Wild owner envious of Predators' Cup run: 'That could be us'

Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold is still not over his team's first-round defeat to the St. Louis Blues.

After finishing the regular season with the second-best record in the Western Conference and the fifth best league-wide, the Wild were easily dispatched of by the Blues made quick work of the Wild in their first-round playoff matchup. And while Leipold watches the conference finals from afar, he can't help but think that his team should be there.

"'I'm envious of four teams right now, and (the Nashville Predators) are one of them," Leipold said, according to Michael Russo of the Star Tribune. "I was terribly disappointed (by our finish). I'm not over it. Not over it. I watch these games now and go, 'That could be us.'"

After just barely reaching the postseason last year with 87 points and the final wild-card spot in the West, the Wild saw a 19-point improvement during the regular season, but ultimately played one fewer playoff game compared to last season after losing in five.

The finish has Leipold curious about where to go from here.

"I'm not satisfied where we are," Leipold said. "In my feeling with the playoffs, we took a step back, and we never expected that. We didn't think that was going to happen, so it's causing us to think, 'What do we need to do?'

"But I'm still … I like our team, I like the way it's built. Sure, there's some issues that we need to address, and we will. But I'm not disappointed with our team. I’m disappointed with how we ended the season."

Despite the disappointment, Leipold did assure that general manager Chuck Fletcher's job was safe, though he did admit that in hindsight he now wishes the team hadn't made the Martin Hanzal trade - a deal he fully supported at the time.

All that and it seems this offseason could be an interesting one in Minnesota.