“@NHLPlayerSafety: Minnesota's Ryan Suter suspended two games for elbowing Pittsburgh's Steve Downie. Video: http://ow.ly/HlehD
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Actually Suter sitting could be good for him. (He's been absolutely terrible lately as Yeo just relentlessly over-uses him.) I realize that's putting lipstick on a really ugly pig, but that's where we are with this Wild team.
Another strong vote of confidence for Yeo from Fletcher tonight, too.
If I was a Wild fan I honestly wouldn't be too worried.
Sometimes seasons suffer natural disasters but the foundation is still solid on that team.
Run through the list and pretty much everything that could go wrong has gone wrong.
Injuries to key players early in the season (just bad luck really but get off on the wrong foot in today's NHL and it's just very difficult to get back into the mix)
Terrible goaltending (theoretically this can be fixed relatively easily in the off-season)
Personal issues to key leaders on the team (both of their captains dealing with deaths in the family Suter and Parise)
Failure for new acquisitions to gel (Vanek obviously here, but he's a great talent, perhaps a whole season to gel is what's needed)
And then collapsing moral under high expectations creating a viscious circle
Were I managing that team I'd just wait it out collect the high draft pick in a deep draft and then reboot next year with key young guys (Brodin, Granlund) a year older and better and the rest of the foundation in shape. Friedman said that this is similar to what happened to the Islanders last year. The knee jerk reaction would have been to fire teh coach after the failure last year, but it's a rocky road sometimes and your season can get blasted but factors very much out of your control - best to see through the bad times).
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To further what Tinordi is sayng, look at the canadians a few years back. They had a horrible year and ended up drafting Galchenyk and then they just went back to palying well. The younger players will have another year under their belt, they'll get a good prospect, the team will have more time to develop chemistry and they can pick up a goalie like Niemi in the summer. They're still a good team but I'd fire the coach because I just think he's an a$$
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Honestly, now that they've (wisely) removed the 'City of Champions' from their civic signs, they seriously need to replace that with 'Welcome to Edmonton: We're No Good."
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If you thought this season would have a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention.
Three changes in the offseason should get the Wild back on track;
Sign or trade for a quality starting goaltender. Easier said than done of course but if the Flames can pick up a guy like Hiller in free agency so should the Wild.
New head coach. Yeo is probably getting to the stage where he's being tuned out. He had them playing great last year but the previous seasons were nothing special and if things continue trending down like this it's hard to imagine management wanting to risk the 2015/16 season on players buying back in.
Move Vanek at all costs. The guy is a talent but the baggage simply isn't worth the risk. It's kind of telling how teams kind of stayed away from him at the trade deadline last year that the talent isn't worth the distractions.
He's also been injured couple of times + they are playing him entirely wrong, I don't think Yeo is the right coach for that team.
This exposes the horrendous state of the Wild's centers. Granlund was essentially given the #1 center role this season. Part by merit, part by default.
He's not a #1 center.
But, offense-wise, he's the closest we have.
Defense-wise, Koivu is strong, but has nothing approaching the offensive skills. And his skating is so bad that it is compromising his defensive game, too (I would not be surprised to see them move him or even buy him out in the next year or two).
After that it's probably Kyle Brodziak, then Erik Haula as far as our centers.
