Wild 2011-12: Falling Off a Cliff

Alternate logo since 2003. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Minnesota Wild ended their 2011-12 hockey season right where people thought they would be:  out of the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year.  What nobody could have predicted was how far they would rise at the beginning of the season to the top of the NHL standings, followed by how hard they fell.

The 81 points the Wild accumulated with a 35-36-11 record in the Western Conference does not take into account the number of players shuffling in and out of the lineup (47) due to injuries, lack of scoring (166 goals, the fewest in the NHL since the 2004-05 lockout) and blowing big leads.

In a situation like this, you would normally expect a team to do some major off-season housecleaning, at least in the front office.  But Wild General Manager Chuck Fletcher and first year coach Mike Yeo will both be back next season.

Instead, the Wild will be active in the free agent market this summer to go along with previous acquisitions Dany Heatley and Devin Setoguchi.  Most often mentioned as a potential target is Zach Parise of the New Jersey Devils, a Minnesota native whose father was a former North Star.  But with the record the Wild have had the past few years, you'd think the better free agents would want to go with a team that actually has a shot at a Stanley Cup.

A more realistic prospect for the Wild is to keep drafting and developing young talent.  You've seen some of them, racking up frequent flyer miles between St. Paul and Houston (their AHL affiliate) as emergency replacements every time a regular has an upper or lower body injury.

What would really help the Wild in the long run (for themselves and their fans) is to move to a division in which they are not the only team in the Central time zone, instead of having far-flung rivalries with Vancouver and Calgary.  The NHL had realignment on the table until they backed off to make it part of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement with the players union, rekindling fears of another lockout.  They also have to figure out where to put the Phoenix Coyotes should they move.

So what the Wild have to address next season--should there be one--is to reduce the amount of injuries, increase the goal scoring, and to stay in the game during regulation time.  If there's another season like the last one, it really will be time for a housecleaning.

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The Stanley Cup playoffs begin Wednesday where, for the first time in this country, every game will be seen on TV through four of Comcast's networks (NBC, NBC Sports Network, CNBC and NHL Network).  After two months of watching teams battle it out on your oversized flat screen or your undersized phone, the two teams that emerge in June to vie for the Cup will be:

Pittsburgh vs. Vancouver.