WildHBcommunity: Nice Win Against Talented Team Enough to Fuel Huge Push?
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Minnesota Wild Steal a Victory Against a Talented Calgary Team on Back of Devan Dubnyk
All the negativity surrounding this season for our favorite squad sucks! That being said I pride myself on critically presenting my thoughts and opinions on why things work and why they do not. In that Thursday night victory by the Wild in Calgary, net minder Devan Dubnyk stole a victory for his team which is something that has just not occurred this season in the State of Hockey.
I realize that one victory does not dig this club out of the hole but it certainly flashed some potential for this club to get hot and make a run should they be able to continue that level of energy and effort while being rewarded by a guy between the pipes who made all the saves he was supposed in addition to a couple fantastic ones.
I really want to be writing about a huge momentum swing and epic run as i did last year. I take no pleasure in negativity or misery of others in general and although savagery of the coach or the team seems to generate a ton of attention to blogs and my content, its not how I want to be know or read.
That being said there is 14 games until the March 2nd NHL Trade Deadline, in that time we will have answered definitive questions about the fate of this squad for now and get a glimpse of what the future will hold. Point blank this team rattles off 5-6 victories and gets back into contention making them a potential buyer and alleviating some of the heavy pressure on head coach Mike Yeo and general manager Chuck Fletcher or...........
FEBRUARY
@ Vancouver Canucks Sunday, February 01 2015 3:30 PM EST
Chicago Blackhawks Tuesday, February 03 2015 8:00 PM EST
Colorado Avalanche Saturday, February 07 2015 8:00 PM EST
Vancouver Canucks Monday, February 09 2015 8:00 PM EST
@ Winnipeg Jets Tuesday, February 10 2015 8:00 PM EST
Florida Panthers Thursday, February 12 2015 8:00 PM EST
Carolina Hurricanes Saturday, February 14 2015 8:00 PM EST
@ Vancouver Canucks Monday, February 16 2015 10:00 PM EST
@ Calgary Flames Wednesday, February 18 2015 9:30 PM EST
@ Edmonton Oilers Friday, February 20 2015 9:00 PM EST
Dallas Stars Sunday, February 22 2015 8:00 PM EST
Edmonton Oilers Tuesday, February 24 2015 8:00 PM EST
@ Nashville Predators Thursday, February 26 2015 8:30 PM EST
@ Colorado Avalanche Saturday, February 28 2015 10:00 PM EST
For Wild to Make Post Season Yeo Must Find Right Mix of Empowering Kids & Veteran Experience
The overwhelming theme this season in failure has been that Yeo is not at fault and the players have not performed to their abilities. I think clearly this current group has played some very impressive hockey driving possession and improving their scoring over previous seasons. I am not as quick to let Yeo off the hook for what has not gone right this season.
I have found Yeo to be stubborn in admitting his evaluation and projections of individual players is flawed. Each season I have written about the Wild, I have pontificated at length about players Yeo has dragged his feet on. Yeo has a documented history of avoidance of conflict and decisive action with regard to several high profile players. Yeo has been behind the curve identifying and taking action on players not fulfilling their roles and ice time.
This season the most stark examples of this have been Yeo's handling of Thomas Vanek and Nino Niederreiter. Both of those guys have found themselves either in the dog house or on the wrong side of elevations, ice time, roles, and line mates. Obviously I would have less of a case to make if Erik Haula had not taken such a large step back with his play but as such the 3rd line has been a waste land this year.
It was very telling that Vanek finally publicly lobbied to play with a play maker at the pivot position aka Mikael Granlund not unlike what happened in Montreal. Vanek although he has not lit the lamp as was expected has certainly created offense with his passing and hockey iq this season. Vanek is currently slotted in with Zach Parise and Granlund which offers him the exact opportunity he lobbied for with two talented line mates that are the ultimate complimentary types to any player assigned to play with them.
In regard to Niederreiter, I just kinda get underwhelmed by the Yeo mentality that he must prove a point to a soft target rather than take on the big dogs which is a re-occurring theme to his time as Wild bench boss. KnightRider has flashed the ability to be a NHL goal scorer this season but has not been elevated and empowered by Yeo which drives me insane.
I also completely acknowledge that Nino has been inconsistent this season but this kid should have gotten a real opportunity on the power play this year especially when it was circling the drain during the first two months of the year. Nino playing with Kyle Brodziak and other bottom six forwards means that he must drive the possession and create opportunities by himself.
Jason Zucker has broken through Yeo wall of stubbornness but Nino has found him on the outside looking in. Honestly Yeo has this frustrating tendency to default to Charlie Coyle no matter where his game is at. We saw it earlier this season where Coyle was locked into a Top 6 without production to justify it.
Coyle is a great kid personality wise and his size and work ethic are obviously what makes him an easy choice to bet on for the bench boss but his goal scoring and ability to produce points at the NHL level has not translated from his prospect potential and projections. Maybe more frustrating with regard to Coyle is that he could be valuable at the center position for this squad even as it becomes more apparent he is probably not the 20+ goal scorer at NHL level but he just hasn't proven he can play the pivot. Coyle struggles with his puck handle especially on the move.
The other major issue I take with Yeo has been his distribution of minutes and pairings on the blue line this season. I understand wanting to have a veteran presence on the 3rd pairing but you have talented kids and a bit of depth at the position in the organization yet we get very limited minutes of a Keith Ballard and Nate Prosser pairing? Granted so the mumps hit the defensemen on this club very hard but honestly I refuse to believe Prosser or Ballard added more in their minutes than Mathew Dumba, Christian Folin, or Jon Blum.
What's worse is Yeo defaulted to Justin Falk and Stu Bickel as callups over Blum and then adjusted by not even playing them when in the lineup choosing to instead allow Ryan Suter to play far too many minutes to compensate which spread him thin and affected his effectiveness greatly which cost the team victories.
Going forward I can only hope Yeo has learned his lesson and while empower Dumba and Folin in a balanced three pairing deployment geared towards taking advantage of having six capable talented defensemen at his disposal with Prosser mixed in sparsely. Dumba flat out should be elevated and inspired to play heavy power play minutes for this team down the stretch. That kid is a weapon and he should get the full backing of Yeo if he has any chance of shocking the world to rattle of several victories to battle back into playoff contention!
The Latest #WildWednesday on Jeff Dubay Show was Passionate and Contention! You can listen here:
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