Minnesota Wild’s Lack of Answers is Disturbing
Dec 3, 2014; Saint Paul, MN, USA; Minnesota Wild head coach Mike Yeo addresses the team during a time out during the third period against the Montreal Canadiens at Xcel Energy Center. The Wild win 2-1 over the Canadiens. Mandatory Credit: Marilyn Indahl-USA TODAY Sports
The Minnesota Wild are supposed to be a good team. Good teams are not supposed to let this happen. What is “this”, you ask?
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Well, for one, picking up a much needed win one night, then getting embarrassed the next. After beating the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1 at home on Friday night, the Wild got trounced in Dallas by the Stars 7-1. That is not a typo. Somehow, they managed to give up seven goals on a mere 35 shots. Darcy Kuemper got pulled for roughly the 87053270th time, and Niklas Backstrom was not much better. To be fair, Kuemper played well on Friday and playing both ends of a back-to-back is difficult for a goalie, but he got the contract he wanted this past offseason. He needs to start earning it.
Mike Yeo continued with his borderline obsession of shuffling the line-up, by scratching Justin Fontaine in favor of Stu Bickel, which I do not understand on multiple fronts. I am from Duluth and therefore biased, but I don’t see what Bickel brings to the table that Fontaine does not. It also seems strange that Fontaine goes from getting power play time one night to the sky box the next. It is certainly possible that Fontaine is battling something we are unaware of, but it seems like another “change for change’s sake” move that seems to be this team’s calling card.
Good teams also do not lose seven out of nine games, coming off of a prolonged .500 stretch before it. Resiliency and hard work were the calling cards of this same team with essentially the same roster last spring. So far this season, the only consistencies have been uneven play, poor goaltending, a rash of injuries and an illness epidemic.
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The worst part of all of it is that no one seems to have any answers. I’m still not on the “Fire Mike Yeo” bandwagon, but it is definitely coming to a head soon if the team does not start winning now. Going backwards happens in professional sports, but it is supposed to happen when the team’s core gets too old to compete. The Wild are too young if anything, but it is no excuse. They have two consecutive playoff seasons to build on. This was supposed to be an up and coming team to be reckoned with in the Central Division, not an afterthought in the Western Conference Playoff race.
The only saving grace, if you even want to call it that, is that the Wild have not fallen all the way into the basement yet. The Colorado Avalanche, the other half of the great first round series with the Wild last year, have been even worse, by a small margin. The further away we get from the Wild’s back-to-back wins over Colorado to begin the season, the more hollow they feel.
Saying that it is not to late to turn things around to save the season is getting old, and less true by the day. The Wild need answers, and need them now.