Zidlicky, Would You Like Some Cheese With Your W(h)ine?

Some late-day big news. Scratched Wild defenseman Marek Zidlicky is not happy with his place in the press box, and whined (my word for it) to Mike Russo of the Star Tribune. Catch Russo’s blog here.

My take? Waaaaaaahhhh! Actually, that’s my impression of Zids. His play as of late has stunk worse than a Metrodome bathroom on free chili-cheese-dog day. How many times have we seen pucks get by him at the point, or shots go wide and be turned right around for goals against? Did he really think that a coach as performance-oriented as Mike Yeo would put up with it?

I’m giving him 10 days tops before a moving truck shows up at his house, and I’ll be surprised to see him in a Wild sweater on the ice again. Chuck Fletcher had a closed door meeting with Zidlicky after he talked to Russo, and I’m guessing that the topic wasn’t about putting Zids’ picture on billboards around the Twin cities.

He may go elsewhere and do great things, but he’s not doing them under our system. That makes him expendable. The Wild aren’t going to modify their system that is designed to take full advantage of our upcoming prospects to favor a defenseman in his mid-30s who isn’t performing to the level expected.