Minnesota Wild: Five predictions for the Wild in the New Year
The Minnesota Wild made the play-offs yet again in 2018, however right now they’re entering 2019 on an awful run of form with just 1 win in their past 7 games.
Right now, the Minnesota Wild are at risk of losing their consecutive play-off appearance streak, especially with Dumba’s injury added to their woes. Another display on New Years’ Eve against the Pittsburgh Penguins, where they had plenty of chances but couldn’t convert, rounded out their year in poor fashion.
The team is looking ever older and none the wiser to the fact that the league no longer is challenged by their game play. On any given night, most teams can out-pace the Wild and most teams also know that they may face shot volume but from a team that lacks an out-and-out goalscorer.
Players like Zach Parise, Mikael Granlund and Jason Zucker can get the job done on any given night. They too are often afforded some decent support by the likes of Ryan Suter, Matt Dumba (when he’s not injured) and Jared Spurgeon, but this year they haven’t been able to rely on Devan Dubnyk too much.
It’s not that the team necessarily has bad players, it’s more that they lack a clear tactical advantage – you can’t have Matt Dumba sitting as high up the team’s goal scoring chart as he is.
They lack someone with speed to burn past opposition defenders and although they have the size of players like Charlie Coyle and Jordan Greenway; the Los Angeles Kings’ plight suggests that style of game-play is beyond outdated.
Quite simply, there is no easy answer for the Minnesota Wild; their roster has been built around two immovable contracts and that has been hampered tremendously by the trading of draft picks year-on-year.
You have to question where the talent will emerge from, because looking at those with the Iowa Wild, it’s not exactly packed full of amazing young talent.
Looking ahead to the calendar year of 2019; I’ve got five predictions as to what the future holds for the Minnesota Wild. I’m hoping not to be right on all of these but I wouldn’t exactly be shocked if they all came true:
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.
Charlie Coyle will be moved on from the Minnesota Wild
This isn’t exactly a new idea. Put simply, the Minnesota Wild have an asset that isn’t too old yet, is on a very reasonable deal and could likely improve his play with a change of scenery.
Each reason on its own is good enough to move Charlie Coyle on from his tenure with the Minnesota Wild, let alone adding all three together. The biggest challenge is finding a trading partner that is willing to give up either a young asset or a decent draft pick.
According to Michael Russo of The Athletic (subscription required) back in mid December, the most likely trade partners would be the Ottawa Senators, Montreal Canadiens or Boston Bruins. All three teams have certain pieces that would look good in Minnesota colours, but surely if a deal was going to be made, it would’ve been made by now.
My thinking here is that a deal occurs post free agency. There will surely be a team that has missed out on their big-money target and see Charlie Coyle as a good stop-gap given he won’t have much term left by then.
A deal with Boston that saw Ryan Donato or Danton Heinen headed to St. Paul would be the best possible scenario. Anders Bjork wouldn’t be a bad fit, but doesn’t possess the quality of the aforementioned just yet.
The Montreal Canadiens lack any valuable pieces that might sway me on a Coyle trade, unless of course we managed to snag a high round draft pick and a half-decent prospect. There is also the added fact that there’s history between Minnesota Wild General Manager, Paul Fenton and the Canadiens, given the trade of Gustav Olofsson this season.
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Finally, looking at the Ottawa Senators – they’re a real mess. I’d love to see Matt Duchene signed and then sold. That would be the perfect return, however it’s highly unlikely to happen!
Their first round pick; yeah, the less said about that, the better. Chances are the Colorado Avalanche may not only make the play-offs but have a strong chance at stealing Jack Hughes at this year’s draft!
What else is there? Not a whole great deal. Maybe you could consider Mark Stone, but really I wouldn’t be too impressed with an approach there.
If the carrot can be dangled and Boston are willing, I think that’s the most likely destination for Charlie Coyle. Either way, before the end of 2019, he’s not going to be dressing in Minnesota Wild colours, I don’t think.
Bruce Boudreau will not see out his contract as the Minnesota Wild head coach
Bruce Boudreau is now in his third season as the Minnesota Wild head coach, every year he’s topped 100 points in the regular season and ensured play-off action in St. Paul.
This season, the Wild’s chances of making the play-offs are seemingly slipping away right in front of our eyes. With those chances, I see Bruce Boudreau’s stint as head coach also slipping away.
Don’t get me wrong, he’s not a bad coach but he’s also not Paul Fenton’s coach. The General Manager arrived at the start of the season and obviously didn’t want to immediately shake things up.
However, given the age of the core pieces on his roster; you have to think that he’s going to make some changes and try to shape things more in his image of how a hockey club should run. Unfortunately for Bruce Boudreau, I believe he’s going to see the door as a result.
In 201 regular season games, he’s delivered the Minnesota Wild 112 wins with a 0.612 points percentage. These statistics mask a poor season this year though, with only 39 points from 37 games, putting the team on pace for a lowly 86 points.
Even worse, when you look at his play-off record with the Wild, you’re immediately directed to the fact there have been just 10 games and only 2 wins.
You can argue for hours that he hasn’t been afforded a roster that is built for post-season competition. Likewise, you can argue for hours that injuries ruined any decent chance at a Stanley Cup run last season. Fact is though, I don’t think he is the right coach to see the Minnesota Wild throw to the second round, minimum.
Too often this season, the Wild are giving goals and chasing games. The coach has managed to get them shooting more but he hasn’t succeeded in getting the best out of many (if any) of his squad.
His recent pulling of Devan Dubnyk in the game against the Blackhawks, seemed to catch his number one goaltender off-guard. That doesn’t paint a picture of confidence around his player’s trust in him.
In 2019, I think we will see Bruce Boudreau moving on. Who replaces him; that’s the hard part?!
Significant Minnesota Wild departures will occur at the trade deadline
Charlie Coyle is the obvious expectation to depart the Minnesota Wild in 2019, that’s already been spoken about. Not that I think it’ll be a trade deadline move, though.
The trade deadline moves in previous years have always seen the Wild adding pieces and stripping out the cupboards of draft picks, in the hopes of prevailing in the play-offs.
This year though, I expect a different approach. Given I believe that 2019 will mark a year that the Minnesota Wild aren’t in the play-offs, nor do I reasonably expect them to be contending too hard late in the season, I reckon they’ll be a selling club at the trade deadline.
Great news for them is that they have some players that may fetch enough to restock their prospects cupboards quite nicely.
Eric Staal is an easy sell to a contending club with the cap space; an experienced center who can still produce and won’t cost the world.
Likewise, Eric Fehr could easily be shopped; not only does he offer experience but he’s versatile, on a low cap hit and could add that extra little bit of flexibility on the third or fourth line of a play-off team.
Again with the veteran presence, look no further than Matt Hendricks. He’s another option that you dangle for maybe a fifth round draft pick or B-grade prospect, depending what the market is doing. Realistically, he’s more the kind of player that departs as part of a package deal, but it’s still viable that you could get something for him.
Andrew Hammond or Alex Stalock could help provide some reassurance to a play-off team or a team on the bubble that hasn’t been getting the right level of performance from its backup goalie. However, if a team is contending, you’ve got to assume that they’ve had decent enough goaltending.
Maybe a late injury to a starter puts a target on them come trade deadline. Stranger things have happened!
The last thought is that J.T. Brown, although not a rental, could offer great value for money if a trading partner could be found at the trade deadline.
Whatever happens, should the Minnesota Wild end up being sellers at the deadline, you’ve got to hold high hopes that they put a lot into accruing as many draft picks as possible. The more you pick, the more chance you have of uncovering a diamond in the rough!
The Minnesota Wild will have a top ten pick at the 2019 NHL Entry Draft
The highest the Minnesota Wild have ever drafted was third overall. That was in their first ever year when they were an expansion team and was used to bring Marian Gaborik to St. Paul.
Beyond that, top ten picks have been relatively scarce; 8 in 19 years with only one of those other than Gaborik being a top 5 choice.
By virtue of trading away draft picks in the hopes of success in the play-offs, the Minnesota Wild haven’t so much as sacrificed their future, but they’ve slowed the rate of change on their roster.
This year, their regular season form is seemingly non-existent and it all seems to point to not even scraping into the play-offs in a wild card berth. Instead, they might be able to draft reasonably high up the board. Let’s take that as a win even if it’s born of losing.
Looking back at their draft selections in the past five years; Joel Eriksson Ek, Jordan Greenway and Luke Kunin are really the only names that stand out. Even then, we’re not exactly talking top-line talent. Alex Tuch, of course, also stands out but the Minnesota Wild allowed him to depart for the Vegas Golden Knights in what has proven a somewhat flawed decision.
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There are still high hopes for the contingent of Russians that have been acquired over the past three drafts too, of course. That is provided that the General Manager has convinced them to eventually head to America.
The hope has to be that the Minnesota Wild finish in a position that gives them a shot at the Draft Lottery. Bringing in a player like Jack Hughes could instantly give them a focal piece to build the future around.
I’m not suggesting for a moment that they should tank like we’ve seen in previous seasons when the prize on offer was Connor McDavid or Auston Matthews, I’m merely pointing to the facts.
Right now, the Minnesota Wild sit 21st in the league, which would see them picking eleventh if there was no movement based on the Draft Lottery results.
Based on that standing, they have a 3% chance of stealing the first overall pick from Ottawa (actually, Colorado!), 3.3% odds of the second pick and a 3.6% shot at the third overall.
By no means are they high odds, but either Jack Hughes or Kaapo Kaako being the reward for the Minnesota Wild would be amazing luck and exactly the sort of luck that you can build upon going forward.
Next. Dumba injury creates big hole on defense. dark
Whatever happens and whether any or all of these predictions come true, there’s no doubt they’ll be heartbreak and glory in supporting the Minnesota Wild this next year! That is assured.