Image via WikipediaThe Minnesota Wild and their general manager Chuck Fletcher did some wheeling and dealing before and after the NHL Entry Draft, which just happened to be held in St. Paul over the weekend. By the time it was over, they gave up one of their best and most popular players and gained plenty of question marks.The Wild began by trading Brent burns to the San Jose Sharks for Darin Sebaguchi and a couple of other draft picks. Burns was in his free-agent year and wanted to stay here (he even bought a house in the area), but the Wild have not been very good about keeping talent at a reasonable price. See: Marian Gaborik.
The move enabled the Wild to make two first round draft picks: Jonas Brodin from Sweden and Zach Phillips in the Burns trade. For a little local flavor, they added Mario Lucia, whose father is the University of Minnesota's hockey coach.
Two veterans have also been added: Darroll Powe from the Philadelphia Flyers and Chuck Kobasew from the Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins. Both were acquired for prospects and picks.
So what does all this mean for the Wild? It means that, for new coach Mike Yeo, he has two veteran goal scorers in Setoguchi and Powe to help make up for the lack of offense in his lineup. That's good. But they haven't addressed their need to have a reliable goaltender behind Niklas Backstrom, should Josh Harding be rendered ineffective due to injuries that kept him out most of last season. That's not good.
All those moves that Fletcher made in the past week or so doesn't necessarily inspire confidence in the ticket-buying public, for whom Xcel Energy Center is seeing a lot less of these days. What happens when the puck drops in October will go a long way toward whether Fletcher is proven right.
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