Jim Souhan: New GM Fletcher knew what he was getting himself into

Here in the State of Hokey, the Wild will invite just about anyone to yell, "Let's Play Hockey."  

If they need help finding "celebrities" to fire up the "Team of 18,000," I am here to help.  

Next game, they should bring back Doug Risebrough. That way Risebrough could get the fans riled, and then the Wild would get to fire him all over again.  

Thursday night at the X, it was hard to tell if there were more empty seats or empty Wild jerseys, as the Fighting Christmas Trees played pathetically while losing 5-2 to the beat-up Canucks.  

There are four prime figures you could blame for the Wild's lousy play so far: Risebrough, new GM Chuck Fletcher, old coach Jacques Lemaire or new coach Todd Richards.  

Richards is the easiest to pick on because his players have looked so confused and tentative, but every rookie coach should get a little time to learn on the job.  

Fletcher strikes me as a sharp operator, and he inherited a difficult assignment: rebuilding a franchise with a dearth of young talent while trying to retain sellout (or alleged sellout) crowds.  

It is even more obvious now than it was last year that Lemaire, despite the kind of overthinking that led him to play Brent Burns at forward, held this franchise together with a defensive style that hid many of the Wild's flaws.