Minnesota Wild Stanley Cup Playoff Preview

NHL odds makers have Minnesota as long shots to win the Cup but that wont stop the Wild from dreaming of Stanley Cup success, with a good defense, these guys will not fear anybody.

After going 44-28-10 and finishing with 98 points, Minnesota won the Northwest Division to grab the third seed in the Western Conference playoffs. But you wouldn’t know it by taking a look at NHL playoff odds, as the Wild are set as long shots to hoist the Cup. That’s because the Wild are as unexciting a team as there is in the NHL, so they attract little public fanfare.

Hockey bettors should beware fading the Wild, however. Minnesota has very solid special teams, ranking seventh in the league with the man advantage and third in the NHL in penalty killing. Marian Gaborik is one of the most talented forwards in the league, and Brian Rolston is a capable, veteran sidekick for the sensational Slovak. Wild backers will need both players at the top of their game if Minnesota is to advance deep into the playoffs.

General manager Doug Risebrough made sure the Wild were tougher than in year’s past, acquiring Chris Simon at the trade deadline. Simon joins Derek Boogaard and Todd Fedoruk to give Minnesota a trio of players to police the action for Gaborik, Pavol Demitra and Pierre-Marc Bouchard, while making sure that opponents don’t take liberties with anyone on the roster.

Minnesota heads into the postseason on a bit of a tear, having lost only twice in regulation over its last 14 games. The Wild will miss the services of towering defenseman Kurtis Foster, who is sidelined indefinitely with a broken leg, and fellow D-Man Nick Schultz, who reportedly underwent an appendectomy on Monday. With those two on the shelf, expect Brent Burns, Sean Hill and Martin Skoula to log the bulk of the minutes against other teams’ top guns.

The Wild have been getting excellent goaltending from Nicklas Backstrom, but the Finnish youngster is unproven at playoff time. In head coach Jacques Lemaire’s defense-first system, Backstrom will need to be at least steady if not spectacular for Minnesota to prove profitable for NHL futures bettors at the window.

The key for Minnesota is to play their style and not get into high-scoring games. That’s easier said than done in the Western Conference, although if there’s any time when that game plan is effective, it’s in the postseason.

Let’s put it this way – it reasons that Minnesota will be able to keep it close against any team it plays. Whether those games result in paydays for Wild backers remains to be seen.