Now that it is known Kirill Kaprizov will be out of the Wild lineup for at least the next three to four weeks, the team and coaching staff have an opportunity to step it up. The offense has been pretty much the top line for the better part of the past two months. That has to change out of necessity.
Evason has some new pieces in which to work with the additions of Marcus Johansson and Oscar Sundqvist up front and John Klingberg on the back end. They all bring offensive upgrades to those that they replaced in the Wild lineup. Gustav Nyquist was also brought in but he is a ways off with his recovery so we cannot include him as a part of the solution yet.
Sammy Walker was recalled from Iowa and his speed and offensive game showed positively in his brief recalls earlier this season. I would not be surprised to see Adam Beckman possibly get a shot too as the season winds down, but for now he remains in Iowa.
The positive on the Kaprizov injury is it is projected at three to four weeks so back prior to the playoffs is the time table. That of course is if all goes as planned with his recovery. Knowing what we do about #97 he is one to play through pain, but with the Wild hopes pinned to having a healthy Kaprizov the Wild will err on the side of caution when it comes to Kirill getting back into the lineup.
This presents a great opportunity for others to step up and the timing may be a blessing as some of new faces need to establish themselves within the team. Of course the obvious concern that when you take the single most creative and hardest worker out of the Wild lineup there is going to be a huge void.
That said the Wild have been starved for secondary scoring and now that is an absolute requirement for them to sustain their standing in both the Central Division and Western Conference. This has to be turned into a blessing in disguise by both the players and coaching staff. Their goto guy is out and it is time for the lineup to step up.
Last season saw many of the depth players have career seasons. A few of those have dropped off significantly this season, with two of them being Marcus Foligno and Ryan Hartman. Both have dealt with injuries throughout the season however, they are healthy now and each scored big goals on Tuesday night. Both are leaders on this team on and off the ice, and I would bank on both stepping up their games moving forward.
Some winnable games coming up as the team pulls together in the absence of their star player...