Hopefully Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder Wild State of Affairs
Revisiting my View of the Minnesota Wild in my Return
I feel like I have been gone for so long from HockeyBuzz and the WildHBcommunity, that maybe there are people that have no idea what I wrote in my opening blog of the season. I will provide a couple paragraphs below from my season preview Good, Bad, and Ugly blog published 09/24/2016:
The reality is here in the State of Hockey, the apologist passive aggressive fandom is the overwhelming majority. Fans get shamed for booing a power play that generates zero shots on goal and anything dynamic offensively. Fans get shamed for calling into question why a player is treated and paid like a franchise player while contributing so little offensively especially in comparison to other NHLer with similar stature. Fans are shamed and chastised by the main stream media and a couple snarky blogger types for wondering a loud if Yeo's decision making and bench boss persona have not reflected the definition of insanity after three post season exits in a row after sneaking into the playoffs on the strength on improbable stretch runs.
I have this nasty gut feeling that the Wild will take a step back this season and miss the post season. If the Wild finds themselves out of the playoff picture come NHL Trade Deadline it will be interesting to see how much ability to clean up this roster going for Fletcher is afforded. Fletcher has committed to a veteran core that disappears in the playoffs and is trending towards what appears to be a missed window of opportunity to compete for Lord Stanley's Cup. This entire season is riding on the young core fulfilling their potential super star potential.
Bottom line for 2015-16 Wild season is that if we don't see Granlund, Nino, Zucker, and Dumba breakout as primary contributors offensively, this season could take a turn for the worse very quickly. I think the Wild can definitely grind out wins and play 200 foot forechecking type of style but arguably each team the division made improvements on their rosters from last year and the Central will be a dog fight in 2015-16.
The reason I share this summary of my thoughts from September is because I find it to be very important to be accountable for my take and I also hope to be proven wrong by a couple things written above. I am not going to peacock around because Mike Yeo was fired, instead I will say that he did very well to insulate himself on a team full of no-move clause vested veterans. Yeo certainly has a list things in my mind atleast he is responsible for in the fault column but he also deserves credit for being successful in his first NHL head coaching job.
I am glad to no longer have Yeo behind the bench for the Minnesota Wild because I think he has proven that although he was billed upon arrival here to replace Todd Richards, as the coach who would foster the development of the young core here, instead he most likely hindered them avoiding confrontation with young and old. Yeo proved to be far behind the curve on taking action to address vested veterans like Dany heatley, Jason Pominville, and others.
Yeo avoided confrontation with star prospect Mikael Granlund from day one of the kids NHL career instead focusing his ire towards an easier target in Devin Setogucci. At the time I found this to be troubling because Setogucci and Matt Cullen had been hand selected to play on a line with Granlund to open up his rookie campaign. While Cullen struggle to be effective as a dump and chase winger in Yeo's system, it was truly Granlund who bogged down the line and struggled mightily to have his game translate to the smaller ice surface in the NHL and more physical play. So Yeo chose to address it by putting none other than Setogucci in the doghouse despite the winger's play reflecting as both aggressive offensively and physical in both ends of the ice.
Don't get me wrong I am no closeted Setogucci man fan, I realize he no longer plays in the NHL because of his own actions, choices, and behaviors. I only rehash this entire scenario to illustrate that Yeo left a path of same or similar decision that reflect as avoidance and playing the politics when it comes to ice time, roles, and accountability. Sure Granlund would find himself demoted and scratched later on down the road but only after Yeo had misdiagnosed and evaluated the performance of several players to the detriment of the team.
The most recent and glaring example of this point, is Yeo sending a "MESSAGE" by the healthy scratch of Thomas Vanek and Jason Zucker in St. Louis when the two most disappointing underperformers in the forward group are obviously Granlund and Pominville. Yeo just never was able to get away from avoidance of ruffling feathers of players that may just undercut his authority or cause it to look like all the ice time and confidence he had placed in their ability had been squandered.
Ready to Address the State of Affairs in the State of Hockey?
I still think this team can make the playoffs but I have believed even before the season began that the pieces of this roster just do not fit together. I think many people blame Yeo for this team falling off the edge of the playoff hunt but I view it as a symptom of Wild General Manager Chuck Fletcher being leveraged by bad contracts to veteran players. I really feel like there has been a glaring need to add a size/skill center to the Top 6 here in the State of Hockey. Fletcher has not been able to bridge the gap between Mikko Koivu and Granlund down the center of the ice. Fletcher has strangled himself with several unmovable contracts to veteran players who are better suited in complimentary roles to the young core.
The Niklas Backstrom contract along with a Devan Dubnyk raise literally ended any chance of adding anything significant in free agency to this roster and it has also meant that any trade Fletcher could possibly swing has to be a hockey trade. Fletcher is already missing a 2nd and 3rd round draft pick this summer and a 2nd round pick next summer when it really comes down to it a roster with pieces that don't fit is what Yeo had at his disposal. Truly the definition of insanity by Fletcher who was leveraged into bad deals both trade and contract wise.
I think it is a no brainer to believe that if this club misses the playoffs, it will mean Fletcher will be fired and Wild Owner Craig Leipold will completely clean house. That being said I really have a ton of admiration for Fletcher and I think Brent Flahr has proven to be an excellent evaluator of young talent. I know many will argue that the current young core on the NHL has yet to produce at the level expected based upon the hype and glimpses they all have provided over the past 4 seasons.
I have this sneaky suspicion though that with Yeo no longer behind the bench, it will provide this young core an opportunity to earn elevated roles and ice time under Interim Head Coach John Torchetti. Charlie Coyle is a player specifically that has been a victim of circumstance in Yeo's system and because Fletcher handcuffed himself. Coyle has a career high in goals and has been playing a lot more on the wing and with Zach Parise this season.
Coyle is very talented and a hard worker but he is never going to be an NHL pivot and unfortunately the Wild wasted a lot of his time and effort. Nino Niederreiter is a Top 6 winger point blank and to have Pominville playing ahead of him last year and this year has been a crime. Zucker is straight up dynamic and he made Koivu better offensively early in the season only to find himself in yeo doghouse yet again.
Even Vanek although he has not fulfilled the expectations as a goal scorer here in Minnesota, it painfully obvious he created more opportunity for other players than Pominville while always drawing a lesser role from Yeo.
Moving forward I really hope we see the following lines and pairs as Torchetti is charged with this reclamation project:
Parise/Granlund/Coyle
Zucker/Koivu/Nino
Vanek/Graovac or Haula/Pominville or Fontaine
Carter/Stoll or Haula/Fontaine or Pominville
Scandella/Spurgeon
Suter/Dumba
Reilly/Folin
Prosser
Dubnyk
Kuemper
Now that Yeo is gone, I am ready to be done with Prosser and Porter as anything other than spot fill in types. I really think Graovac's size, skill, and physical play will create an advantage on the 3rd line eventually although at current Haula has been playing so well and has earned his ice time. Scandella and Spurgeon should be together let's be honest about this and they should be playing heavy minutes together. Ryan Suter should be playing with Matt Dumba to shelter him and allow for him to activate and use his dynamic offensive ability. Suter's role needs to evolve for the betterment of the team. I love Christian Folin's size and skill combination mixed with his personality. Folin can punish opponents and he stands up for teammates on a club notorious for allowing BS to go on. Reilly is a talented kid and when you need to create supplemental offense he is just the type to be the solution.
I doubt Fletcher can accomplish much as a buyer should they be positioned to make the post season. i hope that should the post season outlook turn bleak, Fletcher is able to sell off veteran contracts to help clean up the roster and cap for next season.
In closing I find it to be completely reasonable for Leipold to be wondering whether Fletcher is even to be trusted to clean up the roster should they be unable to turn this thing around. The next 2 weeks will be fascinating on many levels. I am never going to root for the Wild to lose but this current group needs to be all in every shift to get back into the playoff picture and if they have any cup relevance.
Personal Note:
I am not an excuse maker, I love sharing my thoughts on hockey but my life has not allowed me time for much of anything which is a great problem to have considering my circumstances. This goes beyond just the WildHBcommunity as WildWednesdayShow podcast no longer is being taped and broadcast. I think Dan Wallace has done an excellent job here! I love talking hockey and it has absent from my day to day life. Thank you for always being so gracious and passionate towards me and my writing!
Love TD!
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Just My Take,
Tony Dean
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