Bold calls in front office eliciting the desired buzz

Mikko Koivu is hardly allergic to the gym, but Monday morning, an exhilarated Koivu went to work out in Turku, Finland.

As the Wild captain lifted weights, he thought about the possibility of centering a true goal scorer such as Dany Heatley. He thought about the fast, physical, high-scoring Devin Setoguchi.

Koivu called it the best workout of his summer.

"You're sad to see Burnzie [Brent Burns] and Bruno [Andrew Brunette] and Marty [Havlat] go," Koivu said. "But at the same time, you get great players back, great players that have been on winning teams and know what it takes to win and how to get into the playoffs and play playoff hockey.

"I know the fans get upset. But trust me, when you don't make the playoffs for three years, as players, we're upset also. ... Now you get Dany Heatley and Setoguchi. It just gives you hope and confidence as individuals, but also as a team."

It's been quite a couple of weeks for the Wild and its general manager. Chuck Fletcher had the guts to trade a popular player in Burns in the middle of a hometown draft, so at the very least he can't be accused of being gun-shy.

With the Wild stuck in mud, Fletcher executed three deals 10 days apart (Philadelphia Flyers grinder Darroll Powe was the third) to re-energize his fan base and locker room.

Matt Majka, the Wild's chief operating officer, said the Wild has sold almost 400 season tickets since the draft -- a combination of new business and season-ticket holders the team thought it had lost.

"It's hard to remember the last time we felt this kind of excitement around the team," Majka said.

Contrast that with March and April. On Feb. 28, the Wild made no trade-deadline additions. A lifeless loss later that night to Chicago took the Wild from inside the top eight to outside. The Wild continued to fall, collapsing during an eight-game losing streak and 4-10-1 plunge to the finish that cost coach Todd Richards his job.

"Everybody was frustrated at the end of last season," Fletcher said. "Our fans were frustrated. Our players were frustrated. [Owner] Craig [Leipold] was frustrated. I was frustrated. Nobody was happy.

"There was just a sense that things had to change."

So Fletcher set out to add more young players for the future and adjust his roster for the present. He was looking for "better fits," and to change the mindset of a forward group that loved to pass and not shoot.

In the Sharks trades, the Wild acquired 1) a two-time 50-goal scorer in the 30-year-old Heatley; 2) Setoguchi, a 24-year-old who scored 31 goals in 2008-09 and likely will get more ice time and a larger role in Minnesota; 3) prospect Charlie Coyle, who was San Jose's top-ranked prospect in last season's Hockey News Future Watch; 4) a first-round pick that became 95-point junior scorer Zack Phillips.

Combine this with the team's expanding prospect pool that includes Mikael Granlund, Johan Larsson and Jason Zucker, and it's understandable why there's suddenly excitement about the Wild.

Of course, the biggest reason for the excitement is Heatley.

Heatley is loathed in much of Canada because he asked out of Ottawa and refused to go to Edmonton. Fans and media alike almost seem to be rooting for him to fail. They point at last season's 26 goals and subpar playoffs as proof of a downswing.

But if that scrutiny isn't motivation enough for Heatley, the fact he was traded for the first time without being the one to initiate it might provide the wake-up call.

Heatley, who along with Setoguchi will be introduced to the local media Monday, knows he's at a career crossroads and sounds excited for the change.

"You can tell when it's genuine and can tell when people are bluffing you," Fletcher said.

That should be welcome news for Wild fans and the team's owner, who are craving a bona fide Gaborik-like sniper and the type of marquee name that could land Minnesota a Winter Classic.

Fletcher is excited the fans are excited, although he warns there's still "a lot of work to be done."

"We've got to integrate a lot of new players, we've got a new coaching staff. So we need to have a huge training camp," Fletcher said. "We've got a lot of work ahead of us. But there's optimism, and with optimism comes trust and belief.

"We're chipping away, and if we can get everybody going the same direction and believing we can get better, that's a big first step."