The Wild need to add another scoring forward if it wants the 2009-2010 season to be success

To mark the historic 40th Anniversay for the Apollo Moon Landings, I will begin this article with the infamous quote Neil Armstrong gave to the world as he made his first step on the moon's surface, "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." While professional sports are certainly far less significant in the greater scope of human history compared to the moon landings, the Minnesota Wild still need to take one more little step so it can take its giant leap to a true new transition. Unlike NASA I promise not to tape over the original! The many changes the team has made to its front office and coaching has been incredible. To the termination of Doug Risebrough and the hiring of his replacement in rookie General Manager Chuck Fletcher. Or the resignation of Head Coach Jacques Lemaire and his replacement in rookie NHL Head Coach Todd Richards. One would be remiss to not mention the departure of Marian Gaborik; the last original Wild player and the all time leading scorer in franchise history as he left the organization for nothing in return. These departures might be rough for those who are rather sentimental, but the new organization has promoted and promised a new brand of hockey. A promise of an up-tempo, high energy, offensive style of game. This new 'concept' for the Wild has some doubters; most notably Jacques Lemaire but many fans across the State of Hockey are excited and embracing this new philosophy whole-heartedly. Wild fans may have accepted the trap as an effective way to play the game, but it doesn't always mean those fans thought it was exciting. Afterall, professional sports are a form of entertainment and generally speaking people enjoy watching goals scored rather than be prevented by stingy team defense. The offseason is a tough time for any die-hard fan. News is very infrequent and there is far too much time to discuss the team's issues which leads to debates ad-nauseum. As the saying goes, "no sense beating a dead horse" it is advice that falls on deaf ears (or in this case strained eyes) as fans get caught up in the minutia for simply wanting to talk about their team. The news of the schedule, both regular and pre-season was ok but it really serves as a teaser more than anything. A sort of a "hey look at who we'll be playing next year," as fans are counting the days until training camp opens again this fall. I know I can't wait as its far easier writing about news than trying to stir things up while the weather is starting to look and feel a bit more summer like than it has in the upper midwest so far. Going back to the original premise of this article, the Wild have gone through a great many changes yet when you really look at it on paper it looks surprisingly even when you look at how few players we have added compared to the plethora that have left. Departures:~ Marian Gaborik - 17GP 13G 10A = 23pts~ Kurtis Foster - 10GP 1G 5A = 6pts~ Marc-Andre Bergeron - 72GP 14G 18A = 32pts~ Martin Skoula - 81GP 4G 12A = 16pts~ Peter Olvecky - 31GP 2G 5A = 7pts~ Stephane Veilleux - 81GP 13G 10A = 23pts~ Dan Fritsche - 50GP 5G 8A = 13pts~ Krys Kolanos - 21GP 3G 3A = 6pts Total: 353GP 55G 71A = 126pts Additions:~ Martin Havlat - 81GP 29G 48A = 77pts ~ Kyle Brodziak - 79GP 11G 16A = 27pts~ Greg Zanon - 82GP 4G 7A = 11pts~ Shane Hnidy - 65GP 3G 9A = 12ptsTotal: 307GP 47G 80A = 127ptsA terrific way to describe how the numbers are not quite telling you the whole truth is the phrase from your car's sideview mirror of 'objects in the mirror are closer than they appear' meaning the image of the stats do not really show you an accurate view of the players' impact. One item the statistics ignore is that Marian Gaborik played the least amount of games of any NHL season he has ever participated in. Even if Gaborik has a fairly mundane (for him at least) 30 goal, 30 assist season in 65 games, the totals tip in favor of those departing by a significant margin at 395 games played, 72 goals, 91 assists for a total of 163 points which is a 27% difference. What does all this number juggling mean? It means that despite the near mirror image on paper based on the stats last year, in terms of your average season (which by the way is giving the Wild the benefit of the doubt since it was the most games Martin Havlat ever played in a single season in his entire NHL career) the Wild actually still ended up on the losing end in terms of points. An offensively starved team got weaker offensively. One more fact to consider is that the loss of Marc-Andre Bergeron's production form the blueline (which in some way made Wild fans have an easier time forgetting about Brian Rolston's big blasts from the point on the power play) eclipses both new blueliners Greg Zanon and Shane Hnidy combined. The team opted not to trade the far more penalty prone Marek Zidlicky (who is set to become a UFA next summer), who was also a -12 than keep the more affordable Bergeron who had 10 less points but was a +5 not to mention had just 32 penalty minutes compared to Zidlicky's 76. The fact remains that apart from the promises to play an up-tempo 'exciting' brand of hockey the Wild declared that they are not rebuilding and while they again missed on landing coveted free agent Marian Hossa they did get another quality offensive player in Martin Havlat. Havlat, like Marian Gaborik is a high risk, high reward player if he can manage to stay healthy. The Wild managed to sign him to a six year deal, the first 5 years of which has a no-movement clause but at a somewhat reasonable $5 million per season. The Wild just missed the playoffs this season even though they were without Gaborik for most of it. Gaborik's presence was key in a late-season surge, but as they team stands its more or less status quo from where it was at the beginning of last season. Again, youth is going to be expected to chip in offensively. James Sheppard and likely Benoit Pouliot are going to have to show distinct improvement; especially Pouliot who has more or less signed his 'last chance' contract of a 1-year deal. One other player who should feel as though he's on the hot-seat even though he's locked down for a few more seasons is Pierre-Marc Bouchard. The team expected Bouchard to provide more offense than he did and through the first half of the season he seemed to be lost (perhaps looking to see where Brian Rolston was) but had a better 2nd half. It is probably unrealistic to expect much more offensively from Andrew Brunette (21 goals) and Owen Nolan (a team-leading 25 goals) than they gave us last year. Mikko Koivu can be expected to produce more, albiet slightly as he will continue to be the backbone of this team both on and off the ice. Yet, if the team is not rebuilding does it have enough to really take a step forward and get into the post-season? No. It needs more help. Minnesota made a patient attempt to sign Saku Koivu, but he opted to play with his friend Teemu Selanne in Anaheim rather than join forces with his little big brother Mikko. Saku Koivu would've given the team two fairly reliable scoring lines, not to mention another center it could rely on to chip in offensively. That didn't come to pass, so it makes it essential that Wild General Manager Chuck Fletcher add another scoring forward or it could be another tough year in the State of Hockey. Importantly the Wild have the cap space to add such a player, the question becomes is it more crucial to have this flexibility at the deadline or should it make a deal and live near the cap ceiling? There has been some speculation the team is considering and making trade offers; especially to those teams who will have to shed salary before the start of next season to get underneath the cap like Chicago, Boston, and Philadelphia. In the case of the Chicago Blackhawks this is a very real and dire truth that they will need money next year if they hope to retain both Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews who are set to become restricted free agents next season. Could that make a still fairly young and skilled center like Patrick Sharp available (Wild fans sure hope that is the case)? It would be ignorant to think that Minnesota has such a big advantage since there are several teams with even more cap space than the Wild do. If trades are not something the Wild wish to try, there are still some decent free agents out there and that could very well be Fletcher's strategy to let those remaining UFA's sweat a bit about where they could end up and hopefully drive their asking price down a bit before signing them. Here is a list from nhlnumbers.com, an online database that is earning more and more 'street cred' from news publications (like the Hockey News for example) for its fine work. nhlnumbers.com free agent listIn an effort to simplify things and keep this Wild focused so to speak here are two free agents I think the Wild should consider. The idea behind such signings is to get an effective scorer with the amount of cap space we have remaining. I will add how I think those players fit on the team and its new philosophy of being an up-tempo forechecking team. 1. Alex Tanguay (LW) - Tanguay does not answer the team's need for a center but he is a speedy winger with good playmaking and scoring ability. The past two teams Tanguay has played for, the Flames and Canadiens respectively have placed high expectations and pressure on the 29-year old to be a scoring machine. While it'd be great for him to be a scoring machine; if he can provide 50-60 points he would be a huge boost to an offense who has a modest level of scoring to its credit. Cap Hit in 2008/09: $5.375 million. Rather pricey for a guy who scored 41 points, but on the bright side he put up those points in just 50 games proving he is still a rather effective offensive talent. If he could trim his asking price to $4.8-$5.0 million he might be a great addition to the Wild while giving the team an additional $1.2 million in cap space. 2. Petr Sykora (RW) - The 32-year old Czech sniper is the shooter the team has lacked since it lost Brian Rolston last season. He may not be the best forechecker but he fired home 25 goals last season with the Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins. As an added bonus, Sykora has ton of post-season experience which could be a valued commodity if the team really is believing it has what it takes to qualify for the playoffs. Cap Hit in 2008/09: $2.5 million. This is perhaps what makes Sykora very tempting is the fact if you signed him you'd likely still have a fair amount of breathing room to use at the trade deadline later on. I am going to guess he'd want a slight increase but he was not nearly as critical to the Penguins success as Bill Guerin was. If the team is looking to add another for pure forechecking forward, then two free agent right wingers jump off this list are Elk River, Minnesota-native Dan Hinote and the rugged and powerful Mike Grier. Both players love to crash along the boards and play with physicality and tenacity making life miserable for the opposition. We shall see if we add another player; which I strongly believe adding another scorer is necessary if we truly wish to move forward or just stay pat. If we make a move forward than we can see change is not just lipspeak for doing the same passive style the previous management was notorious for.