Playing second fiddle

It's never all good...the Minnesota Wild have positioned themselves better than in any previous free-agent period after their recent acquisitions and spending, yet there is one huge piece still missing. And that missing piece is just sitting there waiting to be picked up but there is still no word on a deal. If Mikko's older brother, Saku Koivu, decides to come to play in the State of Hockey the puzzle will be that much closer to being complete. But if he gets away, there will still be a gaping hole up the middle, a problem that this team has had at the center position for years. The older Koivu would fill that need beautifully. Unfortunately, by all accounts, the Wild have slipped a bit on his list and the deal isn't as sure as it once seemed by reports.

It seems to me that the time has come to simply snatch him up by sweetening the deal. Too many times this organization has let players slip away only to go short-handed, with arms in the air, telling fans that they tried and made viable offers. Well how about making an offer that is accepted instead of sitting and watching other teams make that offer? I think Fletcher and Co. have done a great job to date, but this is one free agent that they should not let slip away, we need him. While it is true we are under a new direction with Fletcher, it would be nice to truly out-do the rest of the league by landing this veteran, one that is reportedly being courted by several teams.

On a side-note on the Koivu free agency...I had a chance to speak with a Wild employee, and former long time NHL player, on the subject. While this individual does not have first-hand knowledge of any negotiations, he does posses the knowledge of the inner workings of the team and organization as a whole. His take was that he did not think this would necessarily be a good signing. The reason given was simply that this was Mikko's team and anything that could or would happen to disrupt that would be devastating....food for thought I guess.