Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Pressure Building In Minnesota

12/28/2014 at 11:00am EST

from Michael Russo of Russo's Rants,

Lots of pressure now on GM Chuck Fletcher to make a trade for a defenseman now that the holiday roster freeze was lifted at 11 p.m. Saturday.

With Brodin hurt, the Wild’s D corps is Ryan Suter, Marco Scandella, Spurgeon, Falk, Stu Bickel, who played pretty well tonight, Nate Prosser and Christian Folin.

But the Wild’s already demanding too much from its top-4 (now 3) D and this team needs a defenseman badly.

This team also needs a goalie.

John Curry, who played Friday night in a win at Rockford, bussed five hours to Grand Rapids, Michigan, after the game, woke up late Saturday morning and got a call to get to the airport to fly to Minnesota because Darcy Kuemper had food poisoning and Niklas Backstrom was still sick from the norovirus or whatever that's desolating this team. It was weird in hindsight this morning when Backstrom left the ice a few moments before Kuemper, the scheduled starter. Typically, the non-starter stays on the ice to work with the scratches.

Of course, this is the Wild, so Curry’s flight was delayed til about 2 p.m. He landed in Minnesota, came to the rink thinking he’d be the backup (he was told it was 50-50) and found out after the long travel day and playing the night before that he’d be making his second career Wild start in a fairly critical game for Minnesota....

But this goalie situation is so typical. The players are frustrated, too, that this team can never, ever, ever, ever have a goalie that can stay healthy and carry the load. Injuries, illnesses, it is absolutely remarkable how often this happens. Imagine being the players on this team and what it does to you mentally when you walk in the room before a big game and see the team’s minor-league goalie suiting up to start.

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

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