Jacques Lemaire is Already Missed in the State of Hockey

Marty Havlat returns to his former home. Jonathan Toews got roughed up like a peewee at Bantam practice, and watched the game sharing a box of popcorn with Brent Seabrook, who also didn't dress. Everything looks poised for the Wild to take this game away from a hungry Chicago crowd. Well, we forgot to mention that the Wild are still missing one of their biggest assets. An asset they have been missing since the beginning of the season; a head coach.

Todd Richards, who to this point should still be coaching in the AHL, must have forgotten all the defense that made him a standout during his days under Doug Woog at the University of Minnesota. Following this glorious defeat, the Wild have fallen to 0-8 on the Road, 3-8 on the season, and most importantly, dead last in the Northwest division. Three ENTIRE games behind Vancouver.

Following a disappointing season, where the Wild missed the playoffs by a slight margin, the calls came calling. The fans of the State of Hockey wanted Lemaire gone. They said the program wasn't going anywhere. It was stuck in neutral. Marian Gaborik doesn't want to play for a defensive minded coach, blah blah blah. Whatever the case, Gaborik didn't want to play for ANY coach in Minnesota. He wanted out, we let him go, and now he's scoring at will in the Big Apple. Tough break, we lost our franchise player, too bad. But that happens, you have to adjust, and strive to get better. So, Lemaire resigns amid pressure from the public and front office, and we bring in offensive minded Richards to get this program on the right track right? Not even close.

"A team's best offense, is a good defense." You've all heard it. Well, Todd Richards has thrown defense out the door completely. The Wild are being outscored 23-35 this season. Man, it sure is tough to win games being behind all the time isn't it? The underlying problem behind all of this madness is simple. The Wild do not have the right personnel to compete like this. They just lost the most prolific scorer in franchise history, and replaced him with, well, Martin Havlat and Petr Sykora. They're trying, but it just isn't going to take. The farm team is tapped, there is no legitimate scoring threat on the team (sorry Mikko), AND the defense is getting shelled relentlessly. Things are not looking good in Minnesota. Hey, maybe if they played every game at home they would at least have a chance.

(information in this post was provided in part by http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/standings)