Rotating captains

Instead of naming one captain for the entire season, the Wild have rotated the captaincy on a monthly basis. Sean O'Donnell wore the title first, followed by Scott Pellerin, Wes Walz and Brad Bombardir, who currently has the honor. And that's the reason the team adopted the unique system – to make the position an honored one, something players covet and work for. "It's not a common thing," said coach Jacques Lemaire. "But I've seen, so many times through my 35 years in hockey, a captain that the team was tired of and then we'd have to trade him. Let's face it. It should be an honor." How do the players like it? "We have a lot of guys who came from similar situations and had a story why (they weren't successful) earlier in their career," said Walz, who liked the idea from the start. "It gives people a chance. I don't think I would have had the opportunity (to be captain) if we didn't rotate. I hope they were taking pictures for my hockey card. It gives everyone a chance, something to drive for. I'm not going to lie, I was honored to be captain and wish it lasted a little longer."

Recipe for an NHL expansion team: Mix equal parts good coach, hungry and intense players and salivating fans.

Putting together an expansion squad is like alchemy: You're hoping for gold but always end up with something less valuable.

But the Minnesota Wild, already with 14 wins, threw a little extra into their mix; and although they're far from NHL gold, the Wild aren't exactly tin, either.

Instead of just a good coach, Minnesota has a premier one in Jacques Lemaire. Instead of just picking the best mix of youth and grizzled veterans, the Wild uncovered a few sleepers and brought in team-oriented vets.

"If you look at all of our players individually, they are all guys who come to work to play hard," Lemaire said. "But no, I didn't expect the guys to respond as well as they have."

Despite a recent 6-1-3 streak, the Wild remain six games under .500 and well out of the playoff hunt in the ultra-competitive West. While they are not mistaken for the St. Louis Blues, the Wild are competitive enough and are winning enough to keep the fans excited and the players motivated.

"I think, at the beginning of the season, it was all so new for everyone," said Scott Pellerin, who was selected from the Blues in the expansion draft and is one of the veterans who possesses solid two-way play and locker-room leadership. "It was first time the Wild did this, the first time the Wild did that. Now, we got over that and tried to find our identity. That's the key. People getting their roles and playing them."

Fernandez's Wild year

The prospect of going from a Stanley Cup finalist to an expansion team can be quite daunting. Manny Fernandez is making the best of it. The Minnesota goalie didn't see much action as Ed Belfour's backup with Dallas, playing only 17 minutes in the playoffs. Then, just days after the Devils wrecked the Stars' repeat hopes, Fernandez was dealt away to the first-year team. "It was heartbreaking for me to leave Dallas because I think it was the first season where the team spirit in the room was so big," said Fernandez, who has a 2.19 goal-against average, just slightly behind Belfour's 2.16. "Every time you have to leave a place like that, it is heartbreaking. But you have to get over it and life moves on." The team won't compete for the Stanley Cup for a while, but Fernandez doesn't dwell on how close he was to a title or how far away he is now. "I have to stop looking at the past and start looking from here on," Fernandez said. "We've got a great chance here. Maybe not this year, maybe not next year, but in the near future I think we can get this club real high." – Associated Press

That is Lemaire's forte – defining a player's role, then getting him to accept it.

"I had him a little bit in New Jersey," said Pellerin of Lemaire, who coached the Devils to a Stanley Cup title in 1995. "At the time, I was young and didn't really understand the game, roles and what it takes to win. … The way he explains the game, his knowledge and his confidence bring a lot to the team."

Lemaire is a bit of an odd mixture himself. Often, he's a fun-loving coach, willing to joke around on the ice. Other times, he can give a silent glare that would make Clint Eastwood nervous. It was during his eight Stanley Cup wins as a player in Montreal and his years coaching great teams in New Jersey that Lemaire learned when to pamper and when to push.

"He's fun to be around, but he can also be serious and intimidating," Pellerin said. "He's really pushed us to become better players."

As for the diamonds in the rough, look no further than defensemen Lubomir Sekeras and Ladislav Benysek. A 32-year-old product of the Slovakian and Czech leagues, Sekeras was chosen by the Wild in the eighth round of the 2000 draft. Through 42 games of his first NHL season, he has 16 points and is tied for the team lead with eight goals.

Benysek, originally selected by Edmonton in the 11th round of the 1994 draft, has bounced back and forth between the AHL and the Czech Republic the last six seasons, playing only two games in the NHL in 1997-98. During the expansion draft, Minnesota claimed his rights from Anaheim, which had picked him off the waiver draft in 1999. Benysek has been a solid presence on the blue line and has a respectable plus/minus rating of minus-2 through 40 games.

"Sekeras and Benysek, we didn't know how they would play and they have been just great," said Lemaire. "When you have good defensemen, you have the chance to have some success."

And the Wild have had a lot more success than anyone, even the organization, could have expected.

Brian A. Shactman covers the NHL for ESPN.com. He can be reached at brian.shactman@espn.com.