Sifers making it hard for Wild to cut him......

Star Tribune

Quote :

After an exhibition loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night, Wild coach Todd Richards said defenseman Jaime Sifers continues to vie for a roster spot.

"He's making [the decision] tough on us," Richards said. "He competes. He competes. He's not going to be perfect. He's going to make mistakes just like everybody else. But I'll take the mistakes as long as the guy's competing. I can handle those. It's when guys are making mistakes and they aren't putting forth the effort ... ."

Sifers, 26, signed as a free agent July 8 after an endorsement from Wild assistant to the GM Jim Mill, is a late bloomer. A native of Stratford, Conn., he attended the University of Vermont and spent his entire pro career with the AHL Toronto Marlies before getting in 23 games for the Maple Leafs last season.

"This is definitely an organization where I'd love to stay and contribute any way I can," Sifers said. "All I can do is try as hard as I can out there, be a team player and hopefully I can stick around.

"When Minnesota called, my stomach dropped a little bit, and I got real excited. I just know this is a great hockey city and the fans are known for their passion of the game."

• Tryout Andy Hilbert, who has played 303 NHL games for four teams, also continues to battle for a spot.

"He's contributing in different ways," Richards said. "You can tell he's a player who's fought his way through the NHL because he's not a particularly big guy, but he finds ways to be effective."

• The Wild trimmed its roster to 27 Saturday when Danny Irmen, Robbie Earl, Matt Kassian and Cody Almond were reassigned to AHL Houston and Marco Scandella was returned to QMJHL Val-d'Or.

Isn't that exactly what they said about Clutz last season... c'mon diamond in the rough.

shmiddy wrote:

Isn't that exactly what they said about Clutz last season... c'mon diamond in the rough.

I'll second the thought.

As long as he's putting forth the solid effort night in and night out the fans will also tend to forgive most mistakes he'll make.

I've said it before i'll say it again, give me a guy who plays hard, because even when the team is playing poorly watching guys give forth the effort makes the poor play easier to watch at least for me. What i cant stand is to watch guys coast and not try and the team is sucking, it just looks like bush league play.

You mean you weren't a fan of Demitra and Rolston? :p

From what I've seen, I like Sifers. He seems a lot better than Scott but I suppose that isn't saying very much.

If Sifers keeps Scott off the ice he's a stud in my book.

Hopefully Hnidy can fill that #6 Dman spot.

Jarick wrote:

You mean you weren't a fan of Demitra and Rolston? :p

That gave me a flashback of the old Rolston bear-hug-in-the-corner and the old Demitra curl-away-from-the-corner-all -together maneuvers.