Pierre-Marc Bouchard

The New York Rangers have shown flashes of promise this year of being a team that could perform in the playoffs. And as we have all seen in the past few seasons, once you make the playoffs no one knows what could happen, see the Canadiens last season. They currently sit in eight place in the East, just grasping the final playoff spot with almost a third of the season now played.

After last season Minnesota Wild fans were depressed. They were distraught, and they were heartbroken. All the expectations of finally be rid of Doug Risebrough were too much for them to handle. Changing coaches from the defense-first style of play of Jacques Lemaire to the up-tempo, hit them in the mouth while you skate circles around them style of Todd Richards didn't take as quickly as they had hoped.

The Minnesota Wild organization has enjoyed a very long honeymoon period in the Twin Cities. Their long home sellout streak has realistically come to an end, even though the team continues to announce sellouts because they are giving away tickets.

The team struggled mightily out of the gate to find composure under new head coach, Todd Richards. They lost the face of their franchise, Marion Gaborik, to free-agency (New York Rangers).

In years past, it was customary to see the Minnesota Wild with hot starts.  

In the last few years of the Doug Risebrough/Jacques Lemaire/Marian Gaborik regime, the team would often start out at 6-0-1 or 7-0-1 clips, only to choke as the season went along.

To no one's surprise, last season's trading deadline ended with the Wild doing their typical passive nothing, only to see divisional rivals like the Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames add much needed firepower and depth for a legitimate playoff run.