MNWild: Fragile Confidence in State of Hockey?
With the news filtering out this morning from the Xcel Energy Center that Zach Parise was initially skating to test his foot and then participating in line rushes, it seems all is well in the Wild’s world again. The team had a full participation this morning to include other banged up members of the team Mikael Granlund, Torrey Mitchell, Keith Ballard, and Josh Harding. It is not unreasonable to believe the Wild could send Jason Zucker back to Iowa today and see the return of Ballard, Granlund, Mitchell, and Harding to the lineup. Not completely sure any or all of those listed will play tonight versus Phoenix to include Parise who was allegedly expected to be out 2-3 weeks per the Minnesota Wild twitter account last night.
Lots of good news this morning but the elephant in the room is how frantic and negative the fan base went when Parise went down to injury while the squad was getting pummeled in St. Louis by the Blues. The idea that the Wild’s very successful first 2 months of the season can be directly attributed to a favorable schedule playing against lesser opponents has been a reoccurring topic. Also I personally have wondered aloud about the Wild’s ability to matchup with many of the Western Conference teams that are ahead of them in the standings currently and perennially.
Tonight’s matchup against the Coyotes on home ice is the Wild’s most favorable in probably the next 15 games. The next 2 months are gearing up to be a mine field for the Wild where they will have to further elevate their play against teams that are bigger, stronger, and faster than them. Is the Wild ready to ascend to the next level in the Western Conference and in the newly formed Central Division? I think you are hard pressed at this point to respond to the affirmative despite how many positive storylines exist for the franchise right now and how far they have come from the 2011-12 squad that with the best record in the NHL only to have a collapse of epic proportions.
In reality no one can foresee at this point how the Wild responds to this grinder upcoming schedule, but I think the near state of emergency declared with the announcement that Parise would miss weeks sure provides an indicator of confidence in this squad. General Manager Chuck Fletcher did not give any indication of worry when speaking to the media yesterday but he is masterful at using GM speak. Head Coach Mike Yeo has continued to protect his players especially the failing ones most specifically Dany Heatley. In fact when it looked as if Parise would be missing action, both Fletcher and Yeo mentioned that Heatley has been playing better which I believe to be a falsehood.
So if it proves to be true that Parise returns tonight along with the Wild’s full complement of roster players, does it change the outlook on how successful the Wild can be in the next 15 games? I argue it helps but does not change the outlook by the fan base because this is still a team flawed and vulnerable to the style of play teams on the upcoming schedule are capable. I think the roster and cap issues that exist currently provide Fletcher very little latitude to address weaknesses of this current roster and of the organization in general. I think that this team has a very good understanding of how they have to play to win games but their limitations have been exposed by teams bigger and more physical than them.
It is so interesting to have the Wild enjoying their best start in franchise history with arguably their most talented roster of players, while still having so much doubt lingering around this team. I think the psychology of Minnesota sports fans surely plays heavily into that but there is some fire to the smoke of doubt provided by this current squad. Tonight will be very important for the Wild as they need to build confidence and momentum before heading out on the road in the beginning of December.
UPDATE: It looks like per Michael Russo of Star Tribune that Parise and Mitchell are out for tonight while Granlund and Zucker will play. Also Ballard returns to action tonight with Harding backing up Backstrom in net!
UPDATE 2: Just now per Michael Russo of Star Tribune both Jason Zucker and Darcy Kuemper ASSIGNED to Iowa Wild will be in Chicago with the team. Means most like Mitchell back in tonight with Parise, Rupp, Dumba, and Prosser out!
Just My Take, Tony Dean @AWKD