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Are The Wild All That Far From Contention? |
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With the Conference Finals set and some new faces on the scene, it begs to ask, are the Wild all that far away from being a contender?
After-all the Capitals have finally made it to the conference final after years of coming up short. Last season Nashville finally got over the hump and made it to the Cup final and if the format was different this season where the top two seeds in the West met in round two, they may have been to the conference final for a second consecutive season.
Winnipeg had not won a playoff game in franchise history dating back to the Atlanta days, but today they are one step closer to the Cup. And Vegas, well they are a brand new team, and of course there are some special circumstances involved, like starting with a totally clean slate, but with players that were all anxious to prove their worth and show that they can perform given the opportunity.
So there are four different teams in the Conference Finals that are built uniquely to their own specifications. But the common denominator is a will to work together in a team over individual manner every night. They each have contributors up and down the lineup that are willing to pay the price to compete and fight for every inch of ice to make plays.
The Wild have been to the playoffs for six straight seasons, but just a couple of playoff series wins to their credit. But are they really that far away from contention?
Yes, their roster is incomplete as it stands right now. Absolutely, do they need to alter the chemistry of the team. But does it take tanking a season or two to get a high draft choice in order for that to occur, or is there some creative thinking and moves that could catapult this team to the top of the Western Conference?
Nashville and Winnipeg are in the same division and the Wild have had an up close and personal view of their ascension up the standings. They see each of them 5 times a year and know what they each bring to the table as far as skill, style, and compete levels are concerned.
The Wild have some interesting prospects on the way or already here. Jordan Greenway is a big body that can play, Joel Eriksson Ek has matured quite a bit in his two seasons with the Wild, and Luke Kunin will be a full time contributor next season.
Dmitry Sokolov is an interesting player as he is a true goal scorer, but can that translate to the pro game? And of course Kirill Kaprizov is on the horizon as probably the most anticipated Wild prospect ever.
The question marks of course are on defense and in goal.
Tradeable assets: Jared Spurgeon, Eric Staal, Jonas Brodin, Nino Niederreiter, and to a lesser degree Charlie Coyle mainly because of his down season and reduced value. Jason Zucker and Matt Dumba are RFAs but are also assets that could be moved.
So are the Wild really that far away, or was Craig Leipold just posturing when he said this is not a rebuild?
Minnesota Wild Blogger • 
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