Posts About "Niklas Backstrom"
Josh Harding and the Goaltending Woes of the Minnesota Wild
September 18th, 2014 When I heard a couple days ago that Minnesota wild goaltender Josh Harding had injured his foot, my first thought was about the bad luck that the Wild have had with their goaltenders and their injuries. I was driving in my car on my commute home from St. Paul Minnesota to the Minneapolis suburbs when Minnesota Star Tribune writer...
None Shall Pass: Bryzgalov Blocks Kuemper's Path
September 18th, 2014 When Chuck Fletcher said early in the summer that he was willing to carry three goaltenders on his NHL roster, none of those three goaltenders were supposed to have a well-known fear of bears. He was talking about Niklas Backstrom, Josh Harding, and Darcy Kuemper. Where We Are It was announced Tuesday that Harding, the presumed...
4 Minnesota Wild Players Who Need A Bounce-Back Season
September 5th, 2014 There's an old bit of folk wisdom that I learned from my Grandfather years ago. He'd say, You're not a true Wild fan until you've blamed Mikko Koivu for something. You can probably say the same about Kyle Brodziak. While I've defended Koivu against Wild fans here before, he's among four Minnesota Wild players that need to have a...
The Minnesota Wild: 7 Bold Predictions For Next Season
August 21st, 2014 It's approaching tradition in the hum-drum between the beginning of August up until camp opens in September, that writers offer some barely defensible predictions about the coming season based on some loose facts and a pinch of hubris that we like to call a "gut feeling." Well, I'm pushing my chips to the center of the table. The...
Should Darcy Kuemper Be in Minnesota's Plans?
August 17th, 2014 At this time of year the NHL comes to a complete halt. GM’s, players and even the media are almost nowhere to be found, many taking their end of summer vacations. Things aren’t any different here in Minnesota. For the Wild fan, it seems as if we are in a state of limbo. We are eager to talk about hockey, watch hockey and see how...
The Goalie Games: May the Odds Be Ever in Your Favor
August 4th, 2014 Most teams in the NHL have a solid staring goaltender that they count on to be in net for the better part of the year. The Minnesota Wild must not have gotten the notification that this was the normal way to go about things. Last year, the team went through five different goalies in one season. Injuries plagued the team with...
NHL.com Fantasy Rankings Reveal Wild Goaltending Conundrum
July 17th, 2014 Wild fans don't need me to tell them that the goaltending situation in Minnesota for the 2014-15 season is a little messy. But, despite general manager Chuck Fletcher saying he'd be willing to carry three goalies, almost everyone expected the Wild to make some kind of move, even if we couldn't think of a single viable option other than...
Great 8: The Best Undrafted Free Agents In Minnesota Wild History
May 29th, 2014 While there is an impressive list of great NHLers who went undrafted, players like Curtis Joseph, Ed Belfour, Dino Ciccarelli, Antti Niemi, and Adam Oates are the exception rather than even a vague semblance of a rule. Yet, they prove that every now and then a team catches undrafted lightning in a bottle. In their short history, the...
A Wild October in Minnesota: A Review of the Early 2013-2014 Season
November 4th, 2013 October is a great month for professional sports. The NFL season is gaining steam, the MLB playoffs come to fruition, the NBA season gets under-way and of course the NHL season begins. The NHL season is a grueling eighty-two game marathon. The teams that are successful will put forth a consistent effort and keep pace with...
Capitals select winger Andre Burakovsky with the 23rd overall pick
June 30th, 2013 Capitals General Manager George McPhee stepped to the podium this afternoon at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ, wasting very little time in making his first round selection a reality. With the 23rd overall pick in the 2013 National Hockey League Entry Draft, the Washington Capitals selected winger Andre Burakovsky. Listed...
