Minnesota Wild

Good day, Wilderness! As boring as the offseason can be, the Walk still must go on. It's going to be a relatively short one, and most of it will be off the beaten path. Have your hiking boots on? Good. Now, let's take a Walk. Wild News Wild have options in net, but even more questions - FOX Sports North - Will this mean that the Wild finally trade Backstrom? We'll just have to wait and see what happens later in this offseason. Minnesota Wild's Xcel Energy Center Named Best Arena Experience in NHL - Gone Puck Wild - Yeah buddy! While the X has been the only arena that I've gone to (so far) for watching hockey, it sure is something being there. To the energy that goes through the building when a goal is scored (plus the goal horn that sounds awesome in person), to the singing of the Wild anthem, there's a lot of things to love about the Xcel Energy Center. Jason Zucker Has Earned Bigger Role With Minnesota Wild For 2013-14 - Rant Sports - Here's some more perspective about the Wild's best rookie this season. Off the Trail Crosby leads Penguins to NHL playoff win | SBS World News - Go Penguins! Sharks critical of NHL for suspension of Torres | Big News Network - I would have to agree. Here's what GM Doug Wilson had to say about Torres' hit, and I quote: "Upon review of the incident, it is abundantly clear that this was a clean hockey hit. As noted by the NHL, Raffi's initial point of contact was a shoulder-to-shoulder hit on an opponent who was playing the puck. He did not leave his feet or elevate. He kept his shoulder tucked and elbow down at his side, and he was gliding -- not skating or charging." Red Wings need to create goals, not havoc | Canada.com - Yeah they do. This is what they will need to do if they want to have a shot at taking down the big bad Blackhawks. 2013 NHL Draft Spotlight: The Masked Men - The Hockey Writers - Even though the NHL's draft is still a little over a month away, mock drafts are already being created by many. NHL Playoffs: Grades for Night 18 - CBSSports.com - Here's a look at some grades of some key players in the playoffs.

May 7, 2013; Saint Paul, MN, USA; Fans gather outside the Xcel Energy Center prior to game four of the first round of the 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports In a shocking move—unless you’re a Wild fan—Stadium Journey Magazine has ranked Minnesota’s home rink as the top arena experience in the National Hockey League in 2013. Here’s what the magazine had to say about their experience in the State of Hockey:                 The fans know the game and appreciate the little things, such as clearing the puck on the penalty kill, or a good defensive play to prevent a scoring chance. That is what gives the Xcel a truly special atmosphere and, even though the initial luster of having the NHL back in Minnesota has worn off, there is still a buzz around the building. Considering the audience’s knack of yelling “shoot!” on the power play when there are no shooting lanes, I can only assume Minnesota had no man advantage opportunities during the magazine representative’s  visit. Other than that, I have to say I agree whole-heartedly with the statement above. Being one of the 19,238 people in attendance on May 5th at Minnesota’s Game Three overtime victory over the Blackhawks, there was certainly something very special about singing along with fellow fans to the Wild anthem at the end of the game.  And who didn’t have goose bumps when Jack Jablonski wheeled out on the ice with the State of Hockey flag before the game? Yes, there’s something very special about the atmosphere of the Xcel Energy Center during hockey season.

What first struck me as a comment unfit for consideration at The SHP the other day by Lemmiwinks about Heatley staying on with the Wild after this season now has me thinking about it.A lot of people assumed that Heatley would be a buyout candidate after this season, given that the cap is expected to fall to 64.3 million dollars for the 13-14 season. Indeed, the Wild find themselves in a pickle with regard to the salary cap going into next year. This much was assumed, but with the acquisition of Jason Pominville, the Wild seemed to be shutting the door on the Dany Heatley Era. Consider that the Wild have $55.1MM committed to next season (which includes nearly a million dollars of The Stink of Doug Risebrough, aka Mark Parrish). That leaves the Wild with an asshair less than $9.2MM from the cap. Not so bad until you have to consider that the Wild need to either re-sign Matt Cullen or another second line center and have three Restricted Free Agents (RFAs) in Cal Clutterbuck ($1.4M last year), Jared Spurgeon ($527K), and Justin Falk ($825K).Did I mention they also need a Number 1 goalie, and another forward or two? Assuming that Cullen's next contract is about the same as what he got from the last one, that Clutterbuck, Spurgeon and Falk will all garner modest (or immodest) raises, then the Wild GM Chuck Fletcher will likely have less than two million dollars for a couple healthy scratch forwards and a goalie. Not even League minimums will pay for that. If Jason Zucker earns a roster spot (and I think he has), his 830K eats up a lot of that money.Something's got to give.Enter a "Compliance Buyout," aka an Amnesty Buyout. This allows a team to buy out a player who's not earning his salary, or just a player who owns a big cap hit. Assuming the Wild can't move a big salary, this is how they'll get the cap space needed to put together a roster for next season. And Dany Heatley seems like the leading candidate for that.But back to Lemmiwinks' point. Heatley was effective on the third line last season with Brodziak (and either Clutterbuck or Bouchard) before getting hurt. Without Heater in the lineup, Jason Pominville stepped in nicely. But with Bouchard and his $4MM salary riding off into le coucher de soleil, the Wild have need of a third line winger. Clutterbuck can fill that role, but seeing him out there with Mitchell and Rupp was a sight late in the season. That line was effective, and I want to see more of that. It also puts pressure on that line knowing that Zenon Konopka is ready to jump into the lineup (That depth is a Good Thing, more on that later.) So if the Wild want to retain Heatley's services and cap hit, they need to come up with some cash.And that brings us to Jar Jar Binks, aka Tom Gilbert.While it may rile the provincials who love them some local boys, Tom Gilbert might be the odd man out, and there are a couple reasons why. First, he was as effective as Cam Barker - and that says a lot considering that Gilbert could skate halfway across Rohan before Barker passes the Gates of Isengard. And at $4MM a year, that hurts. Second, the Wild loves Clayton Stoner and Justin Falk for their physical play, and with Marco Scandella's playoff performance, he's earned a spot in the lineup. Unless they want to carry 8 defensemen again, Scandella will displace someone. (The Wild could trade Nate Prosser, true, but he earns a paltry $825,000 compared to Gilbert's $4MM.) Third, as I said above, they may place a priority on Heater and his bigger salary.So the next question becomes what the Wild could do with what money they have, and there are four scenarios:They can leave the roster as is. As you can see below, if they do that, they're fucked.They can buyout Heatley and keep Gilbert. This gives them a good amount of money to work with.They can buyout Gilbert and keep Heatley. This gives them a modest amount of money.They can buyout both (this is the Deion Sanders Option). This gives the Wild a shitload of money to use. As

Today is a great day for you, WIlderness! You get 2 grades posts in the same day! Earlier today, the editors put up their grades for the Wild's right wingers, now it's time to see how us staff writers graded them. Dan Czarnecki (WIMinnesotaWildFan) Devin Setoguchi: B Seto had an ok season with the Wild this year. It really helps when Cullen is there with him on his line, but when he was gone, Seto seemed to disappear too. Finishing as the 5th best player of the season for the team is "B" worthy in my books though. Cal Clutterbuck: C Not the best season for Clutterbuck, but it wasn't all that terrible. He simply didn't live up to our expectations this season. Sometimes, I felt like he was trying to get physical and throw some hits on other players, but failed to do so. Other games, he would come out ready to spring into action and just pounce all over the opposition. I thought one of the best moments Clutterbuck had during our regular season was when I got to see him score one of our 2 goals in an aggressive game against the Los Angeles Kings. All players have their good games and bad games, and it was especially evident with Clutterbuck. Jason Pominville: B+ Pominville's debut with the Wild wasn't as great as expected. Being a former captain for the Buffalo Sabres, we thought he would have done more out on the ice. In my opinion, I think his only best moment during this season was during his debut in our 2nd last game against the Columbus Blue Jackets. We all just need to give him some time, and come next season, he'll be an entirely different animal for the Wild. Charlie Coyle: A Sensational start for this kid. He knows what he's doing out on the ice, and best of all, he had Parise and Koivu to help him out along the way. I see a great future for him. Torrey Mitchell: B Man, is Mitchell fast! Along with Zucker and Coyle, I think he really knows how to get into the offensive zone, and just be aggressive on our forecheck. He brought a lot of life to our 4th line. Aaron Holm (The Nooge) Devin Setoguchi: B When the Gooch was acquired during the 2011 entry draft along with Charlie Coyle I was pretty pumped. I really want to like this guy, but his streaky behavior gets in the way sometimes. His 27 points this year (13g/14a) ties him with the ageless wonder Matt Cullen at 4th for the Wild's regular season points leaders. His +5 was also 2nd for the Wild behind Cullen as well. His 5 PP goals were 2nd again, behind Zach Parise. He's got a great shot, and he really vamped up his physical play this year. All in all it was a pretty good year for the Gooch, and with next season being a contract year one might hope he finds some consistency. Cal Clutterbuck: C- I'm sorry Pascal William Clutterbuck, it was a rough season for you. Your shots seemed to sail high and wide of the net almost instinctively, your physical play seemed to be missing at times, and to top it off you had some über jerk from Edmonton cheap shot you in the waining moments of a game that was decided early. Overall it was an off year, and a contract year to boot. And while you may be a fan favorite around these parts, I get this feeling your time here is up. Your 10 points (4g/6a) was not up to snuff and we certainly cannot blame your missing 6 games this year as the culprit. On the bright side, you will always be my wife's favorite player so for that you don't get a D. Jason Pominville: B In just 10 regular season games played you racked up 9 points (4g/5a). While the cost to obtain Pom-Pom may have been larger than most would like, I have reminded a lot of these folks that you are not a 10 game rental and we get to look forward to seeing what you can do with a full season starting this fall. We didn't get much a sample size from Pominville this year in a Wild uniform, but from what we did see I'm a big fan. He's a leader, he has a nose for points and how can you not like calling this guy Pom-Pom? Charl

As the week wraps up, your Wilderness editors bring you the last of our grades for the forwards. The staff will be post their grades for the RWs later today as well. Devin Setoguchi Bryan- Clearly the greatest right wing ever to play the game, Setoguchi is without fault, and has absolutely no negatives to mention whatsoever. The Wild should violate the CBA and renegotiate Setoguchi's contract right now and give him the maximum contract. If they have to trade Niklas Backstrom and Mikko Koivu to do it, so be it. There just is absolutely no way they can let Setoguchi go another day without paying him more than Sidney Crosby.* Grade: A++++* Dan- Last season, if he wasn't scoring, he was pretty much useless. This season, he introduced a gritty side to his game and it has paid huge dividends. Not only does he hit and forechecks hard now, his new found skills have also helped his offensive production as now he can start creating his own chances rather than just rely on a playmaking linemate. (Dan forgot to give him a actual grade) Emilie- Setoguchi's grade is really tough (I actually left his for last). As far as scoring goes, He was 2nd on the team for goals scored (although the beginning of the season was horrible for him) 5th for assists and 4th for overall points. But I can't help but think that Seto is better than what his stats are saying. Parise had almost twice as many shots as Seto did. Seto picked up his physical game a lot this season, and it suited him very well. If he continues to improve on that area of his game (as well as improving his goal scoring), he has a real threat to be handful for every single team that plays against him. I still feel like Seto can play much better than he did throughout the season, so that knocks his grade just a bit. B- JS- He's kind of hard to grade as well. Sure, he found a physical side to his game, had a good offensive season and was generally working hard on the ice, but he mostly rode Matt Cullen's coattails. He proved himself to be utterly useless without Cullen and he really just had a good mid-season. What happens if Cullen isn't re-signed? Will Setoguchi disappear into nothingness? Could he find chemistry with Jason Pominville? Was it just a strange year? Well, based off what we've seen of him before, I'm kind of scared. It's like he became only slightly better than Cal Clutterbuck was supposed to be. Grade: C+ Cal Clutterbuck Bryan- Clutterbuck's hitting has become predictable, his irritation of other players subdued, and his agitation lessened. Maybe it was the short season, maybe it was something else, but Clutterbuck just did not seem as effective as he has been in the past. Usually players up their game in a contract year, but Clutterbuck seemed to lose a step somewhere. It's difficult to place it exactly, but something was missing. Grade: C Dan- What happened? Clutterbuck seems to be a neutered version of himself. He still skates hard and forechecks with energy, but gone are the days where he delivers devasting hits that agitate the bejusus out of opponents. He has turned from the perfect third line forward to just a good third. C Emilie- Cal had a rough year. He was all but invisible on the scoreboard, and even his trademark high hit count was pretty low (Setoguchi often end the game with more hits than Cal). For the firsts half of the season, it seemed like Cal's heart wasn't in the game, and while it got better as time went on I can't help but think how much better the team would have been if he had preformed to the level he played last season. He's made himself pretty expendable and honestly I wouldn't be surprised if he is traded in the offseason. C- JS- Speaking of Clutterbuck, where the hell was he this season? Seriously, I barely noticed him. Sure, he still led the team in hits, but he also posted the worst point per game average since his rookie season, and that's mostly thanks to his ghastly 4.3% shooting percentage, 3rd worst among regular team forward

Here's the Walk kids. Get your hiking boots on, because we're going off the trail. Wild News Backstrom has sports hernia surgery | StarTribune.com Off the Trail San Jose Sharks vs. Los Angeles Kings - Recap - May 16, 2013 - ESPN- Wow. LA is magic. Brad Marchand scores Game 1 OT winner as Bruins top Rangers (Video) | Puck Daddy - Yahoo! Sports- Booooo. Boston Bruins (4) vs. New York Rangers (6): Puck Daddy’s NHL 2013 Stanley Cup Playoff Preview | Puck Daddy - Yahoo! Sports Digestible Playoff Previews: Boston Bruins vs. New York Rangers | Backhand Shelf | Blogs | theScore.com In an odd twist, Raffi Torres has been suspended for…3-6 games | Backhand Shelf | Blogs | theScore.com- Weird suspension, but I guess grabbing weird suspensions is just Raffi Torres' thing now. Alex Ovechkin suffers second 5-goal elimination loss in a week; has fractured foot | Puck Daddy - Yahoo! Sports- Say what you want about Ovechkin, dude played on a fractured foot for, essentially, three playoff games. You gotta give him something for that. The Dave Tippett coaching watch for Dallas Stars, Colorado Avalanche | Puck Daddy - Yahoo! Sports- Did they #FireYeo? Stanley Cup Beard Watch: NHL’s star players and their playoff scruff | Puck Daddy - Yahoo! Sports- Burns should be doing pretty well. Lady Byng Finalists: Patrick Kane vs. Matt Moulson vs. Marty St. Louis | Puck Daddy - Yahoo! Sports- Jersey Aesthetics: Ranking the four 2nd-round playoff series on visual pleasure | Backhand Shelf | Blogs | theScore.com- 1) Boston 2) Everyone else. The 2013 NHL award nominees had stellar regular seasons; how are they doing in the playoffs? | Backhand Shelf | Blogs | theScore.com- Let's see how that's going. THN/Yahoo! NHL Awards: Best rookie, comeback player, breakout player - The Hockey News- Booooooooooo. THN/Yahoo! NHL Awards: Best shootout shooter, best shootout goalie - The Hockey News- Sadly, not the entire Wild's shootout record.

One of the criticisms that I have heard from time-to-time about the Minnesota Wild, is that the Wild don't have any former Minnesota Gophers currently playing for the home town team. Wrap your fingers around this. On the 2013 Minnesota Wild roster, there were numerous Badgers, a Fighting Sioux, a Catamount, a Terrier and a Husky. But there were no Minnesota Golden Gophers. Not one. True, the Wild have Erik Haula in the Wild's farm system, but there is no guarantee that he will even make the big squad next season or that he is even ready to play for the Minnesota Wild in the near future. Also, Haula is a native of Pori, Finland, while a former Gopher, he's not originally from the state of Hockey. Not that it matters. That's really not the point of this post. But how does a team from the State of Hockey, not have a player from the University of Minnesota? Based on what I have seen during the past season, I would say that the Minnesota Wild are challenged defensively, after the first defensive pairing of Ryan Suter and Jonas Brodin, the Wild are thin on defense and need some help. Granted, Jared Spurgeon is a great up and coming offensive defenseman and Marco Scandella proved to be a nice surprise during the Wild's short playoff run. After that, Justin Falk proved that he's a defensive liability and at times look like a big green road cone. Former Badgers defenseman Tom Gilbert looked to have taken a step back this past season and I was unimpressed with his play as well because he was a defensive liability. In my opinion, the Minnesota Wild could use a solid stay-at-home defenseman or two. Former Minnesota Defenseman Keith Ballard "could" be a candidate for an amnesty buyout in Vancouver and might be available to come to the Minnesota Wild at a reduced rate. Brad Ziemer, Vancouver Sun - It's probably a safe bet that Keith Ballard has already figured out that two-thirds of $8.4 million is $5.59 million. The Canuck defenceman has heard the suggestions that the team will buy out the remaining two years on his contract this summer. "I don't know," Ballard said Thursday when asked if he expected to remain a Canuck. "I have got two years left on my deal. If I am, I am. If I'm not, I'm not. I'll make the most of an opportunity here or if I end up somewhere else." My question is; would Wild fans be interested in seeing former Minnesota Golden Gopher Keith Ballard wearing the Wild uniform? As a Wild Fan, I have always thought that Ballard would look good in a Wild Uniform. One positive is that former MSU Maverick and current St. Louis Blue David Backes would have a dance partner when he played the Wild.

Even though the season is over, and SBN is having massive tech issues, We are excited to bring you yet another new staff member. Most of you may know Felix from his awesome Youtube videos that are always up super fast on twitter for hits/goals/injuries/awesome plays. He's been commenting here every so often, but now the time has come to make him a full blown writer. He'll be pitching in over the summer to help bring new content to the site every day (that's the goal guys, new content every day this summer!), and will be helping out with Wild coverage and general NHL coverage next season. He'll probably be pitching in wherever we need him too as well. Here's a little more about him, straight from his mouth (fingertips really I guess...). Also, He wanted me to add in that he REALLY likes beer. Greeting from Quebec City!My name is Felix and I'm a passionate Wild fan since 2004 (pre-lockout). I breathe hockey. Now, I can see a lot of people wondering how I became a Wild fan. It's simple.I started watching NHL hockey in 2003 and I don't exactly remember why but for some reason, Jacques Lemaire's coaching style started to grow on me. Also, in 2002, the Wild drafted a gem in Pierre-Marc Bouchard who coincidentally was my favorite player. I've been followed him since his junior days. Today, I'm still a Wild fan and I'm sticking with them no matter what. One of my goals is to come watch a Minnesota Wild game at the X someday. I'd love to feel what's to be in the State of Hockey. My favorite current Wild players are Josh Harding, Mikko Koivu and Jason Pominville. As for my favorite prospects, it's Charlie Coyle, Zack Phillips and Jason Zucker.I'm a sportive guy. I used to play minor league hockey but I had to stop due to the high costs so I decided to switch to soccer where it was a less expensive sport. I played handball at some point as well. I loved playing any of these sports but hockey was by far the one I enjoyed the most. As for my personality, I'm not afraid of criticism as long as it doesn't go into name calling.I think one thing some fans might reproach me is that I am too positive and optimistic about this team sometimes. Only time will tell I guess!I own a Minnesota Wild t-shirt, a cap and that's about it. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of Wild gear here. Anyways, I'm really looking forward to join HW and to interact with more fans. I think it will be a great experience. Hopefully you are going to enjoy my presence. Feel free to ask any questions.

Apr 27, 2013; Denver, CO, USA; Minnesota Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom (32) during the second period against the Minnesota Wild at the Pepsi Center. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports According to the team’s website, the Minnesota Wild have announced that No. 1 goaltender Niklas Backstrom underwent a successful sports hernia surgery today. The operation was performed by Dr. William Meyers in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Backstrom has not played since clinching the Wild’s first playoff berth in five years in the team’s final game on April 27th. He would go down with an injury in pregame warm-ups before Game One of their first round playoff series against the Chicago Blackhawks. Nik, an unrestricted free agent, is expected to be fully recovered for the start of the 2013-14 regular season, at which time he’ll likely compete, if he re-signs, with Josh Harding for the No. 1 role. Harding has stated that he’d like to play “all 82” games next season, and Backstrom insists he wants to stay in Minnesota and that it’s not about money. With 2009 6th rounder Darcy Kuemper rising through the ranks and getting a taste of NHL action this past season, Minnesota’s goaltending situation should be interesting to watch.

Yesterday, the editors here at Hockey Wilderness did their final season grades for the Wild's centers. Now it's time to see how us staff writers graded them. Dan Czarnecki (WIMinnesotaWildFan) Mikko Koivu: B Koivu had a pretty decent season for the Wild. During the playoffs, many people thought he should be stripped of his "C" patch because he simply couldn't do too much in our tough playoff series against the mighty Chicago Blackhawks. During the regular season though, he racked up the goals and assists, and led us to wins. I still think Koivu will serve the Wild well as the captain. Kyle Brodziak: C Brodziak's performance was just "meh" to say the least. He scored only 4 goals during the regular season, but did pretty well on the PK line. It would have been nice to see him score more, but there's always room for improvement. Matt Cullen: A- Cullen is a solid contributor on our 2nd line. When he got injured at perhaps the worst time during this season, our second line became non-existent. But, when he came back from his injury, the 2nd line sprang back to life again. He also provided some helpful mentoring to Jason Zucker. Zenon Konopka: C Just like for my mid-season grades, I graded Konopka a little bit tougher simply because he didn't rack up that much ice time this season. But, for the times he did happen to be out on the ice, he was a pretty good defenseman. He was also pretty good in the faceoff circle, but he didn't really bring much to our forecheck. To say the least, I would have graded him a little bit better if he got more ice time. Mikael Granlund: C- Granlund didn't really live up to the hype that the Wild hoped for. The first time we recalled him from Houston, he didn't do too much in terms of contributing on any line he was placed on. After we sent him back down, and then recalled him again, still the same old story. But, after recalling him for a final time due to being plagued with the injury bug at the worst possible time, he finally managed to score his first goal in a Wild sweater. I'll give him some credit though, as he had a pretty decent season with the Aeros, as he scored 10 goals and had 18 assists during the Aeros' regular season, as well as a goal and an assist in the playoffs. In short, Granlund is a rookie that still needs more time to develop until he's ready for the NHL. Give him a few years, and he'll be a great player for the Wild. Aaron Holm (The Nooge) Mikko Koivu: B- Mikko finished the season just 1 point behind the Wild's leading points guy, 2nd overall in assists and tied for 3rd on the team in goals (11g/26a 37pts). Much like the rest of the team he seemed to fall apart late in the season and was a ghost offensively in the playoffs. Some have attributed this to a undisclosed injury, some say that "C" on his sweater is weighing him down, or perhaps its all the words he keeps inside from not talking enough for the fans to hear it. At any rate you cannot deny his importance to this team. He is consistently one of the best defensive centers in the league and his work ethic on and off the ice is second to none. Without Koivu, this team doesn't even make it to the playoffs. Kyle Brodziak: C Brodziak definitely had a slow year despite being given every opportunity to succeed. Yeo put an immense amount of faith in Brodziak by placing him on the top power play unit and playing him against the some of the top lines in the Western Conference. The only reason his grade is as high as it is here is because he always seemed to be once bounce away from catching fire in my opinion. So he gets some credit for putting himself in a position to score and for not being as big a defensive liability as his -18 would suggest. Matt Cullen: B+ Of the forwards, Cullen is the one I struggled most with on whether or not he deserved an A. He is a veteran, a leader and you could see him on the bench constantly talking, taking Jason Zucker under his wi