When Brian Kazarian took over the reigns as general manager of the Minnesota Wild he proclaimed to stay the course and stay with youth. He hasn't exactly stuck to his word."What I meant by that was we wouldn't be making any drastic changes here. We would keep the majority of the personel here and build this team up that way."said GM Brian Kazarian.
What he has done this offseason is add three solid veterans to help the young guys as well as give this team a bit of time to let the younger guys develop. And to add these veterans he has only lost one original player on the roster.
Ron Francis, Cliff Ronning and Stephan Quintal have been brought in to help this team develop it's youngsters as well as try to make a push towards the playoffs for this upcoming season.
To start spring training it looks as though Ron Francis will be the number 1 center, Cliff Ronning with be the 2nd line LW and Stephan Quintal will be paired with Nick Shultz as the 2nd defensive pairing.
"We are hoping Ronnie Francis rubs off on the likes of Bouchard and Ronning rubs off on the likes of Daigle and Dupuis. All the young guys can learn a thing or two from these three veterans." coach Lemaire said.
Minnesota is looking to preseason to get a real feel for who fits in where in this lineup.
HOT RUMOUR
Apparently three Eastern Conference teams have been hot on the trail of LW Jason Weimer. There was no comment from Minnesota but it is beleived if the right deal came along Wiemer would be dealt.