Minnesota Wild: Depth Will Be Tested

A hot start to the season for the Minnesota Wild has been hampered by several key injuries.  But with excellent depth in the organization the Wild look to be in good shape.

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Off to a solid start in their first season under Bruce Boudreau, the Minnesota Wild face a difficult stretch of the schedule, with Colorado. Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia on tap in the next week. What will make the slate even tougher is who the team will be without when they take the ice.

Already Zach Parise, Marco Scandella, Erik Haula, and Zac Dalpe have gone down with injuries. The injuries have pressed certain players into different spots in the lineup. Up from Iowa are Joel Eriksson Ek, Jordan Schroeder, and Tyler Graovac. Playing in different spots are Nino Niederreiter, Jason Pominville, and Jason Zucker.

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Moves throughout the offseason were made with an eye on making this team much deeper than it was last season. It is the reason Eric Staal and Chris Stewart were brought in over the summer. The added advantage of acquiring as much talent as the Wild currently have is when one player gets injured there is not much of a drop off.

In theory this should be the case, however the Wild always seem to play worse without top players. That is especially true when they play without Zach Parise. He is consistently one of the top scoring players on the team and brings energy to the lineup that not all players possess. His injury, and the relative longterm nature of it (he is currently listed week to week on the injury report) will test just how much the depth on this roster has improved.

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Whether it is young players stepping up, or veteran players filling in at different positions, this team must pull together. Injuries are part of the game and a lot can happen in an 82 game season. Which is why it is encouraging to see several players step up (Eriksson-Ek, Zucker, and Dubnyk come to mind) when a top player, or anyone for that matter goes down. If success is to continue for the Wild, they must be able to rely on depth players to fill in at times.

In the case of Eriksson-Ek, injuries to Haula and Dalpe have moved him from Iowa to 3rd line center in his first NHL action. Thus far, he has responded, posting a slash line of 2+3=5 in just 6 games played at the NHL level. Another positive aspect of injuries is other players get the chance to step up, and in this case Eriksson-Ek has taken full advantage of his opportunity. He has shown that he will be an impact player for the Wild in the future and could be ready to stick on the team.

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It is nice to know when a player goes down the Wild have players who can fill in admirably. The fact this team has players with NHL experience and upside at the AHL level will only help going forward.