Avalanche at Wild
The Minnesota Wild and their pre-lockout spending spree became a big topic during negotiations between owners and players over the last few months. Now that the lockout is settled, Minnesota fans will finally get to see Zach Parise and Ryan Suter when the Wild host the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night. Parise and Suter will be expected to lead Minnesota back to the playoffs for the first time since 2007-08.
The Wild owned the top record in the Western Conference in late December last season before failing spectacularly over the last four months and finishing below .500. The Avalanche ended their 2011-12 campaign in depressing fashion as well and finished out of the postseason. Colorado made a big move for the dressing room by naming second-year left wing and reigning Calder Trophy winner Gabriel Landeskog as its captain.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, ALT (Colorado), FSNO (Minnesota)
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (2011-12: 41-35-6, 3rd Northwest Division): Landeskog, 20, is the youngest player in NHL history to be named team captain and will be joined on the top line by free-agent signee P.A. Parenteau and Matt Duchene. Paul Stastny and veteran Milan Hejduk give the team another pair of offensive weapons. Top netminder Semyon Varlamov suffered a knee injury while playing in the Kontinental Hockey League last month but is ready to go and is expected to get the start on Saturday. Varlamov posted a career-worst 2.59 goals-against average in 2011-12 - his initial season with Colorado and his first as a No. 1 goaltender. The Avalanche went 1-5-1 over their last seven games and finished seven points out of a playoff spot. They managed more than two goals only once in that span.
ABOUT THE WILD (2011-12: 35-36-11, 4th Northwest Division): Minnesota finished one spot below Colorado in 12th place in the West, 14 points below No. 8 seed and eventual Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles. The Wild’s 177 goals were by far the fewest in the NHL despite having proven scorers like Dany Heatley and Mikko Koivu on the top line. Enter Parise, who led the New Jersey Devils with 52 assists last season, and Suter on twin 13-year, $98 million contracts. Parise will join Heatley and Koivu on the top line while Suter will man the blue line and help on the power play.
OVERTIME
1. Minnesota RW Pierre-Marc Bouchard, who had his 2011-12 season cut short by concussions, is expected to play on Saturday.
2. Avalanche D Erik Johnson got a new four-year deal despite putting up a minus-7 in 73 games last season.
3. The Northwest Division rivals split the six-game series last season.