NHL

He is expected to be fully recovered in time for next season, but as a pending unrestricted free agent it isn't clear if he'll back with Minnesota or somewhere else when he returns to the ice.

Harding missed a large chunk of the season after he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Perhaps most amazingly, Harding came off the bench and started all six games of the Wild's opening-round playoff series after Niklas Backstrom suffered a sports hernia during warmups before Game 1. While fellow finalists Sidney Crosby and Adam McQuaid have their own tales and justification for their nominations, it'll be tough to deny Harding for this one.

Fletcher is happy with the progress of the team. "I look at where we were a year ago to where we are now, and there's just been a dramatic improvement, a dramatic difference," Fletcher said. "Clearly we're on the right path. But you play a team like Chicago, you see where you have to get better. Their talent level, their depth is pretty impressive. Last year, we were Mikko Koivu and a bunch of prospects. Now, we've got four cornerstone pieces in Mikko and [Ryan] Suter and [Zach] Parise and [Jason] Pominville, and a lot of those prospects we talked about for a few years are now players. . . . We still have work to do, but we're trending the right way." Yeo will have a lot to work with next season so expect more from the Wild in 2013-14.

It was certainly their downfall as the Wild lost the best-of-seven series four games to one to the Chicago Blackhawks. The Wild did not score in 17 chances while pumping 29 shots on the Chicago net, while the Blackhawks scored twice in 13 chances.

In Rupp's case, it was for his knee (meniscus). The Minneapolis Star-Tribune's Michael Russo reports that his window for return should be short.

It was for a sports hernia, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune's Michael Russo. He's a pending unrestricted free agency this summer, so potential suitors (or just the Minnesota Wild) will want to know that he's good to go.

"He's our coach," Fletcher said. There might be some that wonder about Yeo's status after the team was meekly booted from the playoffs in five games by the Chicago Blackhawks after backing into the postseason. At least publicly, Yeo's job appears safe.