Calgary’s trying to rebuild completely different from the Edmonton model, they’re trying to stay competitive (if you call finishing 9th every year competitive) while trying to restock with young talent, and so far it looks like they’re doing okay. They’ll have 3 younger players (Sven Baertschi, Roman Horak and TJ Brodie) who will play decent sized roles this year as well as they had several players who were tremendous at the World Junior Championships last month, the top two names being the other Granlund brother and American John Gaudreau.

As a Wild fan I would love to see the Wild unseat the Canucks as the perennial division winner, however i’m not willing to say that just yet. I don’t think anyone is else in the division is ready to do that yet. Now, having said that the fact of a shortened season along with the injuries the Canucks have right away that could very well happen this year.

The future for the Canucks domination of this division along with the proverbial cake walks to President Trophies is O-V-E-R!! The Avs are young and strong, the Oilers are SCARY offensively and the Wild barring injuries are looking to be a much tougher team. As for Calgary who knows what they decide to do, perhaps they’ll trade Iggy and try to reload, but they need to definitely do something to stay in this division in the future. This division is going to be a really tough one over the next 5-6 years. **Assuming Realignment Doesn’t Happen Right Away**

The problem is he’s pretty small, doesn’t like to go get the puck out of dirty places (when he tries, he gets concussed), and well the fact that he’s always concussed. But I like to believe that if a guy like Patrice Bergeron can come back from the concussions there is a chance Bouchard can do it too. He absolutely can help the Wild win. That said, I doubt the Wild re-signs him later this summer. Gotta make room for all those kids.

It’ll be interesting to see how this team does, best of luck Wild fans!

lordfletcher: I don’t know that Minnesota has what it takes to compete with Vancouver at this point, even with the Canucks suffering from injuries they were just too far ahead of the rest of the division for anyone to close the gap that quickly, although as I said previously this season is a crapshoot.

I see Edmonton and Minnesota being about the same, both have good talent at the top of their roster but the depth of each team is lacking. Edmonton is deeper when it comes to putting goals in the net and Minnesota is deeper at keeping them out.

As far as Calgary goes I couldn’t disagree more (and I acknowledge I’m a Flames fan) the way this team is put together there will be no big drop off, unless they have a fire sale (they won’t) this team is built to finish in the 7-10 range and if they do sneak into the playoffs last 5-6 games before bowing out. The goaltending is very good (assuming Kipper continues to play as he has) the defense is average, no better, no worse. Offensively they’ve got good depth on the 3rd and 4th lines (not a lot of goals but tough to play against) and the top line (Tanguay-Cammy-Iggy) is aging but should be able to get points as they have. Basically the Flames fortunes on whether they finish in the 7/8 range or 9/10 range will likely be decided by the success or failures of the potential second line of Baertschi-Cervenka-Huddler.

And I’m asking that in a non confrontational way, just curious about a player I see a lot about but who’s production has never lived up to the hype.

As for the Wild taking the next step, I think this year it’s literally a crapshoot for every team in the NHL, a great stretch of 7-10 games will pretty much assure a playoff spot and a bad stretch of even 5 games could doom teams. So I think for Minnesota it will be a lot like Edmonton, looking to see the younger players taking a step forward in the NHL (which could lead to a playoff spot if they can avoid any bad stretches) and then aiming for the 3-6 seed in 2013-14 when a full season will be played and rough stretches that younger players tend to go through will be easier to bounce back from.

lordfletcher

Either way – I’m just hoping we can all move on from the same three pictures of these two in their Wild jerseys…it’s really starting to get to me.

If the Wild start out well, they can compete with Vancouver in the divison, Calgary will finally fall apart and more than likely Colorado will be fighting for the 7-11 range. IMO.

The Wild’s defense is better than most people know if they are healthy
Suter – Spurgeon
Gilbert – Scandella (if healthy)
Brodin (will be top 2 / 4 pairing when healthy – who ever

To address their scoring woes, they signed Parise and finally got Granlund here from Finland. Also, Bouchard is finally healthy for the first time in nearly 3 years.

He is a good dude, just didn’t work out here near the end of his contract and personally I am happy he is gone, just because of the way he acted towards the end. Both teams got what they wanted. win win in the end. Hopefully for you guys, he continues his stronger play and doesn’t revert back to his dying days in MN

cheers

Parise is most effective in an aggressive forechecking system, Suter’s strength is as a puck-moving defensemen – both of which do not jive with Yeo’s system.

This isn’t sour grapes, I’m legitimately interested in seeing how it plays out for the Wild.

Maybe I’m wrong about Yeo’s system too, that’s just my perception from what I’ve heard.

Love the direction of this club and glad we are finally getting some fan hate from around the league. It’s been way toooooooo quiet in Minnesota lately

Go Wild!!!!!!

“This is a game changer,” said Leipold, who bought the club in 2008, of the signings. “We’re overnight changing who we are. We’re changing our identity.” True enough Mr. Leipold. However, Jason has excellent questions; Is there enough depth on defense? Will the goaltending hold up? After all, offense wins games, defense wins championships.