Happy Thursday to you all,
Here comes my first blog that I take time and write about my favorite team, the Minnesota Wild. Let me start off this baby the right way and say that the Wild have more wins then the Vikings and the T-Puppies combined.
A couple of years ago, I would have argued that the Wild would be the first pro team to bring in World Championship since the 1991 Minnesota Twins....But my view on the subject has changed a little bit. Todd Richards enters his 2nd year as the head coach of the Wild. Let me say that he replaced one of the best player/coach the NHL has ever seen in Jacques Lemaire whose coaching style may be boring and pure defensive.... lets say that the Wild would trade for that any day replacing the up - tempo attack Todd Richards teaches..
The problem with the style Richards prefers the Wild playing is that he doesn't have the players to fit into the system that he desires. How he doesn't realize it is insulting to the Wild faithful. Before Richards was hired he was an assistant coach for the San Jose Sharks, which I would say perfect the style he so wishes the Wild could do. If you look at the Sharks roster, you see speed, toughness, and size.......... I would say the Wild lack everything but toughness.
Now sure it is easy to blame the GM Check Fletcher for not bringing in the right players but Richards need to adjust to the strengths of his team. We no longer need a coach who daydreams! We need a coach who evaluates his players and mold the team that utilizes everyone's strengths....Since speed is something the Wild lack, why are we pushing them for this up-tempo fast style of play? Clearly you know something is wrong when the Wild score more goals under the defensive minded coach Lemaire then they have with Richards........
Another thing about Richards.... I don't care if you don't like our best player, play him! For some reason, Richards refuses to play Martin Havlat with significant ice time. When we are paying the man $30 million dollars, I want to see him on the ice. Martin Havlat is one of the best 1 on 1 offensive players and arguably one of the best skaters in the league. I don't understand how you expect us to win when he only gets 13 minutes a game.....Which it explains why Havlat's agent Allan Walsh pubivly addressed the situation a couple of weeks ago, which made me happy because the Wild thought they were getting away with benching one of their best players..
Since the agent incident, Havlat has averaged 19 minutes a game and has 16 points in 15 games. It seriously isn't rocket science people, clearly Richards doesn't get it.
Click here for a Havlat article.
I am not endorsing a coaching change, I just wish Brent Burns would shake some sense into Richards....... anybody? just me??
Todd Richards bio here
I think it's simple.. Having your best players on the bench isn't the smartest way of winning games.
Any who,
Stay fresh
Noel
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