What are the Minnesota Wild? Are they the team that Bovada has tagged as the 6th favorite to win the Stanley Cup? Or are they a team that is middling in a stacked Central Division, as likely to miss the playoffs as they are to make noise in them? Here are the storylines as the Wild try to advance to their fourth postseason in a row.
1. What You See Is What You Got
With the Wild, what you see is what you got last year. After resigning goalkeeper Devan Dubnyk, the Wild added Mike Reilly — a college free agent who picked the Wild over the likes of the Blackhawks and Rangers after he chose not to sign with Columbus after the Blue Jackets drafted him. Reilly is no lock to make the final roster, likely competing with holdovers Matt Dumba, Christian Folin and Nate Prosser for the last three spots. So if he doesn’t, the team that got swept aside by Chicago in the second round is back. Does that strike fear into the rest of the Central? Speaking of which…
2. The Central Is Loaded
Dallas is getting better. Nashville is getting a lot better. Chicago is Chicago. St. Louis got better trading T.J. Oshie. Colorado won the division two season ago. Winnipeg took the second Wild Card spot last year. And that’s just the division; Who thinks the Kings are going to stay down? If they hit the top three in the Pacific,that brings Calgary into the Wild Card mix. That’s a lot of teams in the mix for playoff spots.
3. High Priced Players Need To Show
According to the Star Tribune, Thomas Vanek played last season with two hernias and a detached groin. If healthy and can turn back the clock to his days in Buffalo, he’ll start to earn that $6.5 million cap hit. While he’s paid too much, it’s not his fault the Wild bid against themselves to secure his services.
Zach Parise and Jason Pominville both played to their contracts. Mikko Koivu, on the other hand, hasn’t. He’s owed nearly $22 million for the last three years of his contract (with a cap hit of $6.75 million) and has a no movement clause. He has only topped 70 points once, has never had more than 22 goals in a season and never has never hit 50 assists. He does a lot of things OK, but the OK has to turn to great if Minnesota will hit the heights that many expect.
4. Is Mike Yeo The Right Coach?
Minnesota plays at Buffalo on March 5 this year, so probably too late to factor into the conversation of whether Mike Yeo keeps his job. The last two seasons, wins in Buffalo arguably kept the Minnesota coach employed. You could make a compelling case for Wild firing Yeo after last season. But Yeo is in season two of a three-year deal, which means a short playoff run – or no playoff run at all – and the Wild will take their turn on coaching carousel again in the offseason.
5. Stuck In The Middle
In the current NHL playoff format, you have to win two series against your division rivals before advancing to play the last team standing from the conference’s other division. In the case of Minnesota, the Wild have to run the gauntlet of some really good teams just to go further than last year. And this is where being in the NHL’s middle is problem.
Obviously, the goal is to win the Stanley Cup, and you can’t do that unless you get the playoffs. But a first or second round playoff appearance can’t be enough for Minnesota anymore, and that’s what they’ve had to show for the last few years. Minnesota has yet to truly bottom out like Edmonton or Buffalo to get a game-changing draft pick, and thanks to deadline deals that cost the Wild draft picks, the organization’s prospect cupboard is a little bare. If you don’t have the prospects coming up — and fast — being in the middle is a tough neighborhood to live in today’s NHL.
Follow Lonny on Twitter @lonny_goldsmith and you can always reach him at Lonny.Goldsmith@prohockeynews.com
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