunately for all involved, there are several elements that are causing the frustration.  But what is even worse, is that I'm starting to care less and less.  For a team like Minnesota that truly needed a good season and a playoff appearance, what is happening now isn't going to attract the fans.  When I was getting ready this morning, the classic Vietnam War protest song by Country Joe and the Fish came to mind:

And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam;
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why,
Whoopee! we're all gonna die. 

As a fan, I  am starting to wonder why I should even care about this team.  The looks on the faces on the players' faces on the bench during the third period of the Philadelphia game said to a degree that they didn't care.  If they don't care and figure out a way to score some goals, why should I care?  What are the Wild playing for these days?  Just to collect a paycheck?  If you're simply playing for a paycheck, you deserve a good kick in the pants.

While the lack of anything resembling offense from the likes of Dany Heatley and Devin Setoguchi is beyond annoying, my extreme displeasure is aimed at Minnesota's horrible blueline.  The sad part is that much of the experience of our blueline is contained in the pairing of Nick Schultz and Marek Zidlicky.  For whatever reason, they are probably the worst pair we have.  When Zidlicky was injured, our blueline actually looked okay and it worked well together.  He comes back from injury and we play him.  I know it's wrong to pin all problems on one player, but he's easily become the fans' scapegoat.  However, he earned a horrible +/- of -3 on Tuesday night.  While Marco Scandella was sent back to Houston for his questionable play, it would definitely be addition by subtraction to recall Scandella and I don't care do what with Zidlicky.  Heck, I'd risk putting him on waivers simply to get rid of him.  I cannot stand to watch him standing around watching the puck.  Seriously, if a defensemen isn't physical or can't score goals, what purpose do they serve.  And just because we gave him a ridiculous contract, we shouldn't be obligated to play him.  The obligation of the team should be to win, not to justify contracts and salaries.

Well with how things have been lately, I feel that the Wild's season can pretty much be summed up by the last line of County Joe's refrain:

Whoopee! we're all gonna die.


Injury Report:

Minnesota:     Jarod Palmer (concussion), Guillaume Latendresse (concussion), Pierre-Marc Bouchard (concussion, groin),  Mikko Koivu (left shoulder)    

Toronto:  Colby Armstrong (concussion), John-Michael Liles (concussion)

 

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I was watching the NFC Semifinal game between the Green Bay Packers and the New York Giants, and I had my Twitter feed up and as the game went on I saw a lot of fans maligning the NFL's replay system.  This was especially true after the NFL officials upheld what was clearly a Green Bay fumble even after they took the time to watch it again via replay.  The obvious question being, how can they still miss the call when they view it again with the benefit of slow motion, multiple angles etc.  It got me thinking about the NHL's current use of instant replay which unlike NFL only occurs on scoring plays.  In all honesty, that is just fine with me the way it is.  However, we still see calls that are made with the benefit of replay that boggle the mind and no matter how 'conclusive' they sometimes say a play it is amazing the referee can give that explanation with a straight face.  Perhaps the most simplest and arguably most important replay involves whether or not a puck completely crossed the goal line.  Unlike football where the nose of the football only has to 'break the plane' a puck has to completely cross the goal line to count.  Even with cameras in the goal, its sometimes almost impossible to determine (especially if the puck is obscured) if that took place.  Why not fix this situation with a little paint.  Last summer, the league experimented with a verification line that sat behind the goal line.  If a puck touches any part of the verification line then its completely across the goal line and thus a goal. 

  Should the NHL implement the verification line ASAP?

So why wouldn't the NHL immediately implement such a simple change?  It wouldn't require the NHL to do anything other than put a small line at either end of the ice.  It isn't changing any current NHL rules, simply giving replay officials another tool to make the right call.  The Wild had a hard-fought game Saturday against the St. Louis Blues and now they're facing another gritty team in the Philadelphia Flyers.  The Wild will have to dig deep if they expect to get a win over one of the East's best teams.  So will the Wild step up their game or will they wither faster than the Packers' Super Bowl hopes? 

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	Record	Pts	Div. Rank	G/G	GA/G	PP%	PK%
Minnesota Wild	(22-16-7)	51	2nd Northwest	2.22 (29)	2.40 (7)	14.2% (24)	83.1% (12)
Philadelphia Flyers	(26-13-4)	56	2nd Central	3.35 (2)	2.93 (22)	19.0% (8)	82.3% (17)

 

Minnesota Wild
Top 5 Scorers:	G	A	Pts
1. #9 Mikko Koivu	9	24	33
2. #15 Dany Heatley	13	17	30
3. #7 Matt Cullen	11	14	25
4. #96 Pierre-Marc Bouchard	9	13	22
5. #21 Kyle Brodziak	12	9	21
Top 3 Penalty Minutes:	PIM
1. #16 Brad Staubitz	73
2. #22 Cal Clutterbuck	48
3. #4 Clayton Stoner	40
Goaltenders:	GAA	SV%
1. #32 Niklas Backstrom (12-11-4)	2.39	.923
2. #37 Josh Harding (8-5-3)	2.29	.929
3. #31 Matt Hackett (2-0-0)	0.85	.977
Philadelphia Flyers
Top 5 Scorers:	G	A	Pts
1. #28 Claude Girioux	18	31	49
2. #19 Scott Hartnell	19	19	38
3. #68 Jaomir Jagr	12	20	32
4. #48 Daniel Briere	13	16	29
5. #24 Matt Read	13	14	27
Top 3 Penalty Minutes:	PIM
1. #36 Zac Rinaldo	122
2. #19 Scott Hartnell	65
3. #17 Wayne Simmonds	53
Goaltenders:	GAA	SV%
1. #30 Ilya Bryzgalov (16-10-3)	3.07	.891
2. #35 Sergei Bobrovsky  (10-3-1)	2.42	.921

  
A feature we added to the State of Hockey News this year to our game preview posts was a listing of injuries and as I was typing this one up it sort of made me wonder just how prevalent concussions are in the National Hockey League's injury blotter.  Using TSN's NHL Injury tracker, out of the 122 players listed to have injuries, 26 (21.3%) are out with concussion or concussion-related issues.  Mind you, these were just the ones that stated it was a concussion.  I did not include the more inocuous and vague "head" injury or the even less descriptive "upper body injury" which may also mean they are suffering concussions.  If you toss those numbers (another 15 players in these sub-cateogories) into this equation then potentially you have 33.6% of the league's injured players with some concussion related issue, for those of you who love fractions that's basically 1/3rd.  Yet its tough to tell the precise figure with vague injury terminology being bantered about by many clubs (including the Wild) but suffice it to say its a significant number.  Players themselves are hesitant to be tagged with the 'concussion' label as we saw with the Toronto Maple Leafs forward Colby Armstrong who waited a few days before finally revealing he was suffering from concussion symptoms.  Or how about the angry reaction of former Wild defenseman Brent Burns had after he sat out the latter half of the 2008-09 season with a head injury (that was almost universally reported as a concussion) but upon his return he insisted that was not true and even though he was wearing a new helmet; the Mark Messier designed M-11 with the concussion issue in mind he minimized its effectiveness by saying it doesn't really matter since the change of direction does all of the damage regardless what sort of helmet you have on anyways.  The sensitivity to concussions were raised when the NHL's poster boy Sidney Crosby suffered a concussion during the Winter Classic that has kept him out of the Penguins lineup for about a full season to this point.  While most players agree that there is no way to fully eliminate concussions from the game, especially in a contact sport the new emphasis has been on eliminating the pointless hits to the head much in the same way the NFL has done. 

Just to put the injury situation into perspective, the Minnesota Wild disproportionately speaking, have suffered more than most teams as 3/5ths of its current list injured players are out with concussions, most notably Pierre-Marc Bouchard who missed over a full-season's worth of games battling post-concussion syndrome.  Concussions have been even worse for the tonight's opponent, the Philadelphia Flyers where 3 out of its 4 injured players are out with concussion problems; most notably Ian Laperriere who has been out for nearly 2 seasons already.  The head injuries and the push to eliminate dangerous hits now hits even closer to home as the Minnesota State High School League has implemented new, stricter rules for boarding in boys and girls hockey.  You can read all about the new rules in an article from the Minneapolis Star Tribune here.  These new rules are a reaction to the recent tragic injuries sustained by Benilde-St. Margaret's Jack Jablonski and St. Croix Lutheran's Jenna Privette on hits from behind. One does not have to look far to see how hot a topic this is at Minnesota rinks; just two weekends ago I was at my cousin's Pee Wee game and the entire Sartell team had Jack Jablonski 'In our Hearts' stickers on the back of their helmets.  Even though the MSHSL has drawn outrage from the parents from Privette saying she simply fell rather than was the victim of a check from behind which you can read here.  Regardless of the controversy about whether she fell or not, the severity of Jablonski's and Privette's injuries have brought the issue of hitting from behind to the forefront of Minnesota's hockey family, there are mixed feelings about MSHSL's rule changes.  At of the time of the writing this article, a recent poll at the Minneapolis Star Tribune revealed that while a majority of the respondents (49%) said that that these rules were long overdue, 22% said that the rule changes were an overreaction.  The NHL has attempted to address these hits with its Safety Department headed by former NHL star Brendan Shanahan but the suspensions have drawn a lot of criticism for their inconsistency and with at least 21% out with concussions you could say there is a lot of room for improvement.  When you consider a few weeks before Bouchard was finally felled with another concussion, he was driven into the boards head first by Zach Bogosian who did not recieve any supplemental discipline from the league it makes you wonder if the league is playing a dangerous game of chicken with serious injuries like the ones that Jablonski and Privette sustained.  Every year, you hear about a player who sustained a serious injury that caused them to be either paraplegic or quadraplegic yet the NHL has avoided it for the most part.  Is it time for the NHL to be even more stringent with these dangerous hits? 

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"I would walk two miles on my, hands and knees, ain't no doubt about it, baby, it's you I aim to please
I'd wrestle with a lion and a, grizzly bear, it's my life baby but, I don't care, Ain't that tuff enough?" are the lyrics to the Classic rock tune Tuff Enough by the Fabulous Thunderbirds.  They used to play this song on occasion after a member of the Wild dropped the gloves; most often it was the team's original heavyweight enforcer Matt Johnson.  Most people that fought "Moose" were not nearly tough enough to defeat him and he was one of the top enforcers in the league during his time with the Wild.  However, there are some that believe the Wild have gone soft.  Even though Minnesota has one of the top hitters in the game in Cal Clutterbuck, the team has not been one that has dished out a lot in the way of physical punishment to opponents.  Earlier in the season, the Wild were paying the physical price to score goals and block shots but as the team has relaxed a bit in that manner the losses have piled up and the wins have become increasingly rare.  When I saw this DirectTV commercial I immediately thought of the current situation the Wild finds itself in. 



So hopefully the Wild don't wake up in a roadside ditch after tonight's game against the St. Louis Blues.  The Blues play with an edge and we'll find out if Minnesota is indeed tough enough to battle one of the better teams in the Western Conference.  I have little doubt, that the Blues are going to challenge the Wild physically and test their endurance.  If the Wild are unwilling to pay the price in the tough areas of the ice they will find themselves in a roadside ditch tomorrow morning.  Will Minnesota show they're tough enough tonight?

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	Record	Pts	Div. Rank	G/G	GA/G	PP%	PK%
Minnesota Wild	(22-14-6)	50	2nd Northwest	2.23 (29)	2.41 (8)	14.1% (26)	83.1% (11)
St. Louis Blues	(25-12-6)	56	2nd Central	2.60 (17)	2.02 (2)	14.0% (27)	82.2% (17)

 

Minnesota Wild
Top 5 Scorers:	G	A	Pts
1. #9 Mikko Koivu	9	24	33
2. #15 Dany Heatley	13	17	30
3. #7 Matt Cullen	11	13	24
4. #96 Pierre-Marc Bouchard	9	13	22
5. #21 Kyle Brodziak	12	9	21
Top 3 Penalty Minutes:	PIM
1. #16 Brad Staubitz	66
2. #22 Cal Clutterbuck	48
3. #21 Kyle Brodziak	39
Goaltenders:	GAA	SV%
1. #32 Niklas Backstrom (12-11-4)	2.39	.923
2. #37 Josh Harding (8-5-2)	2.32	.926
3. #31 Matt Hackett (2-0-0)	0.85	.977
St. Louis Blues
Top 5 Scorers:	G	A	Pts
1. #42 David Backes	14	17	31
2. #74 T.J. Oshie	13	15	28
3. #20 Alex Steen	13	11	24
4. #44 Jason Arnott	12	12	24
5. #22 Kevin Shattenkirk	6	16	22
Top 3 Penalty Minutes:	PIM
1. #25 Chris Stewart	52
2. #75 Ryan Reaves	50
3. #46 Roman Polak	47
Goaltenders:	GAA	SV%
1. #41 Jaroslav Halak (10-7-5)	2.19	.914
2. #1 Brian Elliott (15-5-1)	1.68	.937

  
"You've got to know when to hold 'em, Know when to fold 'em, Know when to walk away, Know when to run, You never count your money, When you're sittin' at the table, There'll be time enough for countin', When the dealin's done," are the lyrics to the classic Kenny Rogers' country music song (one of the few country songs I like) the Gambler.  The song of course is a ballad about a poker player from the wild west days, but the song itself is more or less a general summary of gambling.  In many ways, NHL General Managers do the same thing as the lyrics imply.  They know what assets to hold onto, what assets to give up, and what deals to simply walk away from.  This was the song that popped into my head when I had heard that Wild GM Chuck Fletcher placed former 1st round pick (16th Overall, 2007) Colton Gillies on waivers.  Fletcher was gambling that no other team would take the 4th line winger via waivers.  To use another gambling phrase, "you win some and you lose some."  In this case it meant the Wild lost Colton Gillies as he was claimed by the Columbus Blue Jackets earlier on Saturday.  So what does the loss of Gillies' mean to the Wild? 

  Was it addition by subtraction to lose Colton Gillies via waivers?

Another 1st round bust for the regime of the Doug Risebrough and Tommy Thompson to go along with the club's first one in A.J. Thelen only to be trailed by James Sheppard (who is still on the shelf with injuries) and perhaps Benoit Pouliot.  However, maybe the question should be asked is, who won on this gamble?  An outsider might think the Wild lost; since its former 1st round selection was picked up off waivers but what did the Wild gain by having another team claim him?  One thing the Wild did gain was roster flexibility in their lineup.  Colton Gillies was awarded for his hard work with the Houston Aeros by being tendered a one-way contract.  The one-way contract meant that the Wild shuffled their lineup around Gillies because they did not want to send an expensive (for an AHL'er) contract to the Aeros.  The team instead swapped out players with two-way contracts instead even though Gillies' play often made him the most deserving candidate to be sent down.  The truth is, the Wild traded a 2nd round pick to move UP in the draft to get this guy.  Wild fans who may be angry at waiving Gillies need to get their head out of the clouds that he was going to be the budding power forward the organization hyped him to be when they drafted him.  Minnesota's draft guru back then, Tommy Thompson gushed about Gillies' tremendous skating ability and athleticism and hinted that he was on the verge of blooming into a power forward.  It never happened, and his numbers both in major junior and with the Aeros would confirm him that he'd be pretty lucky to be able to be a serviceable 3rd / 4th line player.  While Gillies was lauded for his sense of humor and team-focused personality, his hockey skills left a lot to be desired.  He didn't hit often enough to be a great forechecker, and he lacked the hands to be an effective offensive player.  The Wild gave Gillies a chance to make it happen, but the same issue that dogged him in his junior days in Saskatoon, consistency came back to haunt him in his 2nd major NHL stint.  Now he will likely have another chance to prove himself in Columbus, a team desperate for help of any kind.  Perhaps new Columbus' bench boss Todd Richards put in a good word for him?  With just 2 assists in 37 games its hard for me to say that the Wild really lost out by having someone claim Gillies.  The Wild now have one less one-way contract to deal with and thus can be free to make more moves with its minor league squad. 

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"The ancient Romans had a tradition: whenever one of their engineers constructed an arch, as the capstone was hoisted into place, the engineer assumed accountability for his work in the most profound way possible: he stood under the arch" was a quote by Michael Armstrong.  I think Minnesota forward Devin Setoguchi found that out Tuesday night when he found himself benched for missing a team meeting.  The Wild were in the midst (and still are) of a 3 game losing streak; having won just once in their last 12 games going into their game against San Jose Tuesday night.  Injuries had helped turn the Wild's fortunes after a torrid start to where Minnesota sat in 8th place in the Western Conference.  The injury woes appeared to continue when it was announced that Pierre-Marc Bouchard was out indefinitely with concussion symptoms; the same condition that kept Bouchard out of the Wild's lineup for nearly a season and half.  So with all of those outside factors in place, the Wild still chose to hold Setoguchi accountable and make him a healthy scratch.  Some would say that was bold and risky.  However, it seems to fit with the strong character of the Wild's coach, Mike Yeo who ultimately made the decision.  Setoguchi was apologetic; going as far as apologizing to the team, coaching staff and management telling Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, "I talked with Mike (Yeo) and Chuck (Fletcher) about what happened, but there's no excuse for that, I have one job and that's to show up to the rink."  So in Armstrong's quote, Setoguchi would've stood under that arch as it fell right on top of him but it was good to hear him own up to it. 


    Can Setoguchi restore Mike Yeo's trust?

After Minnesota's thrilling 5-4 shootout win over San Jose, Mike Yeo insisted that Setoguchi would have a clean slate after having sat out and so far he seems to be living up to his word as he will be returning to play on the team's top line with Mikko Koivu and Dany Heatley.  Ultimately it will be up to Setoguchi as to what he does with this 'clean slate' but to use a classic Yeo-ism we'll see how he responds.  Minnesota travels to Chicago to play a very tough, high scoring Blackhawks squad so any extra offensive boost he can provide would help make the Wild's margin for error a bit more favorable.  So will Setoguchi respond with a strong game tonight or will he play humble and sheepish? 

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