Minnesota Wild: After the First Month

The Wild have hit the ground running in the 2008-09 NHL season and let us all thank the country of Finland for that. The three Fins on this team have really made an incredible impact on this season and on the early success of the team.

Take note of the exceptional play of Niklas Backstrom. Having posted a 2.19 GAA and a 93.1 save percentage in his first 12 starts, Backstrom is certainly stepping up to the Wild’s front office challenge to prove he belongs here as the Wild’s No. 1 goaltender.

A great help to Niklas has been the excellent two-way play of countryman Mikko Koivu who has lived up to his nickname as “Franchise” and will no longer will live in the shadow of older brother Saku.  In the first 13 games, Koivu has posted two goals and a whopping 13 assists. He is arguably the best two-way center, and forward for that matter.

While Mikko hasn’t been putting sacks of pucks in the back of the net, there is yet another Fin helping out in that department: Antti Miettinen.

Miettinen might not be as popular a new addition as Andrew Brunette, but he has made quite the impact early on in a Wild sweater.  Coming off a career high last season in Dallas of 15 goals, Miettinen is well ahead of the curve to set a much larger personal season high. He seems to have clicked extremely well with Koivu and Brunette, and coach Lemaire seemingly likes that combo.

For the Wild to stay on top of the Northwest division and make a run at their second consecutive division title they need to make a couple things happen.

One of the major positives this year has been the penalty kill, where the Wild are ranked first, and they would love to stay there.

In the offseason Marek Zidlicky and Mark-Andre Bergeron were brought in to add offense from the blue line. I can’t say I’m too impressed with these new guys, however.

Bergeron doesn’t seem too confident on the puck, but he has quite the cannon of a shot. Once these two are settled in with the Wild, and Burns is healthy to continue his rampage on the blue line, the team will look even better.

Undoubtedly many Minnesota Wild fans are surprised at the great start the team has had, even in the absence of Marian Gaborik, but great starts are nothing new for this team.

The Wilds need to show prolonged consistency and keep up with the surging Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames.