Minnesota Wild Season Grades: Cam Barker

What is there to say about Cam Barker that hasn't been said 1.7 million times. He is the bane of Wild fan existence, everything that is wrong with America, and very likely caused the oil spill in the Gulf. They tried to pin the situation in the Middle East on him, but that was where he drew the line. 

Yes, Cam Barker, oh he of the third overall pick, he of the high expectations never realized. Wild fans had not seen enough first round picks fall by the way side, so they traded one of their own promising prospects for someone else's first round failure.

Originally, everyone wanted this to work out. At this point, there really can't be anyone who has any belief that it will. 

Can the HW staff find it in their hearts to hold Barker back a grade? Don't count on it. 

GRADES

JS- GRADE: F- Hooo boy. How low has this guy fallen? A former 40 point defenseman has scored 5 POINTS this year.... 5....which would be fine for a defensive d-man, but he's an ''offensive'' d-man... funny, because I'm downright offended by his performance with the Wild so far. Last season, he had 7 points in 19 games, which was at least respectable, but this year, he's a -10, tied with Burns for worst among team defensemen, but at least Burns had 46 points. Horrible, just horrible.

Sluggish, lazy, pointless. He showed a bit of emotion towards the end of his season (missed the final stretch with injuries) but that was likely because he felt he was going to lose his place in the lineup with the young guns emerging. He was absolutely horrible. Some may argue he wasn't put in a position to succeed, and I ask them ''What has he done to deserve it?'' Besides, he was on the 2nd powerplay unit for a few games, and he didn't pan out. At all.

When a former 40 point defenseman scores and we all think the Apocalypse has come, the guy screwed up somewhere. When you add what we gave to get this guy, it makes matters even worse. EVERY SINGLE PLAYER WHO PLAYED MORE THAN 22 GAMES OUTSCORED BARKER. I'm dropping the hammer on this one.

Elise- GRADE: D A disappointing season for Barker that only saw him play 52 games and put up 5 points.

Dan- GRADE: F If he played as a #5/6 d-man, I would have given him a D but he couldn't even do that. This veteran was outplayed by rookies like Stoner, Scandella, Spurgeon and even Scanella. When you are paid as much as he is, you're at least suppose contribute 'veteran presence'

Bryan- GRADE: F- I wanted to be nice to the guy, I really did. Looking at the stats, though, there just are very few positives, if any, to use. His season was disjointed with some personal issues, and an injury or two, but he never put anything together to pull himself out of the dog house. Minus ten is pretty bad, and he had 34 PIMs, but only two of those were majors. The lack of emotion on the ice, and the lack of offensive upside are still present. I did everything I could to give this guy a chance, he just doesn't have it.

Nathan- GRADE: F. Please see last season's review of James Sheppard.

Cumulative GPA: 0.20 F

Note to HW administrative staff: Please send notice to the parents immediately that student is failing. Also, place Mr. Barker on double secret probation and warn that continued failure is unacceptable.

Final Thought

Yes, Chuck Fletcher pretty much screwed the pooch on this one. We're still a long way from racking up a string of failures like the previous regime, but this was a pretty good one. Kim Johnson, and a former first round pick for a guy with a total of 12 points in 71 games for the Wild. The best part? He is a RFA after next season, so you're stuck with him for awhile.

Here's wishing he would just admit he is really Kobe Bryant and commit to the Lakers full time.