On the white board of the visitors' room, the Minnesota Wild roster looks like an all star team. Its a roster that is loaded with tremendous individual stars like Zach Parise, Mikko Koivu, Ryan Suter, Jason Pominville and Thomas Vanek. They also boast of exceptional young up and comers Nino Niederreiter, Jason Zucker, Charlie Coyle, Mikael Granlund, Jonas Brodin and others.
Mike Yeo's team was carefully assembled by hand in order to succeed in a long run through the 2015 NHL playoffs.
Wild GM Chuck Fletcher did a great job of assembling his forwards and D, however, he skimped on goaltending, which is the fatal flaw of the 2014-15 Minnesota Wild. Fletcher has failed to find the franchise goalie that will take his team to the promised land. He wasted time and money on novelty act Ilya Bryzgalov last season. He whiffed on signing Ryan Miller as a free agent last summer.
The old saying goes: when you have three goalies, you have no goalies.
Darcy Keumper is injured. He was inconsistent when he was healthy. Nik Backstrom has been a disappointment. Youngster John Curry is not ready for prime time.
Fletcher is responsible for the goalie debacle in Minny. He better call his good friend Tim Murray in Buffalo to craft a trade for one of his rental goalies Michal Neuvirth or Jhonas Enroth. Neuvirth and Enroth will become UFAs in July.
The Wild have fallen and they can't get up.
They goaltending is a joke. Their power play is a dumpster fire.
There are so many questions and with no answers.
They are 2-7-4 in their past 13 games and they are on the outside of the playoffs looking in.
The Wild are 5-9-1 since December 1.
Their latest loss came Sunday night at the hands of the Chicago Blackhawks. The Wild were embarrassed 4-1 by the high flying Hawks.
Who saw this coming?
The Wild were supposed to be a penthouse team, not an outhouse team.
If I'm Wild head coach Mike Yeo, I'm dusting off my resume and updating it. Wild fans are beyond annoyed and they are calling for a change coaching change.
Yeo's nerves are frayed. He's beat up from all of the speculation and losing. He melted down on his team, with news cameras rolling on Wednesday.
His team is 0-3 since he blew his stack on his team.
What good is smashing the stick and screaming if it doesn't motivate his troops? It appears to me that the Wild players have tuned out Yeo. The forwards are soft on the back check and are playing a 100 foot game. The Wild D corps are constantly under siege and their goaltending is weak at nest.
A change at the coaching position will do the Wild a lot of good right now.
Listen closely to how he calls out all of his players for their lack of urgency and their corporate casual attitude as it related to their team practice.
Thanks, KSTP
Former Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma is waiting in the wings. He's motivated, reinvigorated and wants to get back into coaching. John Tortarella is also ;looking for another NHL bench to be boss of.
This is a critical week for the Wild as the will play in Pittsburgh on Tuesday night. If Yeo loses to Crosby and Malkin, he may be shown the door. The Wild travel to Buffalo on Thursday night.
Yeo is the head coach of a $60 million hockey team that has been routinely going through the motions for the past four weeks. Their goaltending is a wreck and their team defense has been a joke. In many ways, the Wild are the Western Conference equivalent of the Boston Bruins. The Wild are Bruins were both projected to make the playoffs and make a serious push for the Stanley Cup Finals. Right now, the Wild and are on a collision course with the bottom of the standings. They are eight points out of the second wild card spot.
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The Edmonton Oilers lost to the Florida Panthers on Sunday night. Thus, no movement in the basement of the NHL standings.
On Saturday, the Hurricanes stole a loser point from the St. Louis Blues. The Canes blew a two goal lead in regulation and lost in OT.
Monday morning standings:
Carolina: 31 points (4-5-1 in last 10 games)
Buffalo: 31 points (1-8-1 last 10 games)
Oilers: 29 points (3-5-3 last 11 games)
#McEichel #DareToDream
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Cody McCormick has been the standard bearer for the Buffalo Sabres this season. He isn't flashy. He just gets the job done. He maximizes what talent he has and he refuses to be outworked. He kills penalties, blocks shots, punches opponents in the face, wins face offs and serves as the de facto boss on the bench and in the room. He scored his first goal of the season, a gorgeous shorty, in Tampa on January 9.
He holds his teammates accountable. Win or lose, McCormick plays with pride, physicality and concise fundamentals.
Ted Nolan loves McCormick because he sells out every shift and he always puts the team ahead of his own needs. The Sabres think so highly of McCormick that they re-signed him as a UFA in July after they traded him to Minnesota with Matt Moulson last March.
The Sabres are going to have to make due without him. According to the Sabers, McCormick is out indefinitely as a result of a blood clot in his left calf.
Ted Nolan delivered bad news concerning McCormick after Sunday's practice.
Nolan said that McCormick has a blood clot in his calf muscle and that he is lucky that the team caught it when they did. McCormick will need time to heal properly. It looks like Torrey Mitchell will be activated for Tuesday's home game versus Detroit. Mitchell could replace McCormick on the fourth line.
Captain Brian Gionta also skated on Sunday, however, he will not be ready to rejoin the lineup this week.
McCormick has been hospitalized in Buffalo.
Thanks, Sabres.com
More to come....
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The Detroit Red Wings suffered a big set-back when Jimmy Howard suffered a serious groin injury on Saturday night. Howard injured his groin trying to make a save on a Troy Brouwer wraparound attempt. Brouwer scored on the play. Howard had to be removed from his crease on a stretcher.
Mike Babcock will turn to Petr Mrzaek to hold the fort while Howard recovers. Tommy McCollum has been recalled from AHL Grand Rapids.
The Red Wings play in Buffalo on Tuesday night. Will Babcock give the net to Wheatfield native McCollum?
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Clinging to a Western Conference wild card playoff berth will be more difficult for the Los Angeles for the foreseeable future.
The Kings lost their top two young wingers on Saturday.
Tyler Toffoli and Tanner Pearson, two of their top four goal scorers this season will be on the shelf for a while. Now, two thirds of the electrifying "That 70s Line" is on the shelf.
Before Saturday’s game against the Winnipeg Jets, the Kings announced that Toffoli had been diagnosed with mononucleosis. Athletes who become infected by the mono virus suffer from fatigue and a dramatic loss of energy. Toffoli will be lost for a few weeks, according to the team.
If that weren’t bad enough news, Tanner Pearson crashed into the boards against the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday afternoon and broke a bone in his lower leg. Its not believed to be a broken ankle. Pearson will be further evaluated today.
Before the losses of Toffoli and Pearson, the Kings were in search of a scoring winger. Now, they may have to find 2 or 3 wingers to fill in for Toffoli and Pearson.
Earlier this season, the Kings inquired about rental winger Chris Stewart who will become UFA in July.
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Sportnet's Elliotte Friedman threw bucket of cold water on the Eric Staal trade speculation. Staal intends to stay with the Hurricanes.
Staal has one year remaining on his contract which is a hefty salary cap hit of $8.25 million.
Staal will become a UFA at the conclusion of the 2015-16 season.
Staal, 30, was the second pick by overall by the Hurricanes in the 2003 NHL Draft. Staal has spent his entire 806-game career with the franchise.
Staal and his wife welcomed their third child into the world ten days before Christmas. Its probably best for Staal to say no to a trade in the second half of this season so that he can stay in Raleigh with his wife and family. If he's going to be traded, it will probably be at or before the NHL Draft in late June or during the summer. Staal's younger brother and teammate Jordan is in a similar situation. Last week, Jordan and his wife welcomed their first child into the world.
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