Flash back to 2005...starved for hockey, I bought a pair of skates and a stick and got back on the pond. I was unathletic, out of shape, and determined to play in the annual pond hockey tournament. Meanwhile, the Wild returned from the lockout with such heroes as...Alexander Daigle and Marc Chouinard? Those cheap ******** spent a cool $25M on the roster. Of course, we missed the playoffs and drafted 9th overall.
All the way up to 2012...I’m still unathletic, out of shape, and have played probably 200 games of hockey (yet no pond hockey tournament). Meanwhile, the Wild racked up $55M on roster players such as...Warren Peters and Brad Staubitz. Yikes. Of course, we missed the playoffs and drafted 7th overall.
Somewhere in there were a few great years of hockey. Former owner Bob Naegele and (thankfully) former GM Doug Risebrough got out the checkbook and signed a couple solid players. The team made the playoffs a couple times. Even won the division once.
Who's your starting lineup for the inter-lockout Minnesota Wild?
I loved your lineup but I would make a few changes based on one of my favorite players from a while back.
Rolston Koivu Gaborik
Schultz Burns
Backstrom
I always loved Rolston it was a hard decision between him and Bruno but I went with Rolston. I also have never been a huge Schultz fan but he deserves a little something for playing so long and usually quite consistently. There wasn't too many Defenseman to really pick from. I loved Willie Mitchell but he didn't really play for us very long into the inter-lockout period so I had to scratch him.
I liked Rolston too. PMB has the second most points behind Koivu between lockouts. Demitra is another good choice IMO. But Boogaard just helped define an era for me.
Schultz is probably the easy pick on defense, but if you look at Johnsson...his first two years we made the playoffs, the third year we missed by a point I think, and then he was traded. Since then we've drafted 12th, 9th, and 7th. Not a coincidence IMO.
I liked Rolston too. PMB has the second most points behind Koivu between lockouts. Demitra is another good choice IMO. But Boogaard just helped define an era for me.
Schultz is probably the easy pick on defense, but if you look at Johnsson...his first two years we made the playoffs, the third year we missed by a point I think, and then he was traded. Since then we've drafted 12th, 9th, and 7th. Not a coincidence IMO.
Johnsson was one of the best moves DR ever made, he was a fantastic D, it was no coincidence that Clarke lost it when we signed him..
Mitchell and Fernandez? They were traded pretty quick into the post-lockout era...
Meh, basically just trying to be different. I liked them both a lot and although most of their time didn't come between lockouts, they both had 5+ solid years here.
