Minnesota Wild: Overtime and Shootout Must Be Fixed

With the Minnesota Wild looking to improve in almost all areas next season, emphasis needs to be put on the overtime and shootout periods. With 11 losses in those frames in 2015-16 the Wild missed out on valuable points they’ll need to climb the Central Division standings this upcoming season.

One of the biggest pitfalls for the Minnesota Wild in the season 2015-16 was their performance in the extra frames. Overtime was not kind to the Wild as they ended up going 4-11 in overtime to include games that went to the shootout. In the myriad of issues the Wild had last season this might seem trivial, but when you look closer it really did cost the team some precious points that could have helped them in the hunt for a playoff berth.

In short the Wild have to be looking to make that part of the game an emphasis item as the team lost out on 11 points on the season last year. Additionally, it can be said that some of the overtime losses that came in the horrible January/February stretch did a lot to further damage the confidence of the team, and it just seemed to be another item where the team was falling short. Bottom line the Wild can’t afford to not re-tool their 3-on-3 overtime units and shootout this offseason, or they could be doomed to one of the larger perils of last season.

The good news here is they’ve already started to reverse this issue. Bruce Boudreau will certainly put more emphasis on OT and the shootout. There’s a reason that Boudreau has been so successful in the regular season, and that is in part because of his ability to win those extra difference making points in OT and the shootout. With the Ducks in 2014-15, Boudreau was able to lead them to 16 wins in OT and the shootout. Granted that was not in the current 3-on-3 OT format, but it just goes to show that Boudreau has had success and makes it an emphasis item to win in the extra frames.

Onto the bad news, the OT and shootout group from last season will most likely be the same group that takes the ice this season. The only addition thus far that will more than likely see action in these game situations is Eric Staal. That’s actually not much of an improvement at all. If you can believe it Staal did not score an overtime winner last season, and only scored three career overtime goals in 929 games NHL regular season games.

Taking the good with the bad though the Wild have the talent to turn this around. The lineup of players is capable of good things in OT. Zach Parise has eight OT goals in his career in 761 games played and Jason Pominville has 4 OT goals in 827 games played so they have the ability to score in OT. The other players have the talent to do it too, they just need to be given the system to do it.

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That’s’ where Boudreau will come in. He needs to make overtime and the shootout a staple of the Wild’s preparation for each game, and he needs to get into whiteboard and draw up how to make this group successful. If he truly wants to improve the scoring output and win more games he can start with this part of the game and really make the difference the team needs to get further.

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So as training camp approaches the Wild will have their work cut out for them to get this part of the game right. Like most things the expectation will be that things will be different. In this case things need to be different. With so many outstanding teams in the Central Division, every point counts. The 11 points lost to OT and the shootout last season could have put the Wild ahead of the Predators and their playoff fortunes could have been different against the Ducks. Then again who knows if even that would have helped.

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