Sunday, July 24, 2011

Almost There

With the NFL lockout looking like it could end any day now, it's time to look at what moves the Vikings need to make in order to prepare themselves for a thankfully full, 16-game 2011 campaign. The Vikings will be led by former defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier, who took over for the much-maligned Brad Childress in the middle of last season. While signing their drafted players of 2011 is an obvious priority, the Vikings will have to focus a significant amount of attention on their unrestricted free agents, which include the likes Sidney Rice, Ray Edwards, Ben Leber, Pat Williams and Ryan Longwell.

The situation with Sidney Rice will be the first thing on the minds of Viking fans when free agency opens, presumably sometime this week. Rice only played in six games in 2010, due to a hip injury he sustained in the Championship game against the New Orleans Saints. However, Rice had a brilliant season in 2009 with Brett Favre at the helm, amassing 1,312 yards and 8 touchdowns. If Rice walks, the Vikings should be awfully concerned with the depth of their wide receiver position. The most talented receiver on the roster left would be Percy Harvin, who is extremely explosive in his own right but not number one receiver material. Bernard Berrian had a nice first season in Minnesota, but has flopped in the two years since. Greg Camarillo is a suitable possession target, but shouldn't be relied on as more than a third or fourth option. That leaves unknowns Jaymar Johnson and Juaquin Iglesias as the only other receivers on the roster. The Vikings need to have a back-up plan in the case Rice leaves, which more and more sounds like will happen. There are several receivers on the market in addition to Rice, with Santonio Holmes, Braylon Edwards, Mike Sims-Walker and others vying for big contracts. It would not be fair to throw rookie Christian Ponder into the fire without a true number one receiver at his disposal. Visanthe Shiancoe will be a reliable weapon for the former Florida State Seminole, but every young quarterback needs to have an option on the outside that he can trust. Besides Rice, the Vikings have no real free agent worries on the offensive side of the ball. Naufahu Tahi, Hank Baskett, Tarvaris Jackson and Greg Lewis are the notable offensive free agents.

Linebacker Chad Greenway would have been the most important free agent for the Vikings, but he was franchised by the team in February. Brian Robison was also re-signed by the Vikings this offseason, leading to an expectation that Ray Edwards will head to the free market unimpeded. Free agent Pat Williams was a huge part of the Vikings successful run defense a few years ago, but he will turn 39 this October and his play has fallen off quite significantly. South Dakota native Ben Leber has been a great leader for the Vikings since his arrival from San Diego, but odds are the Vikings will let him go as well, leaving an outside linebacker spot up for competition between Erin Henderson and Jasper Brinkley. If the Vikings make any kind of moves on the defensive side of the ball, it should be in the secondary. The Minnesota defensive back unit left much to be desired last season, although much of the futility could be attributed to starting cornerback Cedric Griffin's season-ending injury in Week 5. Antoine Winfield is still a hard-hitter, but at his age (34) rarely covers the best pass-catcher of the other team. Rookie Chris Cook struggled on-and-off with injuries for much of the season, and Asher Allen spent the majority of his second year in the pros being burned by opposing receivers. Things don't get any better when it comes to the safeties, where Madieu Williams and Husain Abdullah were average and unremarkable. If the Vikings sign any new defensive players, expect them to be cornerbacks or safeties.

In a perfect world, the Vikings would throw as much money as they could at Sidney Rice, retain steady kicker Ryan Longwell and find a way to sign a young, talented defensive back. However, that will be extremely difficult with perennial big-spenders such as the Washington Redskins, Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles chomping at the bit. Nonetheless, Vikings fans should have faith that Vice President of Player Personnel Rick Spielman and the other personnel in charge will make the solid, if not shrewd, decisions, as they have not let the faithful followers down yet.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

The Wild's West Coast Connection

If I were to tell you on that on July 6, 2011, the Minnesota Wild would be going into the season without three of their top four scorers on the roster, you would be worried, right? Well, how about if I told you that the Wild now had a two-time 50-goal scorer and another winger who has scored 31 goals on the team? That is the reality for Minnesota's favorite hockey club as General Manager Chuck Fletcher made two separate trades with the San Jose Sharks, acquiring four-time All Star Dany Heatley and Devin Setoguchi, along with prospect Charlie Coyle and a 2011 first round pick, which was used on center Zack Phillips.

Love him or hate him, Dany Heatley has the capability at any moment to put the puck in the net, the kind of player the Minnesota Wild has lacked since the days of Marian Gaborik. Last year was definitely a down year for Heatley, who put up a career-low 64 points, which still would have put him at the top of Wild point-scorers. However, he spent most of the second half the season dealing with a hand injury. Most of the controversy and criticism surrounding Heatley comes from the fact that he has now been on four teams in the last eight years at a somewhat younger age (only 30), leaving some to think of Heatley as a crybaby who thinks he can leave a team whenever he wants. This was not the case this time, as it was actually the Sharks' decision to trade the former Wisconsin Badger and not his own. Some have speculated that his lack of goals in the playoffs (five in 32 games)lead to his unexpected exit. Regardless of what you think of Dany Heatley, you have to respect his scoring ability and he immediately improves the Wild's rather anemic offense. Although it's a shame to see such a smooth puck mover and handler in Martin Havlat go, the Wild didn't really have anyone who makes scoring a main priority, a point Fletcher made after the trade was completed. It looks like the Wild have found that player.

The Heatley trade took away much of the attention from the Wild's first summer transaction, a draft-time trade that saw the Wild trade star defenseman and fan favorite Brent Burns and a 2012 second round pick to San Jose for Devin Setoguchi, 2010 first round pick Charlie Coyle and Zack Phillips, who the Wild selected with the Sharks first round pick. As with Heatley, the addition of Setoguchi upgrades the goal-scoring potential of team that ranked 26th in the league last season. Setoguchi, much like the departed Burns, has struggled with moments of inconsistency but still has 84 goals over his first four professional seasons. Thoughts of Setoguchi playing on a line with his former teammate Heatley must have crept into the minds of Wild fans the moment the second trade was announced, but I see the Wild balancing out their offense by putting the two on separate lines, perhaps with Heatley playing on the first with captain Mikko Koivu and Pierre-Marc Bouchard. Those two possess excellent puck-passing skills, allowing Heatley to flourish in his natural role. I see Setoguchi sharing the second line with Matt Cullen and Guillaume Latendresse, who missed most of last year but was a pleasant surprise for the Wild after he was acquired during the 09-10 season.

These two trades Chuck Fletcher has made have turned the Minnesota from a bland team that is too bad to make the playoffs but too good for a high draft pick into an intriguing club that will have the eyes of the media and fans alike this season. They may still be a few players away from making the postseason, but they have made the right moves to keep up in an ever-improving Western Conference.