Wild Fans Speak: how do they see the direction of their team in 2010-11?

Wild Fans Speak...

It is the contrarian version of the Oscars, known as the Golden Rasberry Award Foundation (aka Razzies) which holds its own sort of awards show for the worst films and performances in a given year. This past year had somewhat of a unique occurence for this year's Oscar Award winning actress Sandra Bullock for her role in The Blind Side, but she was also nominated for a Razzie for her performance in All About Steve. Unlike other past winners of the Razzie, Bullock actually showed up to accept her award and in perhaps perfect Razzie-fashion she somehow ended up taking the wrong trophy home. Either way, it demonstrates that while there can be notable performances their also can be notorious performances as well and beauty (whether taken literally or in terms of appreciation) is in the eye of the beholder. So what does this have to do with the Wild? The slightly sarcastic picture above may reveal that connection. Well different perspectives are really what the blogosphere is all about. While the mainstream media loves to rip the amateur blogging world, it really is a voicing point for fans. I realize I am not saying anything that you don't already know, but why not expand this voice? Why not ask other fans (besides myself) what they think about the direction of the Minnesota Wild? How do they see this team? Are they hopeful, are they worried, or are they pessimistic?

I asked 6 fans for their opinion of the Wild, all of whom are unabashed fans of the Wild. Some of these fans can be found lurking on the wild.com or Hockey's Future message boards, while others are just hockey junkies in general. First there is TALON a long time wild.com message board regular who became disgruntled with the league's attempt to centralize the official team message boards but still spends plenty of time discussing the Wild on other forums. The next is Steve, another long-time wild.com and hockey's future message boarder who never stays away from a good debate. Our next fan of note is Aaron who is not a message boarder but loves hockey and follows the Wild and the New Jersey Devils. Josh is also a wild.com message boarder who used to run his own figurative "kool-aid" drinking stand and has never missed an opportunity to add a little levity to overly serious debates amongst wild.com rubes (like myself). Lastly there is Angela, a long-time Wild fan who also enjoys a rousing discussion or a well placed humorous comment or graphic to both lighten the mood and / or hammer home her point. I asked these fans 7 questions about their assessment or thoughts on the team's management, coaching, current direction and what changes they'd make if they were in position to make such a decision. Nothing will be censored as these are 6 raw responses from fans who spend a good portion of their lives thinking, watching and enjoying all things hockey. Hopefully to anyone who reads their responses they can make their own connections, agreements and disagreements to these fans and I hope you feel inspired enough to share your opinions in the comment selection below. So let's begin! (click on the link to the rest of the article)

This I believe really provides a nice cross-sections of opinions about the team right now. There are more than a few members of this board that I survey represented here. I hope it stirs some debate and discussion. Feel free to share your thoughts...

Some interesting takes... but that TaLoN guy read my mind!

I want this Talon fellow to be in our front offices. I think he would promptly remove anything Shep related.

TaLoN wrote:

Some interesting takes... but that TaLoN guy read my mind!

It's scary how three of us used the "jury is out" approach on Richards.

OldTimeHockey wrote:

TaLoN wrote:

Some interesting takes... but that TaLoN guy read my mind!

It's scary how three of us used the "jury is out" approach on Richards.

I got a chuckle out of that myself...

You guys copied most of my answers.

I think many of us have been hanging out on these boards together too damn much for too damn long. We're starting to think and talk alike.

OldTimeHockey wrote:

I think many of us have been hanging out on these boards together too damn much for too damn long. We're starting to think and talk alike.

Does this mean that we are breaking up? I suppose you just want to be friends!