Line-Up Changes Coming For Wild After Five-Day Break

The schedule-makers had it in for the Wild, letting them get off to a hot start in two emotionally charged games against the Avalanche before having five quiet days. While there are some mental challenges to staying focused with such a long break almost immediately after the start of the season, there are also physical challenges for the guys who haven’t seen game action yet. Getting up to speed can be tough and Mike Yeo believes he’ll need to get those guys who’ve ben on the bench some action.

This sentiment is highlighted by Yeo in a blog post by the Star Tribune’s Rachel Blount:

"“I’m not afraid to make changes,” Yeo said. “This is a weekend where we have to see guys get in. I don’t want guys on our roster sitting around for three weeks without playing a game.“This is a long season. We’re going to need a lot of guys, and we have to make sure everyone is a part of it. We’ve got to keep trying to work to get better. Whoever is in the lineup and wherever they’re playing, they have to be ready to go.”"

There are a few changes that are likely to happen over the course of the next couple of games including the team working Justin Fontaine back into the lineup following his glute strain, sending Stu Bickel through waivers — which he cleared today at 11am CST — in order to place him with the Iowa Wild, trying to get Niklas Backstrom a game in net, and finding some ice time for Keith Ballard and Nate Prosser.

So, what are we likely to see? The Wild have a two-game road trip on deck. They practiced Tuesday morning and are then flying to California where they’ll face the Ducks on Friday and the defending Stanley Cup champion Kings on Sunday. Fontaine sounds like he’ll be ready and prior to his injury Yeo was slotting him into the second line with Thomas Vanek and Mikko Koivu.

I see two scenarios that could happen with Fontaine. 1. Yeo slots Fontaine into the second line wing spot where he’d previously had Matt Cooke. Cooke works himself into the fourth line well. The second line with Cooke on it lacked chemistry in both of the first two games. In fact they were the worst possession line by a long shot in the first game with Koivu and Vanek at a Corsi For of 52% and Cooke at 54%. (I realize that doesn’t sound bad, but the Wild dominated that game. Brodziak & Zucker were at 100%, Granlund and Parise were in the 90s, and Pominville, Suter, and Brodin were in the 80s.) Part of their place as the worst possession line also means that the third line of Erik Haula, Charlie Coyle, and Nino Niederreiter was clicking. That’s a dangerous third line if you can get the second line generating a little offense as wel. Adding Fontaine to the second line keeps the third line in tact.

2. It was clear Yeo recognized the problem on the second line in the Wild’s second game of the season when, in the second period, he moved Cooke down to the fourth line and moved Jason Zucker up to the second line. That’s when the second line potted their first goal of the season. Zucker from Vanek. Zucker has been impressive so far, playing solid defense and adapting to a new role that includes playing penalty kill quite well. Yeo could leave Zucker on the second line and throw Fontaine onto the fourth with Cooke and Kyle Brodziak, where he’s spent plenty of time before and that would give him the chance to work his way up to game speed since he hasn’t gotten a regular season under his belt yet. Dropping Cooke to the fourth makes sense because it keeps the third line in tact and gives the Wild a very solid shut-down line. (Because Brodziak is a pretty good fourth line center.)

In both of these scenarios it’s Ryan Carter who becomes the healthy scratch on forward. Carter played well through the season’s first two games and his presence made it possible for the Wild to place Stu Bickel on waivers with the intent of sending him to Iowa. However, thinking that the Wild would play Brodziak over Carter might be folly on my part since Yeo values the “grit” a player like Carter brings to the team.

Practice on Tuesday started giving credence to a couple of these thoughts, except that Carter was centering the fourth line, swapping in and out with Brodziak.

In net, it sounds like Backstrom will get one start in the near future. If we’re starting from the premise that Backstrom will start one of the two California games, I’m putting him in on Sunday against the Kings for a couple reasons. 1. Kuemper is hot. He deserves another start and starting on Friday keeps him rolling along and getting games. 2. While the Kings are the defending champs they are neither a team that is historically great during the regular season, nor are they a team who scores a ton. The Kings may be a softer start for Backstrom than the Ducks. The Ducks have more offensive firepower and getting a hot goalie in net could be the difference-maker.

On the blue line it sounds like Yeo would like to get Ballard and Prosser a little action, which makes sense since there’s always a decent chance that rookie defensemen at large have their ups and downs, which may mean that Christian Folin and Matt Dumba need a breather to watch a game and work on Xs and Os. Keep Ballard and Prosser feeling good about jumping into game action isn’t a bad thing. I’d think that Dumba may sit out against the bigger and stronger team in Los Angeles, leaving Folin (and maybe Prosser) in to add a little extra size and defensive mentality. That would leave Yeo to put Dumba in the game against Anaheim, where a more offensively minded defenseman may have a better chance to thrive. That dynamic between Anaheim and Los Angeles is already at play with the Kings only scoring six goals through their first three games and the Ducks potting 12 in their first three.

Practice on Tuesday seems to have leaned toward these pairings at least:

The Wild will practice in California for the next couple of days and we should start to get a little clarity on exactly how Yeo plans to shuffle the lineup on the road trip in order to keep legs fresh as the week wears on.