Sid Hartman: Spielman, Vikings preparing to retool

Rick Spielman, Vikings vice president of player personnel, doesn't speak to the media during the season as a courtesy to the head coach. But now that the season is over, he spoke about the 2010 season and all of the adversity the Vikings faced, and how he still believes the team has a good enough nucleus to be contenders next season.

"I think everybody saw we had a lot of adversity that we had to handle with all the events that happened," he said. "But I know you grow from all the experiences, the ups and downs that you had this season. It just makes you that much more excited about moving forward."

The Vikings will have a number of free agents, depending on how the new collective bargaining agreement comes out.

"We'd love to have all our guys back, but we know also that's not realistically possible," he said. "So we'll get together with the coaching staff and with the scouting department and come up with a determination and a game plan on how we're going to move forward this offseason -- and if we do lose players, who are we going to replace them with?"

"We're in the process of that right now," Spielman said, adding that a lot of tough decisions will have to be made before the 2011 roster is finalized.

Spielman likes talent Spielman likes the young talent on the Vikings roster.

"I think you know coming into this season we had most of our roster back, and so I think as we move forward, who we can keep and not keep is all up in the air," he said. "But I know we're going to have to have a lot of our young talent here that will need to step up. I think you have those guys on this roster now that you'll see that will play and help us win ball games."

"I think we have to do a lot of decision-making coming up this offseason," he said. "We have to wait until we find out what rules we're dealing with with the collective bargaining agreement, as far as going forward with player contracts and things like that.

"... Once we get all our staff in place and finalized and sit with [coach] Leslie Frazier -- and Leslie will work with the new coaches that come in and analyze where we're at not only at quarterback but at each position -- and kind of look at all those options and then make the best decision moving forward."

"Again, I think everybody is going to look at that, but we have to look at all our options," he said. "We will look at all our options from A to Z and put together and try to get the best player we can at that position, or two or three players.

"I know everybody's aspirations, once they get into training camp, you're hoping to get a chance to play in a Super Bowl. But we have a long way to go between now and training camp before we know what our roster is going to look like."

Spielman expects to find a lot of good players in the draft who will help the team, and a concern of course is the injuries a team suffers during the season and the hope that you can add depth. He said the team will need to add a lot of pieces.

With the Packers, Bears and the Lions set at quarterback, the Vikings face a real challenge filling that position.

"I think anytime you're not in the Super Bowl it's a disappointment, but again, there was a lot of great learning experiences that we went through this year, from A to Z, and look forward to the future and moving on," Spielman said.

Jottings• Pat Morris, who was one of the first assistant coaches hired by former Vikings coach Brad Childress and was let go by Frazier, has caught on as offensive line coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Morris and Bucs offensive coordinator Greg Olson worked together in Detroit. The hiring also united Morris with Bucs offensive tackle Donald Penn, who was on the Vikings practice squad. Morris spent five years with the Vikings and also worked in the NFL with the 49ers from 1997 to 2003. "This is a great opportunity for me," said Morris, who also was sought by more than one other team.

• The Timberwolves' Kurt Rambis, coach of the youngest team in the NBA averaging 22.5 years old, said the good thing is that the Wolves will be able to keep every player on the current team that they want to keep. In the case of Kevin Love, the former UCLA star has two more years on his contract, plus the Wolves have the right to match any other offer the third year.

• Brian Dutcher, the son of former Gophers coach Jim Dutcher, is the No. 1 assistant to Steve Fisher with the San Diego State men's basketball team -- one of two unbeaten Division I basketball teams going into Saturday night.

• Former Breck and Southern California tight end Dominique Byrd, who has spent time with the Arizona Cardinals and the St. Louis Rams, has signed a free-agent contract with the Seahawks.

• It's hard to understand, but going into Saturday night's game at San Jose, the Wild had a record of 13-7-3 on the road and 11-11-2 at home. The Wild has outscored its previous three opponents -- Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary -- by 14-1, with nine players scoring goals in those three victories.

• Freshman Cory Joseph, the brother of former Gophers guard Devoe Joseph, had a stellar second half in helping to lead Texas past Kansas 74-63 on Saturday. It was Kansas' first home loss in 69 games. The Longhorns trailed by 12 at the half but outscored the Jayhawks 51-28 in the second half, with Joseph scoring nine of his 11 points in the second. In one crucial stretch, Joseph scored eight points in a row in less than two minutes, including two three-pointers, to increase their lead from 51-47 to 59-48.

• Darcy Kuemper, the Wild's sixth-round pick (161st overall) in 2009, was named Western Hockey League player of the week. The Red Deer (Alberta) goalie went 3-0 with two shutouts, stopping 85 of 86 shots for a 0.32 goals-against average and a .988 save percentage on the week. Overall, Kuemper leads the WHL in victories (28), goals-against average (1.80), save percentage (.933) and shutouts (eight).