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If it weren’t for bad luck, Mike Yeo and the Minnesota Wild would have no luck at all. The NHL Department of Player Safety has suspended Minnesota Wild D-man Ryan Suter 2 games for smashing his elbow into the head of Pittsburgh Penguins agitator Steve Downie early in the second period of Tuesday night's Wild-Pens game. The Wild were tamed 7-2. Suter was not penalized for his elbow to Downie’s moosh. Thus, NHL DPOS scheduled their 5pm EDT phone hearing with Suter.
Downie struggled to get to his skates after the blow to his head. He didn't finish the second period and sat out the entire third period of the game after skating only 6:09 TOI. Downie did practice with his teammates on Wednesday.
Suter is Minnesota's best D-man. He averages 29 minutes TOI per game, and skated 29:55 TOI vs. Pittsburgh. He was a deplorable -4.
The Wild practiced at First Niagara Center on Wednesday afternoon. Matthew Dumba has been called up from AHL Iowa to fill in for Suter.
The Wild are 0-4 since Yeo freaked out on his team during a sloppy practice last week. They are 0-5-1 in their last 6 games, 2-8-4 in their last 14 games, 7-12-5 in their last 24 games.
They are 0-4 in their last 4 road games in which they have only scored 5 goals in total.
Thanks @PeteBlackburn
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Minnseota Wild GM Chick Fletcher has finally pulled the trigger to improve his leaky goaltending corps.
Devan Dubnyk, come on down! You are now a Minnesota Wild goalie.
Nik Backstrom has allowed 30 goals in his last 8 games. Can you say spaghetti strainer. Darcy Keumper is injured. Josh Harding is dealing with his multiple sclerosis symptoms. John Curry is too young to start multiple games in the NHL.
MIN acquires goalie Devan Dubnyk from PHX for a draft pick.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) January 14, 2015
Was Dubnyk Fletcher''s first choice?
I don't think so. This seems like a "we couldn't get the goalie we wanted for our price, so we settled for our Plan B option".
Pssst! Dubnyk has now played on five teams in the past two seasons.
Rumors have persisted for weeks that Fletcher has been interested in Buffalo rental goalies Jhonas Enroth and Michal Neuvirth.
Perhaps Sabres GM Tim Murray's asking price for his pending UFA goalies was too rich for Fletcher's blood.
The way the Wild goalies have played lately, Fletcher should have paid a premium price.
When is Fletcher going to learn that shopping for starting goaltenders at The Family Dollar is dangerous to an NHL GM's health. Dubnyk is a decent goalie, however, he's an NHL back-up. As a starter in Edmonton, he buckled and collapsed under all of the pressure of failures. Fletcher enters Thursday night's game eight points out of the Western Conference wild card race. Is Dubnyk the type of inspirational leader who can throw his new team on his back and take them on a 10-12 games winning streak to get them back in the playoff race where they belong? Not likely.
Ironic that the Wild are in Buffalo right now in advance of Thursday night's Sabres-Wild game.
Nik Backstrom will bring his .892 save percentage to the crease and will be faced by Enroith.
Dubnyk is 9-5-2 with a .916 save %.
Dubnyk will be a free agent in July.
Fletcher may want to add a scoring forward too because his flashy, high-priced top nine forward group cannot score to save their lives the past eight.
Fletcher told Michael Russo that he recognizes the dire straits that his head coach and players are in right now. He felt that trading for a goalie was the right thing to do at the right time. Fletcher has been making calls to his NHL GM counterparts in search of a goalie. He finally found a trade partner in Don Maloney from the Desert Dogs.
“We need to find out what our team really is. I’ve been waiting for the answers to come from the inside. I’ve been calling around for weeks. It’s not easy to get teams to sell players early. Most teams are still in and we’ve been waiting and hoping that the answers would come from within, but we’re at a very critical time right now. We’ve got to stabilize here. We’ve got to find a way to win a game and start to play the right way. You’re not just going to snap your fingers and everything’s going to get back to normal, but we’ve shown at points of this year we’re a good hockey team, we have good players, we have good coaches and we need to find a way to become a good team again. Right now we’re not a good team and this is a small step. Everybody’s lost confidence and that happens when you go through these stretches.
“I thought it was time for me to give this team a shot in the arm and we’ll keep trying. We’ll see if we can add more pieces. If we can do it great, but it has to come from the inside too and maybe this is a spark they need to get going.
“I think Mike’s a good coach, and I think we have a good team. But right now we’re in a perilous position for our season and we have to win some games. We’re capable of doing it. But we have to stabilize here. We’ll see where it takes us. We’ve got to get going. We’re better than this. It’s time. It’s more than time.…
Fletcher's butt is on the line right now because if the Dubnyk trade doesn't work in his favor, he may be the person to walk the plank, not Mike Yeo. Fletcher constructed the Wild's $60 million roster. If it continues to fail, he may be the man packing his hockey bag and heading out of town.
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