After a week or two of losses where the Wild played decently but not good enough to win, they’ve suddenly strung together three big wins and are back to 4 points out. After losses to ANA, LA, NJ, and CHI, they’ve now beaten CAL, CHI, and PIT. After falling to 8 points out of a playoff spot, they’re back to within striking distance at 4 points back.

This current stretch looked to be the toughest of the season for the Wild. Although they probably should have beaten Anaheim and LA and looked pretty bad in Chicago, they played well v. New Jersey and in all 3 home wins in the current streak. The squad even pulled of the biggest comeback in franchise history (down 5-1 v. Chicago in the 3rd) and tonight beat the defending Cup champion Penguins.

This team trends a bit differently from last year’s team. When they needed wins, last year’s team would win 1, then lose the next, through the balance of the schedule. This year’s team goes on runs...runs of losses, then runs of wins. If it can have one more winning run than losing, we may still get to talk playoff hockey this season.

A lot of other interesting stuff has gone on in the last couple weeks.

• Jacques Lemaire returned to the X behind the NJ Devil’s bench. He appeared to be moved by a nice reception from the Wild and Wild fans. Then he beat the Wild 4-3.
• Petr Sykora is upset that he is a consistent healthy scratch, and his agent is tweeting mad about it.
• Guillaume Latendresse is winning fans like mad with 15 points since the Benoit Pouliot trade.
• Backup G Josh Harding was in danger of taking a loss in a game where he entered trailing 5-1.
• Harding also unveiled a sweet new mask, paying homage to the team’s burned equipment van in Ottawa.
• In that same game, Marty Havlat was not chosen to shoot during an 8-round shootout.
• Two Minnesotans will be part of the core leadership for the US Olympic hockey team. Jamie Langenbrunner will serve as team captain and Zach Parise is one of 4 alternate captains.

All good stuff. The Wild will attempt to continue this run Wednesday at the X v. Vancouver Canucks.

Here’s a bonus for you: Latendresse’s game-winning goal from tonight’s game v. Pittsburgh. The goal was sweet, and so was how Kyle Brodziak created a sneaky 2 on 1. Great goal. Enjoy!

Actually Chuck Fletcher’s first task as new Wild GM turned out to be the 2009 Entry Draft, but during this time he was also inundated with questions about Marian Gaborik. People seemed to think that with Reisbrough gone and the possibility of a more offensive style, Gabby would be more interested in re-signing with the Wild. Fletcher answered each time that he would be in touch with Gaborik, that he is a very talented player that anyone would want on their team. But it never felt like there was anymore possibility now than there was last season during #10’s long injury break.

At the same time Fletcher was also looking for his coach. This search turned out to be very similar to the GM process…there were a few big names interested in the job (Pat Quinn again, Peter Laviolette), others from within the Wild organization (Mike Ramsay, Kevin Constantine), and a few others, including a current assistant in San Jose with ties to Minnesota and to Chuck Fletcher (Todd Richards). I was interested in Laviolette. He won the Stanley Cup with Carolina a few years ago and has an offensive mind. Seemed to be a good fit. Again, there was media speculation that it would likely be Todd Richards, and that is ultimately who Fletcher hired.

Richards shares Fletcher’s vision of “up tempo” hockey, giving the talented D-men the green light to join the rush regularly. He comes in with a player’s coach reputation, so we will see how it translates to on-the-ice performance. The Minnesota Boy Comes Home bit is a nice story, so you want to root for the guy. It will likely take a couple years, but I have hopes for entertaining hockey. The big question…do the Wild have the players to win with the new style? It seems our old coach new New Jersey Devils coach Jacques Lemaire does not think so.

The Wild also have a new assistant coach in Dave Barr, who joins Mike Ramsey behind the bench. Mario Tremblay will not be back with the team as he and the new regime “mutually” decided to part ways. Assistant GM Tom Lynn also was let go. This is truly a new beginning for Wild hockey.

Coming next: Step 3 – Replace the Checked-Out Prima Dona

Jacques Lemaire made it official after tonight’s 6-3 Wild win over Columbus. He will not be coaching the Wild next season. For the first time ever, the Wild will not have Jacques behind the bench.

This is a sad day. While I would enjoy a more offensive style of play, I absolutely loved Coach Lemaire’s French accent, his willingness to actually coach his superstars, and I will very much miss his post game pressers.

Obviously this brings up a ton of questions: Who will Doug Reisbrough hire to replace him? Will the style of play change? Will Jacques coach somewhere else next season? Will a team with little talent bottom out without a good coach? How long into free agency will Marian Gaborik take to find a new team? These things I’ll cover in future posts.

For now, reflect a bit on the Wild’s first 8 seasons of hockey that included a before-their-time run to the Conference Finals, two other appearances in the playoffs, and a Northwest Division title. Appreciate the foundation that a legendary coach has built.

Thank you Coach Lemaire.

I really wanted to put together a nice post after tonite’s 3-0 shutout Wild win, but I dinked around too long and now I’m tired. So, you get this.

The Wild scored 2 goals in the 1st period and put the clamps on for the rest of the game to shut out the Anaheim Mighty Ducks tonite. Yes, I know it’s just the Ducks now, but I like the cartoon team of yesteryear, so I’m sticking with Mighty Ducks. Wild goals came from February captain Andrew Brunette, real captain Mikko Koivu, and an empty netter from never been captain Pierre-Marc Bouchard. Backstrom was good, real good on a Ducks breakaway, and once again I am encouraged that the Wild are playing well enough defensively to stay in the playoff picture. The Wild have won 2 in a row and may just have turned that consistency corner to stop the win one lose one cycle. I guess we’ll see in Friday’s game v. Nashville.

Coach Jacques Speculation
During Minnesota hockey guru Lou Nanne’s most recent appearance on KFAN radio with Dan Barreiro Tuesday, he talked about Jacques Lemaire and his thoughts on whether or not he would be back to coach the Wild next season. Louie is fairly convinced this will be JL’s last year. You can listen here.

I don’t really want to think too much about this yet, but is it safe to assume that Kevin Constantine, who is a former NHL coach and the current coach in Houston, will be the next Wild coach? I’ve heard that he can be even more defensive-minded than Jacques…

Freeze on Season Ticket Prices
Today the Wild announced that they will not be raising prices for season tickets next season. They also announced that any playoff games this year will be the same price as last year’s playoff prices. Citing the economy, the pressers I read and heard during the game broadcast tonite all made it sound like they’re doing this great deed for the fans.

I call BS. The Wild know that if they raise prices next season they will lose even more ticket holders. I know a handful of people that have not renewed in the last couple years because prices have gone up too much and Doug Reisbrough does not put a corresponding level of talent on the ice. I have heard many rumblings of unhappy season ticket holders this season. The Wild had no choice but to freeze ticket prices. If it was really for the economy and to do something great for the fans, they would have dropped ticket prices for next year.

Then again, maybe I’m just bitter because I’ve been frozen out of the X myself so far this year.