this minnesota wild blog says...

Monday, March 23, 2009

Lack of depth at C is killer

Mikko Koivu, who has done everything asked of him by the Minnesota Wild, went down awkwardly against the Oilers yesterday and apparently did some damage to his knee. The official word from the Wild is that Koivu had an MRI performed today and that he will be held out at least a week, possibly longer, depending on the results of the test. This is not good news...

In a season where the Wild are trying to scratch and claw their way into the post-season, losing the #1 center is the last thing that this team needed and is a recipe for how not to make the post-season. Unfortunately for Minnesota, Koivu is not easily replaced and there is no one on this roster that can even come close. Get ready for a huge dose of James Sheppard...

So the question that has plagued this organization for almost two seasons is why have the Wild and GM Doug Risebrough not addressed the teams lack of depth at the center position? Everybody in the hockey world saw this teams shortcoming before last seasons trade deadline and were sure that this would be dealt with then. Fans literally screamed for Risebrough to trade for a decent center but instead we got a seldom used thug in Chris Simon. Then after the teams early exit from the playoffs, the attention turned to off-season moves. Surely the Wild will acquire a center, right? Not so fast because the need apparently became not one, but two offensive, puck-moving defensemen (who by the way, have become real defensive liabilities).

I give Risebrough credit for a few of his off-season acquisitions. He brought us current players Brunette I & II (although part II is not as good as part I), Foster, Skoula, and former players Roslton, Demitra...to name a few. But it seems his deficiencies lie in the fact that he may not be a good evaluator when it comes to his teams top needs. For the past 2 seasons he has failed to beef-up the middle at a time when this team has had a real hole down the center. It was almost laughable last season, when you knew that the Wild were poised and ready for a good playoff run, when nothing happened to meet the shortcoming at the center position. That chuckle turned to maddening when zilch was done this past off-season.

Now we sit with no real option up the middle, as Koivu is likely down for the remainder of the season.

Russo radio goes television

Not only does Wild beat writer take the time to indulge fans with chat sessions and a weekly Russo Radio gig on KSTP am 1500, he also takes his act on the road as well. Our favorite Wild writer made an in studio appearance on NHL Live, a daily XM Radio broadcast, this afternoon . But for those of us lucky enough to have Directv, the show is also aired on the NHL Network, complete with in-studio cameras. Russo, in the New York area to cover the Wild's upcoming trip against the Rangers & Islanders, did a short segment today with host Don La Greca and E.J. Hradek.

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