What's Next for the Wild? - FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

Expectations were higher.

Even after Kurtis Foster was injured and Nick Schultz went under the knife, a first-round exit was simply not going to be tolerated.

Especially like this.

Minnesota lost Saturday to Colorado, 2-1, dropping their first-round series in six games. The Avalanche simply outworked and outhustled Minnesota for most of the series, using their forward depth to wear down Minnesota's depleted defensive corps.

It's the fifth straight year that the Northwest Division champion has failed to get past at least the second round of the playoffs. It's not a stat with a lot of meaning, as two Northwest teams (Calgary and Edmonton) have made the Stanley Cup Finals in that stretch, but it shows that a division title means nothing but lame t-shirts for the fans and pointless banners in the home arena.

The Avalanche await their second-round opponent, while Minnesota tries to find a teetime. The Wild were slightly better during the regular season, but were undone in the playoffs by Colorado goaltender Jose Theodore, who backstopped the Avs to at least two of the four wins they picked up in the series.

(He stole Game One and Game Five for them, while Colorado won the other two games by being the better hockey team.)

This site shows what lies ahead for Minnesota. It's a lot of uncertainty, and possibly the most significant offseason in the short history of the Wild franchise.

Based on NHLNumbers and Michael Russo of the Star Tribune, the Wild have some decisions to make. The following players are listed as restricted free agents this offseason:

Pierre-Marc Bouchard
Stephane Veilleux
Aaron Voros
Kurtis Foster

Frankly, I think general manager Doug Risebrough would be an idiot to let Bouchard go. He's the best playmaker on the roster, and he has enough goal-scoring ability to be a factor as a "create his own shot" kind of player. He's not big, but he's not afraid of the tough areas, either. The effort can be a bit inconsistent, but his talent is too much to ignore.

The Wild need to bring Foster back. Whenever he's ready to return from his broken leg, Foster's big shot is an asset on the power play. He's also improved dramatically as a defender.

Veilleux and Voros are grinder types who will mix it up when necessary and also go in the tough areas. The Wild can't improve their playoff performance without them, even though both played like blockheads at various points in the Colorado series.

The list of unrestricted free agents is longer and perhaps filled with more drama:

Pavol Demitra
Brian Rolston
Branko Radivojevich
Matt Foy
Todd Fedoruk
Chris Simon
Steve Kelly
Keith Carney
Petteri Nummelin
Sean Hill

Demitra's gotta go. He made $4.5 million this year, and he didn't seem to mesh well with Jacques Lemaire's system. To make matters worse, Demitra pulled off quite the disappearing act in the playoffs. Also on the outs should be Simon and Nummelin, who are practically useless.

Carney and Hill are interesting cases. If one of them can handle only playing 35 games and perhaps only getting regular time in case of an emergency, I'd be okay with that. But having Hill out in this series as much as he was didn't help. It looked like both he and Carney wore down the more they played.

Fedoruk is a classic Lemaire player. He'll do more playing for Jacques than he ever would playing elsewhere. Bring him back. Same for Radivojevich. He's a character guy, and he was missed in the final four games of the series.

Rolston drove me nuts against Colorado, because it didn't seem like he had a clue when to use his big slapshot and when to just throw the puck at the net. However, he's a 30-goal scorer who can be a leader and works hard enough defensively to keep Lemaire happy. You don't break the bank for a guy like this, but you keep him if you possibly can.

The Avalanche opened a lot of eyes in this series. Not only did they (and especially Theodore) play better than a lot of people thought they would, but they also showed that Minnesota may have indeed used some smoke and mirrors to win the Northwest.