Ice Cold

Some people have been asking for more hockey posts, so I thought I'd give them a bone today. I haven't had a chance to watch much of the Minnesota Wild this year, but from what I have seen lately, they are absolutly horrid. There are many reasons for this, but all of these reasons seem to stem from the "leadership" of Jacque Lemaire.

Lemaire is a pretty solid coach. He has a couple of Stanley Cups as a player with the Montreal Canadiens (call them Canadians and I will punch you in the face repeatedly) and the New Jersey Devils (as a coach). He's the only coach in the history of the Wild. He led the Wild to the Western Conference finals in their third year of existance. In other words, he's done OK.

However, lately there have been signs that the leadership on this team needs to be changed. The Wild play in a defensive system known as the neutral zone trap. Sure, it produces wins but I would rather watch a 63-61 NBA game than this system right about now. Lemaire claims to know what's best for his players, but I think the players are beginning to hate him and not respond. As we've seen with the Timberwolves, when your players don't respond to your coach, you're in trouble.

Just a couple of the moves that have the Wild faithful scratching their heads include the fact that he's gone apeshit on James Sheppard for his disapproval of the system. Sheppard says that he's worried too much about his defense rather than scoring, which happens to be his strength at this point of his career. Lemaire used his poster child, Mikko Koivu, as an example of his perfect player. I guess I can't blame Jacque for that one. Koivu is one of the best players in the NHL today. Yes, you heard me right.

A more questionable move is Lemaire shuffling Brent Burns this season. The first couple of seasons, Lemaire used Burns's versatility and continued to shuffle him from wing to defenseman despite Burnsie struggling at wing. Finally, when Lemaire left Burns alone, he threw up 16 goals last season which was 2nd in the NHL at the defenseman postition. Yes, Gaborik got hurt and they had a need at wing, but Burns is NOT comfortable at the wing postition. Why mess with a guy who has the potential to win multiple Norris Trophies at the blue line? Lemaire went as far as to say that he was dissapointed he had to move him back to the blue line because Erik Reitz brings physicality to the defense. ARE YOU F'ING KIDDING ME??? ERIK REITZ IS BETTER AT DEFENSE THAN BRENT F'ING BURNS???

The most glaring example is that of which of Marian Gaborik. Gaborik has question marks as far as his commitment goes as he was hurt playing hacky sack and took a month to come back, but he's one of the best players on this team. Re-signing Gaborik would be easier if this were a system where Gaborik wants to play in. I've turned my back on Gaborik the past couple of weeks, but I shudder to think what Gaborik could do in a situation where he didn't have to worry about his defense.

The bottom line is Lemaire has done a lot of things for the franchise, but he doesn't connect with the young players on this team. I don't know much about NHL coaches, so I'm not going to throw names out there, but it seems like whatever Lemaire is doing isn't working. A new GM wouldn't hurt either, Mr. Reisbrough.