Minnesota Wild: Week four Power Rankings show positive trend

The Minnesota Wild are a team trending positively of late; they had a five-game winning streak halted in Vancouver, but bounced right back grinding out a win against the Edmonton Oilers.

Across the various media outlets, journalists are realising that it might’ve been unfair to write the Minnesota Wild off on the basis of three or four poor games to start the season.

After all, we’re talking about a team that has topped one hundred points and have a decent streak of making the post-season, regardless of having a team with a considerably higher average age than most.

As of last week though, Power Rankings across the Internet started to take note of their improving on-ice product.

Starting with Dan Rosen on the official NHL website; he ranks the Minnesota Wild at 10th in the Super 16. Most satisfying was his statement under misses for the team, stating ‘nothing to see here right now’. Hits being the team’s current form, of course.

The sheer fact that we’ve gone from being a bottom of the barrel, off-chance at the Draft Lottery team in the first week or so of the season, to one with no clear misses is a very, very positive sign.

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Moving on to the TSN.ca Power Rankings; divisional rivals, the Nashville Predators occupy second spot with the Colorado Avalanche also sitting high in fifth.

However, just beneath them in an impressive 6th spot (last week: 12th) are the Minnesota Wild.

The teams meagre 45.8% possession metric ranks lowest in the top ten, and highlights the importance of team defense and Devan Dubnyk.

Carrying on the trend of the Minnesota Wild being big risers is Michael Finewax of Rotoworld who elevates the team two spots to 10th (last week: 12th). He too highlights that a lot of the team’s current form is courtesy of stellar goaltending from Dubnyk.

Obviously, all of these experts are pointing to the same concern – if Devan Dubnyk were to go down injured or go cold, would that be it for the Minnesota Wild’s season?

Or would the backup goaltending of Alex Stalock be enough to keep the team rolling? On recent form, you’d suggest that Stalock is certainly an asset, albeit as a playmaker in this example.

The obvious hope, despite any concerns is that the Minnesota Wild can maintain their current form and continue to prosper in the eyes of fans and journalists alike.

Whether that happens to be the case, we shall see. Five road games lie ahead in their current stint, so it’ll be a true test to maintain strong Power Ranking positions come next update.