ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Not much has changed with the Minnesota Wild roster.The biggest difference is the man now in charge on the bench, Bruce Boudreau, whos been tasked with squeezing more success out of a team thats been stuck in the early rounds of the playoffs for the last four years.Bruce has that ability to convince the players, to get the players, to encourage the players, to prod the players to execute on a consistent basis, general manager Chuck Fletcher said the day Boudreau was introduced in May. If we do that, were a good hockey team and can even become very good.Boudreau has mostly experienced early exits from the postseason, too, with Washington and Anaheim. Without them, though, the 61-year-old likely wouldnt have been available to Fletcher and the Wild in the search for the franchises fifth head coach and fourth in six years. Theyre banking on Boudreau, with his remarkable regular season success of eight division titles in nine years, as the catalyst that this a group of players has been missing at critical times.You come to realize why hes had success. Everything he says makes a lot of sense, right wing Jason Pominville said. He kind of goes out of his way to make sure that we understand it and explains to us why were doing it and what can happen if we do it and do it right, so its nice to have that voice.With his roly-poly build and mischievous gap-toothed grin, Boudreau doesnt look the part of a taskmaster. Make no mistake, though, that his practices have been demanding during the get-to-know-each-other phase during training camp.They are intense, a lot of skating, and you can tell theres a purpose to all the drills were doing, left wing Zach Parise said, noting the emphasis on teaching concepts and creating game-like situations. It kind of forces us to play at a faster pace in practices, and hopefully that translates into games.The Wild start the season at division rival St. Louis on Oct. 13. Their home opener is two days later against Winnipeg.Here are some of the top storylines for 2016-17 in Boudreaus first year with Minnesota:PARISE RETURNS: Parise missed the playoff series last spring, a six-game loss to division champion Dallas, with a back injury that bothered him down the stretch and robbed the Wild of their best forward. Healthy enough to play for the U.S. team in the World Cup of Hockey, Parise will be counted on to be the emotional engine of a first line featuring center Marc Staal, one of the few notable offseason additions, and Charlie Coyle on the right wing.Theyre part of our top six, and we expect them to score, Boudreau said. And I expect them to be able to defend. Its not a one-way street.CONVERTED CENTER: Coyle has gone back and forth between center and the wing, but the plan for now is to keep him and his 6-foot-3, 218-pound frame on the wing. Coyle had a career-high 21 goals and 42 points in 2015-16, but he was still prone to long stretches without scoring.So far we havent seen the peak of him, Boudreau said. I think hell be better and when hes better it makes all of us better.CONVERTED CENTER, PART TWO: Since making his debut as a 20-year-old in 2012-13, Mikael Granlund hasnt matched the hype surrounding his talent with the same production. Granlund began to thrive on the wing during the postseason, and hell likely stay there on a line centered by captain Mikko Koivu and rounded out by Chris Stewart, the other significant free-agent acquisition.If Im a winger, Im a winger, Granlund said. Im excited both ways. So it doesnt matter to me.DEFENSEMEN DEMANDS: Boudreau hired Hall of Fame defenseman Scott Stevens for his staff, bringing a hard-nosed guide for the blue-line group led by Parises pal, Ryan Suter. Stevens, who spent three years on New Jerseys staff, was itching to get back on the bench after working for NHL Network last season. Yeezy Boost 700 V2 For Sale . It was the kind of score that might make everyone else wonder which course he was playing. Except that Graeme McDowell saw the whole thing. Crouched behind the 10th green at Sheshan International, McDowell looked over at the powerful American and said, "Ive probably seen 18 of the best drives Ive seen all year in the last two days. Air Max 720 Wholesale . After Mondays hard-fought loss, the wait seemed longer than usual. 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VAISON LA ROMAINE, France -- It was the sort of incident that, sadly, was waiting to happen.The shambolic finish to the 12th stage of the Tour de France on Thursday was littered with senseless crowds,? which ruined a dramatic finale. Not only did the incident halt the attack of British two-time Tour champion Chris Froome and Australian Richie Porte, but it turned the finale into a farce.In the shortened 178km stage from Montpellier to Mont Ventoux, Froome (Sky) and Porte (BMC) each crashed into a television motor bike that had been stopped by a virtual wall of fans. This happened as the two, along with Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo), were extending their lead on the group of rivals with 1.2 kilometers to go. The replays showed Porte riding straight into the back of the motor bike, striking his chin as he went to the ground, with Froome and Mollema following suit.In addition to the crowds, another contributing factor to the crash was the lack of barriers leading up to the finish. Because the distance of the stage was shortened due to gale-force winds, organizers had not brought more barriers down from the initial finish at the summit of Mont Ventoux.Some might argue that this years Tour has become farcical, remembering the embarrassment of the one-kilometrer-to-go arch falling onto British rider Adam Yates (Orica-BikeExchange) on Saturday. And to think Thursdays crash came just five days after Froomes impassioned plea for crowds to respect the riders and not run too close to them.But the drama didnt end with the crashes. First came the sight of Froome dropping his broken bike, after he got back up on his feet and ran for 50 seconds. Who could have imagined? The yellow jersey wearer, a two-time Tour winner, running as if he was in a triathlon transition zone through the still cheering and shocked masses. He stopped to resume cycling only when the neutral service gave him a spare, but ill-fitting, bike. Finally, his Sky team car reached him to provide a better bike.Then as Mollema raced ahead, the rivals he, Froome and Porte had worked so hard to drop caught up with the chaos, only to sweep by Froome and Porte, who finished 19th and 25th respectively. Meanwhile, Belgian rider Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) won the stage.But the race jury overturned the provisional results and declared a new race leader in Yates, who began the stage in second place overall. Froome and Porte were awarded the same finishing time as Mollema, who placed 10th at 5:05, and Froome was officially put back into first place overall with a lead of 47 seconds on Yates and 54 seconds on Colombian Nairo Quintana (Movistar). As for Porte, he was up from 14th to 11th overall -- but still at 2:22 to Froome.Froome: Expect the unexpected at the TourYates welcomed the overturn. I dont want to take the jersey like that, he said. Id rather take it with my legs and not a crash in a bad situation. If I was in the same situation in the yellow jersey, Id want the same outcome.Froome did not attend the post stage media zone or news conference that is normally required of the yellow jersey wearer. But he spoke to French Television and released a statement on the Team Sky website: Mount Ventoux always throws up something ddifferent, and today was no exception.dddddddddddd Obviously its really unfortunate what happened in the last couple of kilometres, but ultimately I think common sense has prevailed and the commissaries have come to the right decision -- so Id like to thank them for that. You always have to expect the unexpected at the Tour, and Ive said all along that this would be my biggest challenge yet. Now Im just looking forward to tomorrows time trial.On Friday, the Tour will resume, as it always does after a crisis, for the Stage 13 time trial, 37.5 kilometers from Bourg-Saint-Andéol to La Caverne du Pont DArc. But as Froome, Porte and the rest of the peloton continue on, the understandable and justified calls for crowds to be controlled must be addressed.A lauded trait of the Tour is the interaction between riders and fans who flock in the hundreds of thousands to watch the worlds biggest bike race. But for years, concerns have been brewing at increasing levels of extreme behavior. The reasons have been many. Fan excitement is one. In the 1993, as Italian Giuseppe Guerini (Telekom) was soloing toward victory on the prestigious Alpine finish at lAlpe dHuez, he was bowled over by a spectator who was standing in the middle of the road to take his photo. Guerini still won the stage and the offending fans, to his credit, apologized the next day.However, in recent years, the frenzy has seen more violent intent. Sentiment toward American Lance Armstrong during his reign as the Tour champion from 1999 to 2005 turned from bitter to extremely volatile as suspicion grew that he was doping. Once encouraging messages of support -- that were either verbalized or painted on the road -- became direct personal insults. Suspicion that Armstrong doped eventually proved correct after he confessed and was banned for life in 2012. He was also stripped of his tour titles.Porte: I dont know what they are going to do.Froome and Porte have both experienced the ugly and angry tone of the crowd, as have other riders. In 2013, when Froome won at Mont Ventoux, after dropping Quintana, he rode to victory through a chorus of boos and jeers. Quintana was otherwise greeted by cheers. Just last year, Froome had urine thrown at him, and Porte was punched during a stage.Even on Thursday, when Froome received his yellow jersey, he was also greeted by boos. Porte was at a loss to explain how the crowds became so uncontrollable. I dont know what [race organizers] are going to do. They need to do something about it because its not fair, Porte said. Its not really the motor bikes, is it? Its the crowds. They are in your face the whole time, pushing order, and at the top there, that was just crazy. We were 23 seconds in front and next thing for something so silly, you know everyone is back on us.De Gendt called for action to be taken: There were a lot of people in the last kilometer, he said. They should do something about that. There was not even a place for one moto.Trouble is, after Froomes plea for respect last week clearly fell on the deaf ears, one cant help but ask: What is the solution? ' ' '