In defence of the Minnesota Wild
At the time of writing, the Minnesota Wild currently sits atop the NHL standings. That’s right, the Wild. The only reason I repeat it is because you could be forgiven for not knowing.
As I scrolled through various websites and read numerous articles on Wednesday morning following yet another victory for Mike Yeo’s men, I was bemused, as has often happened this season, at the lack of headlines Minnesota was making. Indeed, the website of a prominent American sports broadcaster had six stories and game reviews listed in their headlines before any mention of the boys from the State of Hockey. Y’know, the ones that are the best in the league right now.
So, I aim to set the record straight and give my Minnesota Wild boys the love they rightfully deserve.
Credit must initially go to GM Chuck Fletcher who made a gutsy call during the off-season in firing coach Todd Richards and replacing him with Mike Yeo, a man who isn’t even old enough to have had a mid-life crisis yet. Despite being an appointment somewhat considered to be out of left-field, it really shouldn’t have, as the affable 38 year old has earned his stripes since his playing days were ended prematurely due to a knee injury. Having spent nine seasons coaching at various levels in the Pittsburgh Penguins system, and claiming a Stanley Cup ring to boot, Yeo accepted the head coaching job at the Houston Aeros, the primary affiliate of the Wild. During his one season there, he lead the team to the Calder Cup Finals, where they narrowly lost. His personality and man management skills, along with his youthful exuberance and passion for the game not only rubbed off on his players, but, evidently Fletcher too.
The dynamic duo then went about attempting to rebuild a roster that appeared wafer thin, short on goals and, as a three year barren run in terms of play-off experience suggested, a roster that was ultimately lacking in talent. Cue a series of trades with San Jose in which all of these aspects were addressed. Trading their most tradable asset, Brent Burns (who incidentally has a rather large Minnesota Wild tattoo) along with the disappointing Martin Havlat to the Sharks for offensive talent in Devin Setoguchi and the still dangerous Danny Heatley as well as terrific young prospects and draft picks seemed intriguing at the time. Anyone care to second guess now?
Despite a shaky 3-3-3 start, in which they played sluggishly and brilliantly in equal measure, leading the less loyal of Minnesota fans to question whether it was a case of the same old same old, the Wild players have whole-heartedly bought in to the new coach’s system. A system that involves a more offensive minded mentality to go along with a gritty determination and never say die attitude that has earned the Wild no less than eight victories from losing positions in the third period already this season. Their reward? A 15-4-0 run in their last 19 games that has the rest of the league, if not the media, raving.
The funny thing is, though, that they are doing all this despite the fact that the offensive side of things that the front office worked so hard on rectifying, well, hasn’t been rectified. Last season, the Wild were near the bottom of every major offensive category, be it goals scored, shots per game, powerplay percentage, you name it. This season, it’s very much the same. In the two seasons under the tutelage of Todd Richards, the Wild scored 2.54 goals per game, as opposed to 2.39 in the admittedly smaller sample size of the opening 28 games under Mike Yeo.
The defence and goal-tending is where the Wild are racking up their points, with Backstrom and Harding being the model of consistency between the pipes. The Swede has a 2.15 GAA and .929% in 18 games, while his understudy, coming off a year out due to injury, owns a 2.14 GAA and a .932% in 13 appearances. It has often been said that there are lies, damn lies and statistics, but in this instance I think we can deduce that the two Minnesota goal-tenders have made impressive starts to the 2011-12 NHL season.
Just as impressive however, is the play of the young defencemen, who were considered amongst the worst in the league prior to the season. The play of the likes of Marco Scandella and Jared Spurgeon has been exemplary. The fact that they both played significantly in Hosuton under Yeo last season surely has helped their transition into full-time NHLers. The Wild have also shown that they have the ability to overcome injuries, sadly a major part of life on the rink. Already this early into the season the Wild have been forced to use 10 defencemen and sign a 51 year old goal-tender off the street, yet still they find a way of shutting up shop and continuing on their merry winning ways.
The fact that the defence is clicking a lot sooner than the offensive side of things is perhaps no great surprise, considering that so many of the defenders on the Wild roster have played under Yeo previously. It does leave one wondering just how good this team can be once the offence starts clicking though, doesn’t it?
That is something that most certainly has me feeling Minnesota. How about you?
