Get used to it Wild fans, its going to be a long (painful) 2010-11 season

The Wild are going to have a rough season

Get used to it Wild fans, its going to be a long (painful) 2010-11 season
Written by Derek Felska
Monday, 11 October 2010 18:49

As we get closer to election day in November it is almost impossible to turn on the TV and not see political ads. Whether the candidates are telling you how great they'll be for the state or country in which they reside or if its a nasty 30-second commerical slinging mud at their opponents the ads are something you can't escape and as a voter (or not) you may wish to change the channel to get away from it all. Times have been tough, people are frustrated and its no big shock that politicians are going to play into that by drumming up bad feelings for the other person. You can survey Americans and despite the fact its proven that those types of ads turn voters off, candidates still run them figuring they'll still cost their opponent a few votes each time they go on aire. Is that a case of diminishing returns? Perhaps. Meanwhile the Minnesota Wild are becoming familliar with that feeling of diminishing returns. After listening to the post-game comments of Wild Head Coach Todd Richards and team beat writer Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star Tribune after their most recent contest against Finland last week Friday you'd think the team was simply unfortunate in their 3-2 shootout loss. However, take a look at the message boards and you already have a "dead pool" where fans are voting on the date when the Wild gives Todd Richards the axe and most date selections are not even a month away. See a divergence here? One side is talking about a team's progress, and the signs its on the verge of turning things around and the fans hoping the axe falls sooner rather than later. Get the sense that as far as the fans goes this is virtually to the point of no return? When I asked Wild fans just about two months ago about their expectations for the season they were none too hopeful which may make you wonder why they would appear to be so outraged to want to see the hometown coach lose his job so early into this season. Check it out for yourself.

http://fans.wild.nhl.com/community/topic/21885-official-wmb-pool-when-will-todd-richards-get-fired/

So if the team decides to stick it out with Richards what other hope does the Wild have apart from the club turning it around on its own? The answer to that question is pretty simple, don't expect them to do much. The Wild are simply to close to the cap ceiling, at just about a $1,000,000 under the roof when you factor the organization suspending disappointing center James Sheppard just a few days ago after deciding they should not pay the Sackville, Nova Scotia-native after he injured his knee in an ATV accident just a little over a week before training camp opened. Sheppard will not be collecting his $803,000 salary owed him this season, and that also comes off the cap giving Minnesota a little breathing room. Needless to say it is highly doubtful we will see Sheppard in a Wild uniform ever again, even though the team said it will be paying for the costs of rehabbing his knee. Afterall, we're not the Tampa Bay Lightning. We do have some compassion in our organization. The other hope lies in the possible return of Pierre-Marc Bouchard who the coaching staff said is getting ever closer to returning to the Wild lineup. Bouchard is a gifted offensive player, but he didn't even last one full period of hockey last year before being put on the shelf for the entire season. Its tough to believe Bouchard will just be his normal self or will have a lot of chemistry with his teammates considering how little he played and only participated in non-contact portions of pre-season training camp. He is never been a big goal scorer throughout his career but he is very creative with the puck and that may give the team an offensive boost, if at the very least on the power play. (click on the link for the rest of the article)

Enjoy as much as you can with such a cloudy article like this...

yeah it is going to be rough..........and that is putting it politely