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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	Record	Pts	Div. Rank	G/G	GA/G	PP%	PK%
Minnesota Wild	(22-14-6)	50	2nd Northwest	2.23 (29)	2.35 (5)	14.2% (24)	84.1% (8)
Chicago Blackhawks	(25-13-5)	55	2nd Central	3.14 (6)	2.84 (16)	17.5% (17)	78.8% (26)

 

Minnesota Wild
Top 5 Scorers:	G	A	Pts
1. #9 Mikko Koivu	9	24	33
2. #15 Dany Heatley	13	16	29
3. #7 Matt Cullen	11	13	24
4. #96 Pierre-Marc Bouchard	9	13	22
5. #21 Kyle Brodziak	11	9	20
Top 3 Penalty Minutes:	PIM
1. #16 Brad Staubitz	66
2. #22 Cal Clutterbuck	46
3. #21 Kyle Brodziak	39
Goaltenders:	GAA	SV%
1. #32 Niklas Backstrom (12-11-4)	2.39	.923
2. #37 Josh Harding (8-4-2)	2.15	.932
3. #31 Matt Hackett (2-0-0)	1.01	.974
Chicago Blackhawks
Top 5 Scorers:	G	A	Pts
1. #81 Marian Hossa	17	28	45
2. #19 Jonathan Toews	22	20	42
3. #10 Patrick Sharp	20	20	40
4. #88 Patrick Kane	10	28	38
5. #25 Viktor Stalberg	12	13	25
Top 3 Penalty Minutes:	PIM
1. #13 Daniel Carcillo	82
2. #22 Jamal Mayers	58
3. #5 Steve Montador	36
Goaltenders:	GAA	SV%
1. #31 Corey Crawford (16-10-3)	2.83	.903
2. #1 Ray Emery (9-3-2)	2.72	.906

Due to a last minute change in my work schedule, this is possibly going to be all you're going to get.  I may be able to update it more later today. My apologies.

Injury Report:

Minnesota:     Jarod Palmer (concussion), Guillaume Latendresse (concussion), Pierre-Marc Bouchard (lower body), Colton Gillies (lower body, questionable), and Josh Harding (ill, questionable)

Chicago:  Patrick Sharp (wrist), Daniel Carcillo (suspended), Marcus Kruger (concussion)

Copyright © 2012 www.StateofHockeyNews.com - All Rights Reserved - Trademarks used herein are property of their respective owners. no comments

"But the cat came back, the very next day the old cat came back, thought he was a goner, but the cat came back, 'cause he wouldn't stay away" are the lyrics to the classic children's song The Cat Came Back by Fiddlin' John Carson was going through my head as I heard news that former Wild bench boss Todd Richards was now the interim Head Coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets.  I was kind of surprised that Richards was able to get another job when he was appointed to be an assistant coach with Columbus, but now that Blue Jackets General Manager Scott Howson decided to do what I suggested over two months ago and drop the axe on Scott Arniel, Richards gets a rare opportunity to redeem himself.  For Richards, Howson certainly let Arniel and the Blue Jackets dig a helluva hole for him to try to fill as Columbus sits at the bottom of the league standings with 27 points.  Yet Richards was there on the Columbus bench wasn't he?  Forgive me for not being too hopeful he can turn it around for the Blue Jackets.  Howson obviously believed he needed to shake things up for his club; but for some reason I think he pulled the trigger to make such a move when the coaching pool was plentiful with prime candidates to make a bold, permanent change.  In my opinion, Howson's job is about to feel the axe fall next. 

  Did Scott Howson wait too long to axe Arniel?

The Wild made a bold move of its own on Monday, when it sent promising young defenseman Marco Scandella down to Houston.  Scandella really was the heir apparent to Brent Burns in the role of the dynamic offensive defensemen, but after a not bad start to the season his game has regressed and he's been suspect at both ends of the ice.  Short of making a major trade, this is about as much of shake up as the Wild have attempted this season.  So will it actually make a difference and bring this team out of its current rut? 

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	Record	Pts	Div. Rank	G/G	GA/G	PP%	PK%
Minnesota Wild	(21-14-6)	48	2nd Northwest	2.19 (29)	2.31 (6)	14.5% (24)	84.5% (8)
San Jose Sharks	(23-11-4)	50	1st Pacific	2.82 (11)	2.32 (7)	17.6% (16)	75.9% (28)

 

Minnesota Wild
Top 5 Scorers:	G	A	Pts
1. #9 Mikko Koivu	9	24	33
2. #15 Dany Heatley	13	15	28
3. #7 Matt Cullen	10	13	23
4. #96 Pierre-Marc Bouchard	9	13	22
5. #21 Kyle Brodziak	11	9	20
Top 3 Penalty Minutes:	PIM
1. #16 Brad Staubitz	66
2. #22 Cal Clutterbuck	44
3. #21 Kyle Brodziak	37
Goaltenders:	GAA	SV%
1. #32 Niklas Backstrom (12-11-4)	2.39	.923
2. #37 Josh Harding (7-4-2)	2.03	.935
3. #31 Matt Hackett (2-0-0)	1.01	.974
San Jose Sharks
Top 5 Scorers:	G	A	Pts
1. #12 Patrick Marleau	15	18	33
2. #19 Joe Thornton	8	25	33
3. #39 Logan Couture	16	13	29
4. #8 Joe Pavelski	16	13	29
5. #29 Ryane Clowe	8	17	25
Top 3 Penalty Minutes:	PIM
1. #29 Ryane Clowe	54
2. #10 Brad Winchester	47
3. #22 Dan Boyle	38
Goaltenders:	GAA	SV%
1. #31 Antti Niemi (18-7-4)	2.28	.919
2. #1 Thomas Greiss (5-4-0)	2.21	.922

I'll admit, commercials aren't always a good thing.  I know I am eagerly waiting for the federal law to go into effect that would prevent commercials from playing louder than the program they're interrupting.  However, on occasion, the commercial provides a good chuckle.  As a hockey fan, I still love pulling up the old Bud Light "Hockey Falls" commercials.  Lately, I've been enjoying the "Unprepared Man's Guide to ..." ones put out by Gander Mountain.  My favorite of the Gander Mountain ones is where the office hack colors himself with a yellow highlighter in an attempt to get himself rescued. 

On occasion though, a commercial comes out that in a bizarre way can describe the life of a professional sports team, even though it wasn't meant to.  Case in point, the newest by DirectTV:



With the fantastic play of the Minnesota Wild during the first half of the season, we became the man in the commercial.  The team didn't start off so well, but thankfully not as poorly as last season.  However, they seemed to get mad.  That anger turned into the amazing record that put the lowly Wild atop not only the Northwest Division, but atop both the Western Conference and the entire league for that matter.  We became the team with an eye patch.  We became the team with a target on them.  Opponents wanted to see just what we were made of, the team that continued to win even though we had dressed the most players of any team in the league.  Teams without a steady core of players on a nightly basis rarely see the success that the Wild had found.  Our record pretty much said to the rest of the league, "we can dress an AHL roster in NHL sweaters and stand a good chance on winning."  It was like poking a hibernating bear with a stick.

Unfortunately, our recent record has made us the man at the end of the commercial.  Our record egged on the opponents so they simply worked harder to take us down.  Right now I know I feel like the team is waking up in the roadside ditch like in the commercial.  No matter what they do, the team just can't seem to get out of that ditch.  They started out so well in Calgary, but just couldn't climb out enough.  It's time for some new anger and initiative by the team.  Sometimes a team needs a shakeup, and they possibly got that with the reassignment of Marco Scandella to the Houston Aeros.  No one believes this is a long-term assignment for the young defenseman, but perhaps a week or so after being sent down will bring him back to what we know he can be.  I can only hope that his demotion will inspire his teammates, especially fellow defenseman Marek Zidlicky, to get their game back.
 
So yes, it is time to get out of the roadside ditch.  This needs to happen now as opposed to waiting a few weeks.  I don't care to be the team that the "experts" point to as a flash in the pan after the season is over.  I don't want to hear them gloating about how they "knew" we weren't for real.  And I don't want them to be put back on the back burner so that they can continue to gush over the same teams over and over again or spend all their time worrying about a certain injured Pittsburgh Penguin.  It's time to get the Wild back in the spotlight again, and as we all know, they only way to do that is to win.  Tonight is as good of night as any other to start the winning ways again.

Injury Report:

Minnesota:     Jarod Palmer (upper body), Guillaume Latendresse (concussion), and Pierre-Marc Bouchard (lower body)

San Jose:  Alex Stalock (knee), Jim Vandermeer (upper body), Martin Havlat (left hamstring injury), and Colin White (lower body injury). 

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