Another season has kicked off for the Wild, with quite a few new faces.  A quick rundown of those who migrated to the State of Hockey to begin the 2011-2012 NHL season.

Dany Heatley - Traded to the Wild from San Jose for Martin Havlat as the search for Marian Gaborik's heir continues.  Heatley has the potential to pot quite a few goals and he can be a power-play wizard.  The question is whether he will get enough chances to make the difference that a top-notch goal scorer can.

Devin Setoguchi - Traded to Minnesota from San Jose on draft day as part of a big deal that sent Brent Burns to the Sharks.  He's averaged 24 goals/year the last 3 seasons, and the hope is that his pairing with Koivu and Heatley will yield him plenty of opportunities to match or exceed those totals.

Brett Bulmer - Made the jump from Canadian Juniors straight to the opening day NHL roster.  He was a 2nd round pick of the Wild's in 2010, and he's only 19.  More of an energy guy than a goal scorer, and I'd expect him to spend some time in Houston this year, but it's a fun story that he made the team.

Nick Johnson - Spent last year with the Pittsburgh AHL affiliate before coming to the Wild.  Nothing special, but could be a role-player.

Darrell Powe - Traded to Minnesota from Philadelphia for a 3rd round pick (2013).  Checking-line winger, adjusted plus/minus and Corsi don't think much of him, but I haven't seen enough to really say anything.

Contrast those additions with the loss of Mittens, Brunette, Burns, Havlat and Madden.  The biggest impact on the offensive side might end up being a healthy Bouchard and Latendresse.  If those guys are healthy and productive, I think this team could be somewhere around a league average offense, which would be a nice change.

Defensively, they are about the same, although they lose the puck-moving of Brent Burns, they look to Marco Scandella and some younger guys to provide that.   They should be alright but nothing spectacular in that respect.

So average offense, and a passable defense, does that spell playoffs?  It's within the realm of possibility, but I think things need to break right (no injuries, some breakout seasons, etc.).

GAME 1: MINNESOTA 4, COLUMBUS 2  -- (1-0-0)

This was a good start to the season, as the Wild jumped on the Blue Jackets.  They were up 3-0 in the second period, and cruised to a victory.  The Wild's record in home openers is pretty ridiculous (10-0-1) and this one was another good start to the season.  Heatley and Setoguchi got goals in their first game in front of the home crowd.

GAME 2: NEW YORK ISLANDERS 2, MINNESOTA 1 -- (1-1-0)

A game that started at noon, so I saw none of it.  From what I read, it sounded like the Wild started very slowly and couldn't quite recover all the way.  The Wild went 0 for 5 on power plays and outshot NY 19-5 over the final two periods.  Cullen scored for the second straight game (he started hot last year as well).

GAME 3: OTTAWA 4, MINNESOTA 3 (SHOOTOUT) -- (1-1-1)

Kind of a conflicting game, the Wild led 2-0 after the first period, but really didn't have control of the flow of the game.  Then they dialed it down a notch and got dominated in the second and most of the third period to blow their 2-0 and 3-1 leads.  Minnesota couldn't find the game-winner at the end of the third or in overtime.  The inevitable shootout result (3 Senators scored on Backstrom) left the Wild with a point that they didn't really earn, but that they should have bettered.

(standings and points leaders will start in next week's whangdoodle)

Next week's schedule:

THURSDAY (7:00) - Edmonton (home)
SATURDAY (7:00) - Detroit (home)
TUESDAY (6:30) - Pittsburgh (home) - on Versus