On Tuesday the Minnesota Wild placed Petr Sykora and Robbie Earl on waivers. This morning at 11:00 AM both players cleared waivers. What does this mean? First and foremost, it means that Petr Sykora’s run as a member of the Wild has come to a disappointing end. Sykora, who has scored 20 or more goals per season for the last 10 season,s was never able to find chemistry since being acquired by the Wild as a free agent in the off-season. His time with Minnesota was hampered by a concussion and resulted in a several missed games due to injury and eventually numerous healthy scratches. It also didn’t help matters that Sykora’s agent Allen Walsh was none to discreet about his feelings regarding his playing time and role on the team. Walsh tweeted a few different times lobbying for his client to make his way back into the lineup. While he wasn’t able to put it together with the Wild, it would seem that there is still some tread on the tires. Hopefully the Wild General Manager, Chuck Fletcher, will be able to work out a trade in coming days to find Sykora a new team and to add some much needed young talent to the Wild roster. It has been reported by Mike Russo, Wild beat writer for the Star Tribune, that Fletcher has been actively working the phones in search of a solution to the Sykora dilemma.
While at this point it is only speculation, it has been rumored that the Atlanta Thrashers are interested in acquiring Sykora. It would in all likelihood require the Wild to take a player in return to free of cap space. Colby Armstrong’s name has been tossed out as a potential component to the trade between the Minnesota Wild and Atlanta Thrashers. Again, let me reiterate that this is purely rumor and speculation. However, Chuck Fletcher is very familiar with Armstrong from his days with the Pittsburgh Penguins. As we all know, the familiarity factor tends to be very important in the process of making in season transactions. Armstrong’s leadership abilities (assistant-captain for the Thrashers) and youth would be a nice addition to the Wild roster.
Time will tell, but it would seem there is a trade in the works and it could land Skyora in Atlanta and possibly Armstrong in Minny. It is amazing as a Wild fan to see a General Manager that is willing and able to make in-season moves to improve the personnel on the roster. For Wild fans the next few days could prove to be very interesting. The next few weeks are very important for the Wild in determining if they are going to be buyers or sellers come trade deadline time. Let’s hope that Fletcher has some tricks up his sleeve like the Latendresse trade, which appears to be benefitting everyone involved so far.
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