Minnesota Wild: Changes are coming

After getting destroyed 5-0 in Winnipeg to end their season on Friday, the Minnesota Wild should be making some big changes to their front office and roster this offseason.

The Minnesota Wild are now officially in a rut. After getting bludgeoned into elimination on Friday night at the hands of the Winnipeg Jets, Wild owner Craig Leopold has some big decisions to make regarding his roster and maybe more importantly, his GM.

According to Micheal Russo, Wild GM Chuck Fletcher’s contract is expiring after this season and after another first round playoff exit and an offseason that was less than ideal, Fletcher might be the odd man out. This offseason saw the Wild rid themselves of Eric Haula, Alex Tuch and Marco Scandella and Fletcher was unsuccessful in nearly every move he made.

In Fletcher’s defense, Ryan Suter and Zach Parise were both out for this series and judging a team based on performances without two of its most important players is unfair to all. However, if you take a step back and look at this team’s playoff performances over the past five seasons, you will see an under-achieving team under three different head coaches.

They lack a game breaking offensive talent and are not big enough to play entirely physical but are not fast enough to play that type of game either. The Wild will need to choose which way to go and make moves accordingly.

Next: Wild lose game four and Zach Parise

The albatross contracts of two currently injured players do not help with the flexibility this offseason but there needs to be a shake up of some sort on the Wild roster. It’s obvious that this group is not going to be able to take this franchise to the next level and compete for a Stanley Cup and fans are growing more and more apathetic.