The signings of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter on July 4th as UFA’s ushered in a new era for Wild faithful. We are now at the beginning of an era of patience and planning. Gone are the Risebrough days of abnormally high contracts for mediocre players; losing star players for nothing; getting goons at the trade deadline just to say we did something.

It was about this time last season when Russo started floating the idea of the Wild attempting to land both Parise and Suter. Months later, viola! Now, I would never accuse anyone of tampering, but you know that pulling off this feat without tampering required detailed planning and patience.

As such, I do not expect much out of the Wild front office today despite their needs for a top 4 stay-at-home, big bodied defenseman and a qualified back-up goalie for the playoffs and, perhaps, beyond.

Frankly, I would not be surprised and would be rather impressed if Fletcher and company stand pat and do nothing on the day that former GM Brian Burke calls “the day when GM’s lose their minds”. No thanks. Keep your assets and keep plugging away. Get your young guys some good experience. It’s not always the teams with the HUGE names that make the runs in the playoffs. Remember 10 years ago when the Wild upset the top seeded Avs and the second seeded Canucks before bowing out in the Western Conference Final to another up and coming team in the Anaheim Ducks?

However, making the playoffs is the key. And, despite the Wild’s favorable positioning in the Western Conference currently, that could all be turned upside down in the next 7 games (Monday’s loss to St. Louis included).

Tonight, the Wild are at San Jose and then, tomorrow night, find themselves in Los Angeles to take on the Kings, both teams the Wild have recently beaten at home. No doubt, both teams will have a score to settle, not to mention the fact that they are playing like teams that have been to the playoffs before and are used to winning late in the season. After this back-to-back adventure, the Wild fly to Columbus to take on the upstart Blue Jackets who are playing great defensively and in goal for former Wild bench boss, Todd Richards before returning home to take on Chicago, St. Louis and Columbus. Not an easy stretch of games.

Like their opponent tonight in the Sharks, the Wild could easily find themselves on the wrong side of a 7 game streak after recently winning 7 in a row. Sound familiar Sharks fans? Remember, San Jose started this season winning their first 7 which they then followed up with a 0-4-3 record over the next 7 games. However, San Jose has seemingly found their way as winners of their last 5 games after losing in Minnesota and have won 6 of their last 7 games. Not to mention, they are absolute beasts at home with a record of 12-1-4 this season at the HP Pavillion aka The Shark Tank. Compared to the Wild which are an impressive 8-8-1 on the road, but still it’s only .500.

The Sharks are 24-14-2-5 against Minnesota all-time. The Wild are only 8-12-2 in San Jose. Notwithstanding, the Wild have seemed to have San Jose’s number lately, winning 4 straight against the Sharks, tying a franchise record for most consecutive wins against theSharks which the Wild have now done 3 times. The Wild have never beaten the Sharks 5 times in a row. I would not expect that to happen tonight. I would be happy if they could make a game of it and grab at least a point from the game tonight.

No doubt, these next 7 games will test the Wild’s mettle as a playoff contender. Thankfully, the last 7 games are a tad bit easier (at Calgary, at Edmonton, at San Jose, Calgary, Los Angeles, Edmonton, at Colorado) although not a given either. It’s time for the Wild to step up and play like a team that wants to play in the post-season. If not, then all of that money I just spent on playoff seats will probably be enough to cover next year’s season tickets.

Hang on Wild fans, it’s 54 points or bust time. 10 more points and the Wild should be shoe-in’s to the playoffs.

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