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It's difficult to criticize the Minnesota Wild's management. After all, they did get their team in the Western Conference finals with a payroll of .73 cents and they have turned the state's hockey fans back into NHL fans by putting an exciting product on the ice.

But let's do a little math here.

PROJECTED CONFERENCE FINISH. . . 9th

STRENGTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Commitment to a team cause. You will not find a team more drilled and detailed on how to get the most out of its system. The Wild spread their minutes, spread the captaincy around and make sure everyone feels a part of the team. WEAKNESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . They simply don't have a lot of goal-scorers. The system is one in which players are not always afforded the chance to score, but it's hard to imagine Minnesota running it up even if the system was different. This is a group of muckers. BEST OFFSEASON MOVE . . . . . . . . . . . Moving Travis Roche up from Houston. Players who come off a championship season in the minors often have the momentum to carry themselves right into a higher level of play. Roche appears ready to do that. WORST OFFSEASON MOVE . . . . . . . . . Letting the Marian Gaborik contract talks get to this level. Who knows what the guy is asking, but he is the only offensive force the Wild has. It's not like Minnesota doesn't have the money to pay him and it's not like his teammates would be upset if he was making more. This is a special player and he needs to be on the team if 2003-04 is going to be a successful season. PLAYER TO WATCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sergei Zholtok. If Gaborik is gone for a while, the Wild will look for Zholtok to up his numbers. Expect Andrew Brunette to also be asked to do more. FANTASY FIX. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pascal Dupuis. No matter what happens with Gaborik's contract, the Wild need some consistent complementary scoring options. Coming off a 20-goal, 48-point sophomore season, Dupuis looks like the best candidate to join Gaborik and goalies Dwayne Roloson and Manny Fernandez as viable fantasy starters. -- Graham Hays AT A GLANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2003-04: Schedule | Roster 2002-03: Schedule/Results | Stats

Let's take three seasons of sellouts at the Xcel Energy Center, add tremendous merchandising funds and regional television revenue, tack on eight home playoff dates ... hmmm ... carry the three ... that leaves you with a line of money that would stretch to International Falls and back.

So remind us again why the team has let veteran center Cliff Ronning go and is playing contract talk hardball with the star of its franchise, Marian Gaborik?

It's a question nobody can seriously answer.

Maybe the Wild really do buy into the theory of the fewer stars the better. Maybe they believes a player should be sent away when he becomes bigger than the system. But while that theory might keep an organization hungry, it rarely will develop a Stanley Cup champion. Even New Jersey's Lou Lamoriello had to eventually pay players. Heck, he's actually been nice with a couple of his most recent contracts.

But we digress.

The Wild plans to enter this season with the significant additions of Rickard Wallin, Travis Roche, Marc Chouinard and Alexandre Daigle. They also plan on entering with Ronning sitting at home as an unrestricted free agent and Gaborik and Pascal Dupuis sitting at home in contract disputes. The quartet coming in scored three NHL goals last season. The trio sitting out scored 67. There we are again with that math thing.

And let's not forget the Wild won eight overtime games last season to add to their 95 points -- meaning their 42 wins might have been a little pumped up.

Simply put, this team is walking a fine bottom line. If it continues to excel under coach Jacques Lemaire and his strict defensive system, things will be fine. If it doesn't, however, will there be enough outrage to effect change in the way the team runs its operations?

That, in fact, will be the $20 million question.

The Wild scored 198 goals last season, up from 195 the season before. However, missing the 67 goals of Gaborik, Dupuis and Ronning could make the team backtrack in the scoring department.

To be fair, it's difficult to judge Lemaire's team on its goal-scoring ability. The coach loves to play a patient game and then counter-attack just when the other team makes the wrong move. If it takes to the final minute of a 0-0 game to get the counter-attack goal they need, Wild players don't mind waiting.

Because of that, it might be worthwhile noting that Minnesota outscored the opposition by 20 goals last the season and was not that far behind the scoring totals of playoff teams from Anaheim (203) and Philadelphia (211).

A quick study of the players in camp shows that nobody scored more than Andrew Brunette's 18 goals last season. However, there is balance with 16 for Sergei Zholtok, 15 for Antti Laaksonen, 14 for Richard Park and 13 for Wes Walz. The Wild come at you with four lines and any one of those lines can change the game with a key goal. That's a philosophy that won't change.

On the surface, their defensemen are unspectacular, so much so that the Wild want to carry eight this season. But the key to the Wild's blue line is the consistency. You can toss Brad Bombardir, Willie Mitchell, Filip Kuba, Andrei Zuyzin and Nick Schultz in a bag and pick one out and you're not going to see too much difference. Kuba and Zuyzin are the offensive-minded ones, but they didn't run away with the position's scoring title. Bombardir and Mitchell lean more toward defense, but they contributed 15 and 14 points, respectively.

It appears 25-year-old Travis Roche will make the team after helping Minnesota's AHL affiliate the Houston Aeros win the 2003 Turner Cup. Roche had 14 goals and 34 assists in the AHL last season, so he could help a Wild power play that struggled at 14.2 percent (52 of 366).

Again, though, that number has to be taken with a grain of salt as the Wild's penalty kill allowed only 42 goals, or 10 fewer than it scored with the man advantage.

Lord knows how this thing works, but it does. Dwayne Roloson has been enough of a journeyman that he doesn't mind sharing his time in the pipes. Manny Fernandez runs a little bit hotter, but even has seemed to control his emotions about a goaltender shuffle because he knows its best for the team.

And so this is what the Wild has in net. Two goalies who put up solid numbers and helped Minnesota to a league-best team .924 save percentage.

Fernandez had a 19-13-2 record with a 2.24 GAA and a .924 save percentage. He beat Colorado in the playoffs. Roloson had a 23-16-8 record with a 2.00 GAA and a .27 save percentage. He beat Vancouver.

It's a job share program that actually seems to work, and one that Lemaire will surely rely upon this season.

Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News is a frequent contributor to ESPN.com.