Make It Rain

I believe that Doug Risebrough's job is on the line. At least I hope so. Maybe that will give him some motivation to work a little harder.

The Wild GM has had a bad couple years recently. More specifically, a bad last year. The Wild lost a lot of excellent talent last offseason in Demitra, Rolston, and Aaron Voros and are poised to lose much more this year. They've already basically lost Gaborik for nothing. Sure, they might get a draft pick for him from a team looking to make a playoff run, but there's virtually no chance of him resigning with the Wild. This is partially due to Risebrough waiting a little too long to start talks. Although, Gabby hasn't helped the cause either.

Once again, Risebrough has waited far too long to try and lock down a valuable unrestricted free agent. Niklas Bakstrom, who is playing superbly (some may argue due to the Wild's defensive nature), is 27-17-2 with a 2.17 GAA. His record should be much better with the performances he's had, but when your team can't score in front of you, it makes it difficult to win games.

Now that Backstrom is an All-Star, its going to cost considerably more to sign him. Had Risebrough made a move much earlier, he could have saved the team a large amount of money. I just don't understand the "sit around and wait" mentality in the Wild's front office. When you know you have a talented player like that, you should lock that shit down as fast as you can. If Ms. Rafaeli were to give you her phone number, would you wait a month to call her?



Because Risebrough is sitting there with his thumb up his ass, the trade rumors have begun to fly. There are teams that could use a strong goalie for the post-season, such as Detroit, Chicago, or Washington. Josh Harding is playing very well in the starts he gets, so I don't doubt that he could probably step up to the plate and perform. However, neither of the goalies on the Aeros seem to having stellar years: Shaefer has a 2.46 GAA and .907 save percentage in 34 starts while Brust has about the same save percentage. So if Harding were to get injured, there's no one of quality to back him/us up.

However, the good folks over at Hockey Wilderness made a pretty compelling point not too long ago. If Backstrom is actually asking for $6-7 million a year, we may be able to get some real scoring talent for him. I guess it all depends on whether you like to live dangerously or not.

I feel that rather than trade Backstrom, the Wild should probably pony up the cash and make a different trade. Apparently, there were 11 NHL scouts in the stands for Wednesday night's game against the Avalanche. The Wild should trade a defenseman, probably Johnsson (and a draft pick perhaps?), for someone who can put the puck in the net.

Something drastic needs to be done, and if the Wild do end up trading Backstrom, they better get some actual talent this time. I feel as though we really wouldn't be in this position if Doug would have just manned up and pulled the trigger sooner, and if Backstrom ends up leaving without the Wild getting a star player, Risebrough should be chased out of town by a torch-and-pichfork carrying mob.

On a side note, defensemen need to protect their goalies. This happened numerous times during the Edmonton game, and should not have gone unpunished. To the anti-fighting proponents out there, this would happen on every frozen puck without fighting...