Update: Some of you have asked whether James Sheppard can be sent to Houston for the playoffs, especially because he turns 20 on Friday. I just checked with assistant GM Tom Lynn, and Sheppard can’t be sent to Houston because he’s not on the Aeros “Clear Day” roster.

If I’m correct, that roster has to be submitted around the NHL trade deadline (so late Feb/early March) and consists of, I think, 22 players who are eligible for the playoffs.

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And just like that, the Wild’s offseason has officially begun.

– Lots of players may have played their last games with the Wild tonight.

Maybe Brian Rolston (the Wild should bring him back), maybe Pavol Demitra, maybe Aaron Voros.

I’d think they’d want back Todd Fedoruk and Branko Radivojevic.

Keith Carney is almost certainly done here, but somebody should pick him up because he can still play. Sean Hill, Chris Simon and Petteri Nummelin’s NHL careers may have ended tonight, and none of the three played.

– Jacques Lemaire left the door open for his retirement, saying he’d decide whether or not he’ll return in a few months.

I was bigtime perplexed tonight with Lemaire. First, you scratch Petteri Nummelin and play Eric Belanger on the power-play point. I just don’t get it. Belanger’s got two assists since Feb. 20, no goals.

And then, in the first period after a TV timeout that should have rested the Brian Rolstons, Marian Gaboriks, Mikko Koivus and Brent Burnses, Lemaire sends out Aaron Voros, Belanger, PM Bouchard, Demitra and Kim Johnsson for a defensive-zone draw to start a power play.

Needless to say, that inaccurate-shooting, pass-happy group wasted 90 seconds, and when a shift change came, it was because Belanger missed the net for the second time on the shift by 12 feet.

So, the heavy hitters came out, retrieved the puck, immediately turned it over and boom, shorthanded goal by noted sniper Ben Guite (who?) for the sixth straight Colorado opening goal in the series.

– And does Doug Risebrough get an invitation to go for the Toronto Maple Leafs interview? I think he will. Whether or not he goes for it is another story. Remember how tight he is with Cliff Fletcher.

– Did the better team win? I think there’s no denying that.

I know injuries were a big factor, but the Wild led for 4 minutes, 31 seconds out of a possible 384:23. I know I keep harping on that stat, but that’s one of the biggest indictments I’ve ever seen in a playoff series.

Plain and simple, you lead 4 1/2 minutes out of 384 1/2, you don’t deserve to win. You have to respect how Colorado played the Wild. I know Jose Theodore stole the Avs Game 5 and was stellar in every other game, but the Avs were great defensively, played with the lead and gave the Wild little time and space.

It also got big goals, physicality and contributions from a number of players. And like I wrote in my pre-scouting report, Joel Quenneville is a phenomenal coach.

In other words, the Avs stars didn’t win them this series.

– A lot of this mess will understandably fall at the feet of Marian Gaborik, who had one assist in the series. That’s been highly-reported the last few days, so I’ll leave him alone right now. I would say this: A team that can’t score goals can’t just trade its leading goal scorer. Did he fail this series? Yes. Do you throw a 26-year-old with that much talent in the garbage when you already have a million question marks this summer? No.

Now if you offer him an extension this summer and he starts playing games, then you have to consider it because you can’t have him going into next season on the last year of his contract. The biggest question now is what’s the extension. How do you pay him 20 percent of your cap, roughly?

OK, I’m rambling now because it’s late.

To continue my first thought now: There were several passengers besides the $6.5 million man (who makes 7 1/2 next season) and the injuries to the blue line, those were the ultimate downfall of this team.

Kim Johnsson and Martin Skoula struggled wholeheartedly tonight because they were dead tired. And the Wild’s transition out of its zone goes when Johnsson gets the puck up ice, and he couldn’t do that pretty much ever tonight.

I thought Nick Schultz was the Wild’s best blue liner tonight, and he was being mugged tonight after the whistle.

The biggest hit well after he gave up the puck was by David Jones. In fact, Jones was one of Colorado’s best forwards in the series. Has anybody ever heard of David Jones before? Whom the heck is he? Wasn’t he in the Monkees or something. He sang Daydream Believer, right?

And Ryan Smyth was outstanding. The winner tonight, drew a lot of penalties, created havoc around the net.

– A lot of the blame should fall on Risebrough.

Think Adam Foote helped Colorado? I’ll let Gaborik answer that question. Think Ruslan Salei helped Colorado? I’ll let Mark Parrish and Niklas Backstrom and every other Wild player he creamed answer that.

Think Chris Simon helped the Wild? I’ll let Jacques Lemaire answer that. It’ll be the same answer he’d give on whether Dominic Moore and Adam Hall helped the Wild.

Colorado needed to make moves at the deadline. It did. It goes on. The gun-shy Wild needed to make moves at the deadline. It didn’t. It’s cleaning out its lockers Monday.

Like I said though, Marian Gaborik scores, the Wild maybe moves on. Kurtis Foster and Nick Schultz and Mark Parrish and Branko Radivojevic are healthy, maybe the Wild advances. If the Wild wasn’t 3 for 21 on the power play, maybe it advances (2 for 27 last year).

FYI, no access to the team until Monday morning’s team meeting and locker room cleanup, so I’m done for now as I have a wakeup call in 2 1/2 hours. Yeah. Can’t wait.

Anyway, this will be a monster offseason for the Wild. There should be lots of news and a very different team next season, maybe not just on the ice but off.

Make sure you grab the Star Tribune for all the complete coverage. 

Nighty night Wild fans. Thanks for keeping the blog churning all season. I know you all are passionate diehards and probably are tossing and turning right now, so my sincere condolences.

I now hand over the baton to LaVelle and Joe because it’s officially baseball season.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 20th, 2008 at 2:48 am and is filed under Game coverage. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.