28 Minnesota Wild

In one of last season's more memorable exchanges, Penguins center Mario Lemieux ripped Wild coach Jacques Lemaire last February after a game in which Minnesota's neutral-zone trap had suffocated Lemieux. "That's not what we're trying to sell to the fans," Lemieux said, complaining about the Wild's overly defensive style. Responded the 55-year-old Lemaire, a former All-Star center for the Canadiens, "If we're not allowed to check, I'm going to make a comeback. I [can] play in this league if nobody touches me."

Lemaire had little choice but to employ that system because his expansion team was virtually devoid of skilled players. Nobody in Minnesota was displeased. The team sold out every home game, and the players never beefed. "A lot of guys said it was the most fun year they'd ever had," says G.M. Doug Risebrough. "That is a big component in this business."

The notion that camaraderie can help breed success might sound hokey, but what else besides Lemaire's system can explain how a squad that didn't have a 20-goal scorer could earn 68 points in the standings in its first season? The Wild's leading scorer, with 36 points, was highly touted rookie wing Marian Gaborik, an 18-year-old who had 18 goals and 18 assists. He'll get some help this year from left wing Andrew Brunette, a free-agent signee who proved he could put up good numbers for a bad team (15 goals and 44 assists for the Thrashers last season).

Defensively the Wild is solid. Late last season Risebrough even traded a pair of veteran backliners and free-agents-to-be, Sean O'Donnell and Curtis Leschyschyn, providing the opportunity for a pair of promising blueliners, Filip Kuba and Willie Mitchell, to gain experience. On those occasions when the neutral-zone trap was broken, Lemaire's nephew goalie Manny Fernandez came to the rescue. Fernandez had a .920 save percentage (tied for sixth in the league) and 2.24 goals-against average in his first season as a No. 1 netminder.

In August, Fernandez took the Wild to arbitration and was awarded a team-high $3 million deal over two seasons. With Minnesota again expected to have difficulty scoring, any possibility the Wild has to improve on last year's 25 victories will depend on whether Fernandez earns that money.

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