MVN - Most Valuable Network

2008 NHL Free agency countdown continues; is it the calm before the storm for the Wild?

In the song “Mad World” Gary Jules sings “All around me are familiar faces, worn out places, worn out faces, bright and early for the daily races, going nowhere, their tears are filling up their glasses, no expression.” In someways this describes the worst fears of Wild fans on the eve of the Free Agency period starting on July 1st. With star wingers Brian Rolston and Pavol Demitra very likely to leave the team, as well as rugged role players Todd Fedoruk and Aaron Voros who are all seeking significant raises. Combine this with the early defections of Petteri Nummelin, Branko Radivojevic and Chris Simon to Europe as well as the departures of veteran defenseman Keith Carney and Sean Hill and you have a vastly different team from a year ago. When asked Wild President and General Manager Doug Risebrough indicated that the team will likely look within and fill at least 2-3 spots with ‘minor leaguers.’

It is this last statement which has many Wild fans concerned that 2008-09 will be ’sold’ as an ‘evaluation year’ where the team keeps payroll far below the ceiling and stick primarily with prospects to see if they can prove themselves to be worthy of extending their contracts. That is a tough pill for many fans to swallow as the team appeared to be on the cusp of taking the next step in the post-season after winning its first Northwest Division title.

The expectations have also been ratcheted up due to the fact that virtually all season ticket holders got hit with a significant increase in the price of their seats. So it is very likely the gutting of the roster combined with the team keeping a very trim payroll will go over like a lead balloon with the fan base. The team has made the playoffs 3 times, and is coming off its first division title so the expectation level is rather high as the team feels like its caught in the ‘Perfect Storm’ of departing free agents as well as some rather contentious deals to be made with key offensive contributors Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Marian Gaborik.

Just prior to the summer of the 2005-06 season Gaborik mentioned his displeasure over the team’s lack of initiative to bring in quality free agents and he questioned whether or not the team wished to be a contender. That year the team brought in Pavol Demitra via trade, as well as free agents Mark Parrish, Branko Radivojevic and Kim Johnsson. With a fair portion of these upgrades leaving the team it begs the question whether Gaborik will wish to re-sign with the team as he begins the last year of his contract and will be a Unrestricted Free Agent next summer. The team will likely try to sign Gaborik to a contract extension and if he does not seem interested in doing so perhaps the team will be forced to deal their franchise star so they can at least get something in return. While the thought of the team dealing Gaborik is an unsettling one it is what is best for the organization to at least be able to get some value for its most notable asset instead of receiving nothing as is the case with the departures of Rolston and Demitra.

The situation regarding restricted free agent Pierre-Marc Bouchard is rather similar. As stated in the earlier article Bouchard and his agent, Allan Walsh are seeking a one-year contract. The team does not want to sign him to another one-year deal as the diminutive playmaker is set to become a UFA next summer. Doug Risebrough has hinted the organization would rather trade him than sign him to another one-year deal but is that really a good idea when the team is already losing 2 of its Top 5 scorers? Yet the organization finds itself having the similar scenario to Marian Gaborik, by having to deal him in order to get something of value in return instead of watching him leave with nothing to show for it. Personally, the team would be in a good position to get a good deal with a fairly limited pool of quality UFA forwards this summer so the best time to ’sell’ would be right now.

Will Wild Head Coach Jacques Lemaire wish to stay as the team enters another ‘evaluation year’? While Lemaire is not afraid of a challenge, does he really want a major overhaul to endure at this point in his career? The two-time Jack Adams Award winner as the league’s best coach has nothing to prove, and only after a meeting with Doug Risebrough did he decided to come back and coach another season.

Right now the quiet surrounding the team and its future moves is deafening, so is this the calm before the storm? Should Wild fans prepare themselves for a tumultuous 2008-09 season or should it be excited to see what moves the team will make once free agency begins? A simple look at the Wild.com message boards and one can see most fans are fearing the worst, with a small minority hoping for the best.

While the fans have no control over what takes place in the coming days, the organization would be wise to consider the messages they are sending their fans. The departures of fan favorites like Rolston, Fedoruk and all of the minutae about the team’s ‘market value’ the natives (fans) are getting a little restless. It would be naive to think the team would not create a significant amount of resentment within a fanbase that is feeling the sting of a ticket price increase. While everything seems to be costing more lately, some fans have been forced (regrettably) to give up their seats.
The team has always enjoyed marketing itself as a fan-friendly organization (going as far to retire the #1 jersey and dedicated it to Wild fans) and is quick to trot out its impressive sellout streak, but the organization would be putting that in jeopardy by being passive this summer. Fans will likely be very unhappy if the team adds only a few middling free agents and does little or nothing to address the holes created by the exodus of players. The Wild may be able to rationalize a conservative approach by saying its an ‘evaluation year’ or that it is waiting for a much larger crop of quality UFA’s likely to be available next summer but many fans will see this as the organization as being overly frugal and unwilling to take risks. This is a storm new owner Craig Leipold would be wise to avoid.

Here is a list of items of what would make this offseason acceptable according to the writers of the State of Hockey News.

Acceptable (for me)

1. Team makes some quality free agent signings (i.e. Redden, Commodore)

2. Team trades or signs Bouchard to a long-term deal (We’d hope for the former)

3. Team trades or signs Gaborik to a long-term deal (We’d hope for the latter)

Unacceptable (for me)

1. Team makes few or no quality free agent signings

2. To hear that the organization is using this as an “evaluation year”

3. After its all said and done and the team is $10-15 million below the salary ceiling

All we can do is wait and see, but the ‘honeymoon’ period is over and fans want to see this organization move forward and not take a significant step back. If the organization truly believes its fans are the “Greatest fans in the World” its about time they step up to the plate and prove it by being active and aggressive this offseason.

There has been some significant players placed on waivers the last few days as teams hope to trim salary on what could be playing out to be a very interesting summer. Including the surprising buyout of Toronto Maple Leafs agitator Darcy Tucker. Here is a small list of notable players that have been placed on waivers the last few days.

Waiver Wire Notables:

G - Andrew Raycroft

RW - Todd Bertuzzi

D - Rhett Warrener

LW - Marcus Nilson

D - Anders Eriksson

This entry was posted on Friday, June 27th, 2008 at 12:37 pm and is filed under 2007-08 Trades & Free Agency, NHL Editorial, Wild Editorials, Wild News & Notes, NHL News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.