Minnesota Wild Season Grades: Guillaume Latendresse

Guillaume Latendresse. Lats. Best Trade Ever. Fill in your nickname here:________ 

No matter how you refer to him, Latendresse was not present for most of the season. Picked by Wild fans to be the break out player of the season, and the hopes of the season pinned on his being in the lineup and scoring goals, when he disappointed at camp and then got hurt... panic set in. Then the team moved on without him after five... FIVE... surgeries in one day, and things looked to be OK. 

Then they weren't. Season over. Playoffs missed. Is BTE to blame? Make the jump and find out.

GRADES

JS- GRADE: D This is a hard case to evaluate. I'll deduct points for coming into training camp out of shape, which was clearly visible in the exhibition games and the brief moment he was in the doghouse. He did manage 6 points in 8 games, which is a great pace for a Wild player, but isn't much of a sample. He then came back for 3 games, being completely useless and getting hurt again, barely making our 10 game minimum. I knew this would happen though: he was rushed back into the lineup. He either did it to himself, or the staff did it, but it makes no difference as now, the cloud of doubt already surrounding him as grown bigger and next season will be a contract year. Once again, will he be 09-10 Latendresse or every-year-before-and-after Latendresse? Only time will tell. It hurts me to give him a bad grade, but the fact is the way he came into training camp made him look like he laid back all summer knowing he had a job for the next two years and the cold hard truth is, maybe if he came into camp in shape, just maybe he wouldn't have gotten hurt, so in a way, his lazyness screwed our season up.

Elise- GRADE: N/A Same as with Peters, Lats only played 11 games this season and I didn't get to see him play a whole lot so I feel like it's not fair of me to give him a grade. I'm hoping he comes back next season healthy and able to build off the rejuvenation he had when he first came to the Wild.

Dan- GRADE: B He has been injured for most of the season but still managed to put up 6 points in 11 games. While he didn't jump out offensively flashy, that isn't his game and still managed decent stats. Will give him a starting 'B' but I hope he comes back next season because the team could really use his offense. 

Bryan- GRADE: D  BTE should get an incomplete, but he came into camp and the season out of shape, which was majorly disappointing. He scored the first goal of the season, and did produce in his handful of games. He underwent five surgeries in one day, and likely tried to come back too soon. It will tell us a great deal about him to see what kind of shape he comes back in. The team is relying on him, so hopefully he gets the message.

Nathan- GRADE: I. I am not going to hold anything against him. I'm going to assume (and I don't care if it's blind faith) that he was out of shape because of the hernias and other issues. Much like you can't hold Joe Nathan's early implosion against him last season because of the ulnar tendon tear requiring Tommy John surgery, you can't hold Lats responsible for this. Next season is what counts. He gets a pass.

Cumulative GPA: 1.67 C-

Final Thought