Questions abound as Wild return home

October 21, 2:31 PMMinnesota Wild ExaminerCharlie Beattie

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Mikko Koivu, Niklas Backstrom and the Wild face an early gut-check (AP photo)

The Wild return home tonight to face the Colorado Avalanche for just their second Xcel Energy Center tilt of the season, and an early disastrous road trip filled with one-sided losses, injuries and overall poor play has left Minnesota in a state of disarray. A quick look (and hopefully some answers) at the early questions surrounding this team.

Will the announcement of a permanent captain help?

It has to. The Wild named their first permanent captain in team history on Tuesday. To the surprise of few it was Mikko Koivu. Koivu seemed like the logical choice all summer long but for some reason Todd Richards decided to wait until seven games were in the books to make his decision. In the meantime, the Wild were dressing a rotating cast of seven alternate captains. With one-third of the roster wearing the “A” at various times, it would seem difficult for anyone to step up in the locker room and take charge, wouldn’t it? Now Minnesota has that central voice of leadership, and it helps that it will come from Koivu, their most complete player and a model professional.

What is the status of the Wild’s injured players?

This is a good news/bad news scenario. The good news is that Martin Havlat’s groin has responded well and he hopes to jump back into the lineup tonight. Petr Sykora’s return is taking slightly longer. He did not practice with the team Tuesday because of his groin injury and it seems unlikely he will return against Colorado. More likely Friday at St. Louis, if not later, for Sykora. Cal Clutterbuck is on long term IR and was likely out for a month, but skated this morning lightly. He's a tough customer, so expect him back sooner rather than later. The scariest injury is Pierre-Marc Bouchard’s headache situation. Bouchard is still suffering from what appears to be post-concussion symptoms, and they frequently have their own unpredictable timetable. The hope is that Bouchard can rest and be fit to play within a month, but that is just a hope. Buffalo center Tim Connolly is a classic case of what can go wrong in concussion scenarios. Post-concussion syndrome cost Connolly the entire season in 2003-04 and all but two games of the 2006-07 season.

Are the Wild’s early struggles the result of a lack of talent, injuries, or execution?

Yes, yes and yes. The first two go hand in hand in a way. The Wild are not a deep offensive team to begin with, and when players like Bouchard, Sykora and especially Havlat started appearing on the “scratch” line of the box score, Minnesota simply became overmatched. From an execution standpoint, the Wild still appear to be struggling to grasp their defensive assignments. The Wild gave up 20 goals in the five games out west, and of the 20, nine of them could be described as breakaways (including odd-man rushes) or blown assignments in front of the net. In addition, the Wild played with a lead for a grand total of 40 minutes and 50 seconds of their five games (out of a possible 300). They simply do not have the firepower to overcome those types of mistakes or try to comeback every night.

If the Wild continue to struggle, will the season turn into one long fire sale?

Probably so. The Wild have several key veterans who will be unrestricted free agents at season’s end, including Sykora, Owen Nolan, Kim Johnsson, Marek Zidlicky and Eric Belanger. If the Wild are out of it at any point of the season, GM Chuck Fletcher would likely shop any and all of those players who can both help a contending team and bring back value in terms of draft picks or young prospects, neither of which are in abundant supply for the Wild at the moment. In addition, Minnesota has a few contracts that while not up at the end of this season, are expensive enough that they would be worth dangling to see if anyone takes a bite. Considering his health improves, Bouchard (4.25 million) would fall into this category, as would Andrew Brunette (2.5), Antti Miettinen (2.5) and even the newly acquired Chuck Kobasew (2.5). There seem to be very few sacred cows on this roster if and when Fletcher decides to remake this roster with his own troops rather than Doug Risebrough’s.

Is it too late to save this season already?

Not too late, but getting close. Starting the season with six losses in seven games would be tough for any team, let alone one that came into the season banged up and suffered more injuries along the way. The silver lining for the Wild is that all of their losses have come away from home, for one thing, and they can only get healthier (one would think). The Western Conference in the NHL is deep, especially now that supposed doormats Phoenix and Colorado have gotten off to strong starts. The Wild are currently at the bottom of the conference with only two points, and with four of their next six at home, another tough stretch could spell their doom. It’s early, but tonight’s game against Colorado could be the sink-or-swim game of the season for the Wild, who need to get any kind of positive momentum going. Soon.