Minnesota Wild: Boudreau’s Positivity will be His Best Tool
There’s no doubt that the Minnesota Wild will be a different team under Bruce Boudreau. But while he’s guaranteed change the systems of the Wild, it might be his positive energy that will make the biggest difference in building an improved Wild this season.
Allow me to make a very obvious statement, Bruce Boudreau will be huge for the Minnesota Wild. While you might be inclined to say “Wow tell us something we don’t know”, just bear with me. After watching and listening to his recent interviews during the State Fair on Monday it’s easy to see why all the fans across the State of Hockey should be very excited for their new head man behind the bench.
We can sit here and talk about all the Xs and Os, systems, and line combinations but that really wasn’t what impressed me most. Boudreau is a very strong person who seems to be ready to bring a strong energy into the locker room of the Wild. There’s a reason he’s a “player’s coach” and that was obvious hearing him share excellent stories and insight into his life and hockey philosophies.
This is a coach that seeks out his players and creates an environment where they can seek him out as well. That might be something that the Wild haven’t seen a lot under past coaches. The idea that a player might have a voice in the direction of the team is huge to their motivation, because they want to know that their hard work and ideas are a valuable part of the team.
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One of the perceived reasons the Wild tanked in January and February last year was a lack of motivation by the players and the positive environment in which to draw more motivation. It becomes a situation whereby a coach needs to find different ways to motivate their players. Boudreau’s approach to that seems simple keep the environment positive and keep the players engaged and in the fold.
Moreover, it’s about building a resilient team that can take the ups and downs of a grueling season. In his interview with Michael Russo at the Star Tribune booth at the fair, Boudreau was asked by a fan how he will bring consistency to the Wild. He responded by saying that it was all about having short-term goals and looking at the season one week at a time. The example Boudreau drove that home with was that when he took over Washington he explained that they went from last to a division title by not looking at the 17-point gap, but rather by winning the small week-to-week challenges.
Most of all though Boudreau brings a ton of positivity that will keep this Wild team motivated. When asked by Russo in his interview about if he’ll miss the six Wild players who are playing the in the World Cup? Boudreau’s response was that “I look at everything as trying to be a positive”, and went on to explain how he felt it would be a good time to look at the younger players.
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That’s going to be the key right there to the Wild being a better team under Boudreau, he can find the positive in all situations. If he can pass on that trait to the Wild players, he’ll build a very resilient team that can weather the inevitable storms that happen over 82 games. Sure a bad game isn’t a good thing for a player, but the second part to having a bad game is how that player will play next game. If they can’t find anything positive to build on, that next game becomes worse than the one before. That lack of having something positive doesn’t build winning, it builds losing.
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So be ready for the players of the Wild to have a tool they haven’t had before in this upcoming season, the positive, resilient, and consistent energy of Bruce Boudreau. Sure he’ll bring a great system of hockey to the Wild, but as we saw in the Yeo years that means nothing without the energy and the ability to reach the players who run that system. At a bare minimum next season, I’m sure Boudreau will bring the State of Hockey more great stories like egging a refs house.