Game #63: Minnesota Wild at Edmonton Oilers, Friday March 5, 2010 at 8:00pm (CST), Rexall Place [GAME PREVIEW]

In this day and age of sports where super stars rule the roost, it’s nice to see the character guys take front and center.  With the off-season departure of Marian Gaborik, and Mikko Koivu coming into his own, we all know that “excitement” swirls around those kinds of players.  However there is excitement with role and character players.  If you don’t believe me, you just have to think of the play of veteran, Owen Nolan on Wednesday night in Calgary.

Going into the trade deadline, many fans were asking “what will happen to Nolan.”  As an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, fans were desperately waiting to see how General Manager Chuck Fletcher would handles this situation.  Some were worried that we’d see a Doug Risebrough situation where he would ignore the trade deadline, fail in contract discussions, and then let a talented veteran walk away for nothing when free agency opens in July.  Fletcher it seems took the proactive step and consulted with Nolan on what he’d like to do.  It’s been reported that Nolan was only interested in playing for two teams if it wasn’t going to be with the Wild; the San Jose Sharks and the Washington Capitals.  Nolan stressed that he’d gladly stay with the Wild as long as they needed and wanted him.  In the end, a good enough deal didn’t come Fletcher’s way, and Nolan remains in a Wild uniform.  However, there will still be negotiations to come during the off-season.  In the end, it was teammate Eric Belanger who found himself bound for the American capital.

I’ll admit, when the Wild signed Owen Nolan 2008, I worried that adding an “older” player such as him the team was moving backwards.  However I am glad to say that I have been proven wrong.  The leadership alone he brings to the ice and locker-room was worth the signing.  He is a strong, steady player and come crunch time, he often finds a way to dig down deep and find a burst of energy.  Somehow, the 38-year old winger (now the oldest in Wild history) finds a way to play like a player in his first few years of NHL play.  Instead of playing like a man heading towards hanging up the skates, he puts everything on the line every night.  That is a trait that is important in any profession, not just sports, and usually rubs off on the people around you.

While the Wild will most likely not make the playoffs this season, if they play like they did Wednesday night in Calgary, they should at least make the season end on a respectable note.  Considering how the season started that feat wouldn’t take much.  We’ve seen the occasional flash of brilliance, however the occasional flash does not a season make.  There have been plenty of pitfalls, yet somehow those pitfalls have made the successes they’ve had that much better.  If you remember the goaltender revolving door we had, what could have been absolutely devastating became a source of inspiration for then entire team.

At the very least, it’s been a “lemons into lemonade” type season.  I don’t know about you, but I like lemonade.