Minnesota Wild: Coyle Looks to Shake Mental Slump

Charlie Coyle is slumping right now and the State of Hockey is worried he might fall into the trap he has for the last couple of years by ending the season on a very low note. The issue seems like a lack of energy, but listening to the young forward it might be a little more than that.

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Charlie Coyle is praying to the hockey gods right now to bring him a goal. The normally high powered physical winger is struggling mightily to put the puck in the net lately. He’s currently in the throes of a streak that has seen him find the back of the net only once and notched 10 assists in his last 17 games. That’s not exactly top line production numbers and the Minnesota Wild are wondering what’s causing the slow down?

“I don’t know. I’m at a loss. We’ll figure it out.” Wild Head Coach Bruce Boudreau said of Coyle’s performance when asked by Michael Russo after the Wild’s hard 5-1 loss in Calgary. “I’m told he’s gone through this every year. I’ll have a talk with him [Thursday] and see if we can’t get him straightened out.”

It’s not dire straits by any means with Coyle as he’s still producing points, unfortunately he’s just not putting up the numbers he needs to stay on the top line where the Wild need and want him most. Additionally, as Boudreau eluded to the Wild are worried because this mid-season slowdown seems to be a career trend for Coyle and these slumps usually last to the end of the season.

Coyle’s second half blues in the last two seasons have been bad. From today’s date February 4th Coyle has seen a significant power outage in the last two seasons. In 2014-15 he tallied 5 goals and 10 assists in 32 games starting on February 4th to include 6 scoreless games to end the season. And then last season 2015-16 Coyle scored 6 goals and 8 assists in 31 games from February 4th to the end of the season to include once again a 6 game scoreless streak to end the season.

On top of these dismal regular season ends, the scoring for Coyle did not return in the playoffs either. In 2014-15 he only notched 2 points in 10 playoff games, and last season he was only able to muster 2 points in 6 playoff games.

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So, it’s safe to say that it appears that Coyle tends to run out of gas down the stretch, but look closer and it might be something more mental. His issues this season seem to be centered around a lack of shots that even Coyle recognizes. “I’ve got to produce more, get to my game,” Coyle said after the game after the Calgary game. “I’m not getting nearly enough shots. I’ve been in a goal slump before. That’s all it is. I’ve got to get shots, shots on net, get available for shots, and they’ll eventually go in.”

That quote from Coyle says to me this might be mental. He’s putting in the effort it’s just not translating to shots and chances. Like most other hockey players in his position, the more Coyle continues to struggle and fixate on his lack of shots and chances the worse this will be. Hopefully Boudreau and the Wild coaching staff are trying to get him to relax because it seems like that might be the issue now.