When you’re the owner of a non-playoff team, you’re not usually heard from at all. Hell, owners in general in the NHL don’t do a lot of talking. Washington’s Ted Leonsis is the exception to the rule but he had some company from the midwest as far as open, frank talk goes.
Wild owner Craig Leipold did his part to sound off about how he felt about the Wild’s disappointing season today and he didn’t hold back in his feelings about the Wild’s 39-35-8 season with 86 points finishing 12th in the Western Conference. Leipold’s always been a thrifty guy, but seeing his team with a payroll of $58.5 payroll wrap up the season so poorly, sounding off was the least Leipold could do.
Bruce Brothers of the Pioneer Press gets the word from Leipold in his most feisty of tones.“I don’t like not making the playoffs,” he barked. “It’s embarrassing. It’s embarrassing for our team, not being in the playoffs right now. Watching the playoffs last night, it was painful having to watch ‘em. And I know our players feel the same way. Our coaches feel the same way.
“If I’ve given the impression that, and I may have ... bad luck ... bull (expletive). We didn’t make the playoffs. We had some bad luck, but we weren’t prepared for that bad luck.
“We have to do better. We have to do better than we’ve ever done before.
“I can’t express to you my level of unhappiness.”
While Todd Richards has already been made an example out of after being fired, GM Chuck Fletcher might want to listen hard to what the boss has to say there. Of course, Fletcher can only do the best with what he’s got and what he’s got is a lot of bad money to deal with and organizational depth that only recently started being filled with players that have any potential.
Translation: Mopping up after the Doug Risebrough era takes time to refill an organization devoid of young talent.
We get why Leipold is annoyed. The fans in Minnesota are starting to grow weary of the constant losing and the unexciting hockey and he’s tired of getting poor performance from a team he’s spending a bit too much on to get more losses than wins out of. After all, if I was burning lots of cash on a losing team, I’d be pretty ticked off too. How much things can change for them next season might require Chuck Fletcher to get inventive with free agent signings and start seeing what he can do to swing a trade or two to get some of that bad money out of town.