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Minnesota Wild: Five predictions for the Wild in the New Year

By Luke Ryan

ST. PAUL, MN - DECEMBER 31: Nino Niederreiter #22 of the Minnesota Wild and Charlie Coyle #3 of the Minnesota Wild congratulate Mikko Koivu #9 of the Minnesota Wild on his 1st period goal during a game with the Pittsburgh Penguins at Xcel Energy Center on December 31, 2018 in St. Paul, Minnesota.(Photo by Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images)
ST. PAUL, MN - DECEMBER 31: Nino Niederreiter #22 of the Minnesota Wild and Charlie Coyle #3 of the Minnesota Wild congratulate Mikko Koivu #9 of the Minnesota Wild on his 1st period goal during a game with the Pittsburgh Penguins at Xcel Energy Center on December 31, 2018 in St. Paul, Minnesota.(Photo by Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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WINNIPEG, MANITOBA - APRIL 20: Devan Dubnyk #40 of the Minnesota Wild sits on the bench after being pulled in Game Five of the Western Conference First Round during the 2018 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Winnipeg Jets on April 20, 2018 at Bell MTS Place in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. (Photo by Jason Halstead /Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Devan Dubnyk
WINNIPEG, MANITOBA – APRIL 20: Devan Dubnyk #40 of the Minnesota Wild sits on the bench after being pulled in Game Five of the Western Conference First Round during the 2018 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Winnipeg Jets on April 20, 2018 at Bell MTS Place in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. (Photo by Jason Halstead /Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Devan Dubnyk /

Minnesota Wild end their season early with no play-off appearance

I’m getting this one out there straight away; I’m really not convinced that the Minnesota Wild will be able to claw their way back into play-off contention this season.

They already face the unenviable challenge of being in the Central Division, where you can see the Nashville Predators and Winnipeg Jets as the obvious top two. Beyond them, the Colorado Avalanche look to be here to stay and the Dallas Stars aren’t exactly slouches (regardless of what their big boss has to say about their star players!).

Consistency has been lacking for most of the Minnesota Wild’s season, with a few exceptions – namely their trip to California. However, beyond those early stretches, the only consistent results have been high shot counts and low goal counts, leading to losses.

I struggle to see how General Manager, Paul Fenton and head coach, Bruce Boudreau can turn things around. Wholesale changes generally don’t occur mid-season for fear of upsetting a team’s chemistry. Granted, right now that chemistry is resulting in more losses than wins, but even so it seems unlikely.

There’s so many ideas or theories as to what the Minnesota Wild could do better and how they should play, but I think given that the roster or coaching staff are unlikely to change before season’s end, you can’t start implementing it yet.

Now, the last time the Minnesota Wild missed the play-offs, the Vancouver Canucks were the Western Conference winners. That’s saying something, given where the Canucks are these days.

I don’t think the Wild will regress to a point of being that team, but I do believe that based on the age of a lot of core pieces we could be in for some years of pain, much like Vancouver have suffered over the years. It all begins with no playoffs this Spring.

Now, change is painful and doesn’t come easy, but missing the playoffs shouldn’t actually be seen necessarily as an awful thing.

This same core group has proven itself not to be able to make headway in the playoffs anyway, so why not roll with the notion of not even playing a first round and focus on an earlier draft selection.

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