The Wild Owner should have taken notice when Risebrough didn't want to trade James Sheppard for Olli Jokinen. Are you kidding me, Risebrough didn't want to trade young talent like James Sheppard, guys like James Sheppard are a dime a dozen in the NHL. There are hundreds of guys like him in the AHL and ECHL.
If the front office convinces owner Craig Leipold that this was a throw-away season solely because Gaborik was hurt, it's an injustice to everybody who paid a dime for tickets or merchandise.
If Leipold wants a reality check, just turn on the Center Ice package and watch St. Louis and Columbus and Chicago and Edmonton and even Phoenix and Los Angeles.
Think the Wild really has better young talent, a brighter future? Those teams are burgeoning with young, explosive talent, which is reason for real optimism there and pessimism here.
The Wild has James Sheppard, who's somehow untouchable like he's going to wake up tomorrow and become Jarome Iginla. Mikko Koivu and Brent Burns are good, cornerstone players.
But in the history of this organization, the Wild has developed one star, Gaborik -- and this week is likely his Minnesota swan song.
The Wild has sold out every game in franchise history, but it's not guaranteed to continue. Assistant GM Tommy Thompson knows this. He wasn't trying to critique the current state of affairs. But in an interview with me for the upcoming Hockey News Draft magazine, Thompson said the Wild must draft a "dynamic player ... with a little pizzazz" this June.
Boy, they sure are ripping on the Wild lately, aren't they? The Star Tribune has had several articles in it over the past week or two. Souhan called the Wild's style of hockey "worse than watching grass grow" the other day. Russo calls James Sheppard, who is supposedly "the future of the franchise" as a player that somehow is going to turn into Jarome Iginla tomrorow morning. Pat Reusse says he'd rather cover a team that was dead last in the NHL standings than write about such a mediocre, boring, lifeless team. I really do think that it starts with Lemaire and his defense/trapping scheme. As the old saying goes: cut of the head of the snake, and it dies.
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