Minnesota Wild: More Consistent Line Combinations Needed

Minnesota Wild Head Coach Bruce Boudreau is looking to answer his team’s lack of scoring power with mixing up his lines on a fairly constant basis. With little success coming from that practice, perhaps keeping more consistency might be the answer.

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Juggling lines is always thought to be one of the largest tools in the bag of any hockey coach. The idea of seeing how new combinations of players can change a game is key to adjusting to the opposing team and their style of play. Switching up lines is a tactic that Minnesota Wild Head Coach Bruce Boudreau has employed in almost every game this season. So much so that it seems that every player on the Wild roster has played with each other at one time or another.

At the beginning of the season most of this was thought to be largely a tactic by Boudreau to size up a group that he wasn’t completely familiar with. He wanted to see who played well with who. Now after 21 games completed that question should be answered.

Still here we are with line combinations that seem to shift game-to-game, and in some cases minute-to-minute. The tactic is change the chemistry of the players and see what…if anything works. On paper it seems genius, but in practice it can be chaotic if used too much.

The Wild might be falling victim to much movement. Boudreau has to realize that much of the Wild squad has played together for seasons now and it really behooves him take advantage of that. The idea being that how can players form comfort with each other if they never get a chance to learn each other’s game?

Two lines for the Wild seem to be the gold standard for this concept.

Oct 18, 2016; Saint Paul, MN, USA; Minnesota Wild forward Jason Pominville (29) celebrates his goal with teammates during the first period against the Los Angeles Kings at Xcel Energy Center. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports /

The third line of Haula, Niederreiter, and Pominville was actually formed last season and as most Wild fans know they were far and away the best line to finish the regular season and playoffs. They have seen some time together this season with some good successes.

In Saturday’s game, you can say that the third line was working very well as the Haula goal in the second period was truly a whole line effort. The rebound goal was really sparked by a strong shot by Pommer and as a result the scoresheet reflects a goal by Haula and assists by Nino and Pommer.

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The other to a lesser extent the other line that shows consistency is a line that was formed this season. The first line of Staal, Coyle, and Parise seems to have some ups and downs but for the most part has been a producing group for the Wild.

Staal (5 goals third on the Wild) and Coyle (8 goals first on the Wild) are at the top of the Wild scoresheet this season in goals for a reason. Albeit it could be a bit of a higher total but none the less it’s a solid total that will get both players to 20+ if that pace in continued. Also Parise has had a few stretches of games missed and so it’s hard to tell the complete effect he has on this group.

Now taking all that into account my message here is the Wild might need to start letting these two groups play a few games. Sure there will be a game or two where these guys don’t tally points, but you’re looking for a lack of play/production that spans multiple contests. Boudreau has tried everything else, why not just try sitting on these lines for a week or two?

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Make no mistake I’m not saying we go back to the Mike Yeo standard of “these players play in this spot all the time”, but I do think the stability factor needs to kick in too. Sure theoretically if you play enough in practice and in the games that you can eventually learn the game of the players on the roster. But look at the successful teams of the past many of them had signature lines that just played well together. The Wild at least need to see if they can build that signature line with what they have now.

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