Minnesota Wild: Another Blown 3rd Period Opportunity

Charlie Coyle

Charlie Coyle’s performance on Thursday night proved to me why preseason is important for the performance of some of these players. There was no one more improved from one game to the next.

In Monday’s game, Coyle looked slow, he looked timid, and generally made me question if it is time for him to move on from the Minnesota Wild. He even got shifted away from Joel Eriksson Ek and Jordan Greenway in favor of Justin Kloos late in that game.

The Coyle who showed up for Sunday’s game was none of those things. He was throwing hits (only 1 officially, but he was definitely more physical than that), he was getting in shooting lanes, and offensively not afraid to release the shot.

Playing with Eriksson Ek agin, and Kloos in place of Greenway, he looked like a different player altogether. The line as a whole was not outstanding, but Coyle was the star of that trio on this night.

If Coyle wants to see the full season in a Wild jersey, we need more performances from him like this one. This type of physical play needs to be on display when he has Greenway on the ice to accentuate that style.

Coyle may not have found the net on this night, but he had the chances to. The timing of the entire team is off, but it appears to be getting to where it needs to be.

I don’t doubt that Coyle will find his way onto the scoresheet with 1 or 2 more performances like what we seen out of him in this one. Nino Niederreiter found his way into playing with Coyle for a short stretch in the 3^rd, and had me curious on what that pairing could do with Greenway.

It doesn’t appear that GM Fenton is ready to pull the trigger on any deals yet, and if Coyle’s name is at the top of the trading block he just increased his value. But with performances like this I would rather he stick around and see this team through the season.