The Wild coming off a very rare two day break take in Boston tonight at the XCEL Energy Center. Their 9-game homestand got off to a rocky start with the 6-2 loss against Nashville Sunday night.
The Predators crashed Mikko Koivu's celebration as the Wild reverted back to the turnover team that lacks defensive responsibility. Kaapo Kahkonen once again was not sharp and this is becoming an alarming trend.
Bill Guerin made his first move of the deadline season yesterday by sending Nico Sturm to Colorado for Tyson Jost. Guerin addressed his team's issues by saying "you can't trade your way out of a slump". He also talked about the goaltending and alluded to the fact that he likes the guys he has and he may not be looking to make a move for a goalie. That could very well be the truth or just posturing and not tipping his hand.
Either way there are issues that need to be worked out with the current Wild roster. The defense is considerably weaker than what we saw early on in the season. Alex Goligoski and Dmitry Kulikov in particular have struggled of late. Guerin will address this need for sure.
The Wild to a man feel they can compete and this latest stretch is part of the process that team's go through to find their way to the next level. That said not all of the current personnel will be present on this roster when the playoffs roll around.
Tonight their will be an extra buzz with Boston in town, as you may recall it was Trent Frederic, who took a cheap shot at Kirill Kaprizov when these team's met in Boston, back in early January. The Wild came away with the 4-2 victory but Kaprizov was forced to leave the game with what appeared to be a fairly significant injury. Fortunately for Kaprizov and the Wild they dodged a bullet and #97 only missed one game.
Tonight I would expect some extra attention to be paid to Frederic, however with every standings point critical, combined with the Wild PK woes that may be ill-advised.
It's always Hockey Day in The State of Hockey!