Relief and Frustration

It’s been a whirlwind end of the season. The Wild are out of the playoff picture (and have been for some time, even before it became numerically impossible). At this point, players are battling for their own reasons. Some are fighting to retain their pride, some are looking to sharpen or regain their skills, and others are playing for roster spots…or to prevent being traded.

After an exciting shootout win at home against the Flames, the Wild started a back to back in Buffalo last night with another Jekyll and Hyde performance. The first period was solid…and then the team was down to Josh Harding. All effort vanished.

Let’s face it, this year has not been kind to the boys. Injury upon injury upon injury, with no reaction from the league (I’m trying to keep this blog all-ages, so I won’t provide commentary on Shanahan). The latest was a blatant dirty hit on Jared Spurgeon by Alex Tanguay. Some writers are arguing that Tanguay isn’t a dirty player. Dirty history or not, the hit wasn’t clean.

Spurgeon isn’t a top 10 player and he’s a member of the Wild…so no suspension. Yeah, I’m pissed off.

The injuries this season have been almost comical; I’m reminded of the drummers from Spinal Tap. It seems that every game another Wild player drops. Kassian is out with a groin injury. Backstrom is back out with his groin injury. In Saturday’s game against the Sabres Matt Cullen’s season likely ended with a broken finger. Chad Rau will be joining the Wild today in Washington.

The good news? Wild prospects are kicking butt all over the world. I’m not concerned about the draft this year…the Wild have firepower lined up outside the door for the fall.

More after today’s game, and we’ll take a look at the prospects over the next couple of weeks.