Today the struggling Wild return home to face their Central Division rival, Dallas Stars. Dallas is charging up the standings and enter today's game just two points behind the Wild while having played one more game than has Minnesota.
This is gut check time for the Wild, it does not matter the opponent, but Dallas should bring that energy up all the more.
The Wild have not played well for weeks and they must right the ship if they are going to have any success moving forward. The game changes after the All-Star break and points become harder to come by. This is traditionally where the Wild have struggled in the past.
They have wanted to believe they are a deep team, and to be honest they are deeper than what we have seen of Wild teams from the past. By that I mean they have a more complete four lines, but as we have seen the injuries are taking a toll on the Wild and they do not have the personnel to replace key players when they are out of the lineup.
The defense is struggling without Matt Dumba, who is expected to return today. Alex Goligoski is not at all a replacement for Ryan Suter and Dmitry Kulikov and Jon Merrill are not guys that can play top four minutes on a regular basis. Calen Addison has a bright future in the NHL, however how many undersized defenseman can a team have and be effective when the going gets tough?
Bill Guerin is going to make deals and he will address the Wild's need at center and defense. The goaltending has nit been good enough either and that brings up a completely different discussion.
Last night on Hockey Night in Canada on their trade deadline discussion, brought up Wild prospect Jack McBain, who is completing his college career with Boston College. Thebdiscussion centered around the factcthat he may look to become a UFA if the Wild cannot get him signed. This presents an interesting scenario for Guerin who could look to trade McBain's rights to procure an asset that could provide depth to the current Wild roster.
A shakeup is needed with the Wild. Guerin has to make something happen and the speculation is great but push is now coming to shove and sitting on the hands is not going to solve the Wild's problems. They are not Stanley Cup ready by any stretch but they are far better than just clawing into the playoffs and getting banished in the first round.
It's always Hockey Day in The State of Hockey!