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Minnesota on verge of breaking dubious franchise record

Mike Yeo, Mikko Koivu, Dany Heatley, Marek Zidlicky, Cal Clutterbuck, Devin Setoguchi

Minnesota Wild’s coach Mike Yeo, center, talks with Wild players, from left, Mikko Koivu, of Finland; Dany Heatley, of Germany; Marek Zidlicky, of the Czech Republic; Cal Clutterbuck and Devin Setoguchi during a time out in the first period of a preseason NHL hockey game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, Friday, Sept. 23, 2011, in St. Paul, Minn. Minnesota won in overtime 4-3. (AP Photo/Tom Olmscheid)

AP

Found this little nugget in the game recap from Tuesday’s Ducks-Wild game, which Anaheim won 2-1:

Minnesota has used an NHL-high 39 players this season, one away from the team record of 40 set last season.

Look, we’ve piled on the Wild quite a bit here at PHT, mostly for good reason. They were first overall in the league as recently as Dec. 15, but now find themselves 21st overall (12th in the Western Conference, five points out of a playoff spot.)

But 39 players? By Feb. 15? That’s pretty harsh.

Even harsher is the quality of players Minnesota’s gone through. They include:

Jon DiSalvatore: A 30-year-old winger that last played in the NHL in 2006.

Jeff Taffe: Best known for marrying Wayne Gretzky’s niece, Taffe, 30, has played for six different organizations since the lockout.

Jed Ortmeyer: 33 years old, nearly had his career ended in 2006 after being diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism.

There’s also a laundry list of younger players you’ve never heard of, like Chad Rau, Jarod Palmer, Kris Fredheim and David McIntyre.

In closing, I vow to take it easy on the Wild from here on in and actually starting cheering for them to set a franchise record. Why stop at 40? We can do 50, Minnesota. Yes we can.