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Chuck Fletcher is going to need to add scoring

Wild Richards Hockey

Minnesota Wild general manager Chuck Fletcher, left, talks to reporters about the release of Wild head coach Todd Richards at Xcel Center in St. Paul, Minn., Monday April 11, 2011. (AP Photo/The Star Tribune, Jerry Holt) ** ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS OUT. SOFT OUT MINNEAPOLIS-AREA TV NOT TV, MAGS OUT. **

AP

Fixing a team is a hard job, especially when there’s an obvious need. Wild GM Chuck Fletcher is in that unenviable position with Guillaume Latendresse out with a concussion and Pierre-Marc Bouchard out indefinitely with the same thing.

Fletcher tells Michael Russo of The Star Tribune that with great uncertainty on when or if he’ll get Latendresse or Bouchard back, it’s time to dip into the trading pool head first to find guys that can put the puck in the net.

“It’s hard. Most teams that have goal scorers and point producers want to keep them,” said Fletcher, on how tough it will be to find reinforcements. “The majority of teams are still in the playoff hunt, so there’s just not a lot of these type of players that move during the season.

“Obviously we’ll see if there’s external solutions. ... My job’s to look at ways to improve our team and I’ll continue to try to do that.”

To do that and get guys that can help the Wild return to the playoffs might prove awfully difficult. To get something useful you have to give something and the one area Minnesota has choice pieces is with their prospects.

The catch here is that Fletcher likely wants no part of giving up guys like Charlie Coyle or Jonas Brodin to get a big scorer. The downside here is that the Wild don’t have a lot to offer in a trade outside of those prospects which makes goalie Josh Harding become the most marketable guy to trade.

Does a team in need of goalie help (Tampa Bay?) have the offensive players to make it work for Minnesota? There’s the rub.