Wild looking pretty mild

They've got a new general manager, new coach, some new players, and they opened the season with a brutal road schedule.

The Colorado Avalanche? Well, yes, but first-year coach Joe Sacco and his troops have gotten off to a surprising 6-1-1 start and will take a four-game road winning streak into Wednesday's visit to the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.

The Avalanche will take on the Minnesota Wild, which also has a new GM in Chuck Fletcher, new coach in Todd Richards, some new players in forwards Kyle Brodziak and Martin Havlat, and defensemen Shane Hnidy and Greg Zanon.

The Wild also has a 1-6-0 record and is coming off a disastrous five-game road trip in which it lost every game.

Maybe he wouldn't have re-signed with Wild at any price, but electric forward Marian Gaborik, who has had injury problems and was stifled under former coach Jacques Lemaire's defensive system, left as a free agent to sign a five-year, $37.5 million contract with the New York Rangers.

Gaborik is off to a torrid start with six goals and six assists in eight games. The Rangers have been equally strong with seven wins.

The Wild? Its major free agent acquisition was Havlat, who was given a six-year, $30 million deal after collecting 29 goals and 48 assists in 81 games with the Chicago Blackhawks. Havlat also had 15 points in 16 playoff games for the Hawks.

Havlat hasn't exactly gotten off to a scintillating start with the Wild. He has one goal, four assists and a minus-6 plus/minus rating. He's currently day to day with a groin strain.

Then again, usually-reliable defenseman Brent Burns is an awful -9, and fellow blue liner Nick Schultz is a minus-6.

The Wild still can't score much. Andrew Brunette has five of the team's 15 goals and no one else has more than two.

Goaltending has been a strength in the past, but not so much so far this season. Niklas Backstrom has a solid .913 save percentage to go along with a mediocre 2.82 goals-against average. Josh Harding has lost both of his decisions, and it's easy to see why. He owns a 5.50 GAA and his .738 save percentage is simply embarrassing.

Looking for a spark, Fletcher acquired gritty forward Chuck Kobasew from the Boston Bruins in exchange for minor leaguer Craig Weller, prospect Alexander Fallstrom and a second-round pick in the 2011 NHL entry draft.

Kobasew has scored between 20 and 22 goals in three of the past four seasons. He had 21 in 68 games for the Bruins a year ago. He has no goals and one assist in seven games this year and will have to start playing a lot better to make any sort of impact on this struggling squad.