Can the Wild make the 2010-11 Playoffs, a 2009-10 report card of sorts...

http://www.stateofhockeynews.com/2010-articles/may/can-the-wild-be-a-playoff-team-for-2010-11-a-2009-10-report-card-of-sorts.html

Can the Wild be a playoff team for 2010-11? A 2009-10 report card of sorts.
Written by Derek Felska
Sunday, 23 May 2010 17:46

A sign of the time of year for me is when I begin to get graduation party invitations. It is a sign of a school year almost finished and former students moving on to the next chapter of their lives whether its college, tech school, the military or something else altogether. In my day job, as a high school teacher its very close to crunch time for my students as there is little over a week left of school. That means big projects are close to being turned in and final exams are close to being taken. For students it means some stress and some mental sweat and perhaps a few tears as they suck it up and complete what they're supposed to. For teachers it means bracing themselves for a massive amount of work to correct and grade as they get ready for summer. In some cases the students simply get a relief before they comeback next fall for others the grades possibly mean whether or not they graduate. Pretty intense stuff at times especially if a few percentage points can come between a diploma or not. A potential life can be changed by just a key stroke or two in the gradebook. I know it all goes with the job but I'll certainly be glad when its behind me.

For the NHL, who just witnessed the Chicago Blackhawks sweep the San Jose Sharks Sunday afternoon to punch the first ticket to the Stanley Cup Finals its biggest and most important project of the season is about to conclude. As any teacher will tell you, only when all of the work is turned in can you really know what the final grade will be. In the case of the Minnesota Wild, all of their work for the 2009-10 season is turned in and now is the time to grade it with a level of objectivity without the bias of the closing weeks of the regular season such a recent memory. So what grades shall Minnesota's players earn? Should Head Coach Todd Richards and the organization's upper management be graded too? (click on the link for the rest of the article)

I didn't grade the individual players but the groups as a whole. Enjoy!

can the Wild get into the playoffs? I sure think so. sports in general are unpredictable (well for the most part) and anything can go if you get some lucky bounces, hot goalie, etc. However, they need help.

Offense is something we are used to stressing with this team. Our new GM has shown he is aggressive in trying to patch holes where DR screwed up and trying to get things right for the future.

I think (and hope a hell of a lot) that the players who played in the system last season will still have it fresh in their head and there won't be that learning curve. I think TR learned a lot of what it takes to be a coach and hopefully he too knows what needs to be tweaked and left alone with the crew of players he has.

i was geeked for last season, and I am geeked for this season. call it blind optimism, call it kool aid drinking, call it being stupid or naive, but things could fall into place for this team over the next few seasons and I am going to enjoy watching the building process. I'll bitch along the way too though, nobody likes to lose. lol

I still think they are a season or two away from getting anywhere unless some major shakeups happen on the roster.

I wasn't optimistic last season, and as of right now, I'm not all that optimistic now. Though I do understand the stumbling blocks for improving this team, so I am patient in seeing this get fixed properly.