FanHouse Chuck Fletcher

News broke Saturday that the Tampa Bay Lightning had agreed to a deal with free-agent forward Alex Tanguay. This means the Minnesota Wild have to look elsewhere if they still hope to add a forward to bolster their top-six depth.

As Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune pointed out, Tanguay wasn't a great fit for the Wild. He's more of a disher than a scorer, and the Wild are in desperate need of people to put the puck in the net. With that in mind, who can the Wild target?

The offseason sure has been interesting for the Minnesota Wild. The front office was overhauled, with former Pittsburgh aide Chuck Fletcher taking over as general manager and hiring Todd Richards as head coach.

Changes have come to the Wild on the ice, too, but one of the more notable developments of the offseason involves a player who has been with the Wild ever since he was drafted.

Chris Snow, director of hockey operations for the Minnesota Wild, is entering his fourth season with the team after spending a number of years covering the Boston Red Sox for the Boston Globe, and the Wild for the Star Tribune. He joined the team's hockey operations department when its general manager at the time, Doug Risebrough, was looking for something different in the front office.

"Doug was a really accomplished player," said Snow. "He played for a while in the NHL, but he was also a guy that was a free-thinker and really looked outside the box. He had a need for someone in the front office to do a variety of work, but I also think he wanted to look at the position with growth in mind."

It's officially the offseason, meaning the time is right to look into the future. We continue our division-by-division preview of the potential wheeling and dealing with the Northwest Division.

It appears we are setting up for an offseason of significant change in the Northwest Division. Only the Vancouver Canucks will have the same coach as last year, and there could be some real upheaval in terms of personnel. Not only that, but two teams (Minnesota and Colorado) have changed general managers.

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Change has come to the Minnesota Wild.

A new general manager -- Chuck Fletcher -- has arrived. Among the things he wants to do is up the tempo of play. No longer will this team be chided for playing a low-tempo, trapping, "boring" style of hockey.

The overhaul appears to be complete, as reports have Fletcher settled on his new coach.

A crucial offseason, possibly the most significant in franchise history, is underway for the Minnesota Wild. Head coach Jacques Lemaire and general manager Doug Risebrough, the only people to ever hold those positions for the Wild, are both gone.

The process of finding a new general manager took precedent for owner Craig Leipold, and he made sure to take his time and get things right. After a series of interviews, and a list of candidates that included high-profile broadcaster Pierre McGuire, Leipold has settled on a front-office veteran with a track record of helping build winning teams.

When the Minnesota Wild fired longtime general manager Doug Risebrough April 16, it was obvious that the team was about to embark on the most significant offseason in its almost decade-long history. Relatively new owner Craig Leipold made it clear that the standard of mediocrity on the ice was not going to be allowed to stand.

In searching for a new person to lead the franchise, Leipold appears to have reached out to a great variance of candidates. The list of finalists reported by Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune is quite intriguing, as is word of a Tuesday interview with one of the candidates.