WildHBcommunity:Clayton Stoner Confirms Lack of Accountability by Yeo
In what was a refreshing moment of clarity in the politics and public relations coached cliche' riddled NHL of now, former Minnesota Wild defender Clayton Stoner was quoted in a Eric Stephens story for the Orange County Register being critical of how Mike Yeo runs his sytem.
Often times the politics of hockey at the NHL level means that what happens behind the scenes stays behind the scenes and to call anyone or anything into question is blasphemy and you are trouble maker for doing so. As I have found out over the years of writing about the Wild, if you are going to be critical you WILL be punished by the team PR Staff.
Anyone paying attention though can see that Yeo has avoided at all costs taking issue or calling onto the carpet CERTAIN veteran players in his time as bench boss in the NHL. It sure feels like the current disconnect with this team stems from a locker room not on the same page energy, effort, and attitude wise.Add that to a cluster f8ck between the pipes this year with a young goalie not ready YET and the other past the point of no return and it is a recipe for disaster.
I am always fascinated why Minnesota fans and media defend players who do not require their defense because they are TEFLON. For a long time in baseball Joe Mauer was untouchable, so much so that the organization is paying the price now having committed to him as the franchise player while never getting a franchise return on him.
For the Wild they have several guys in that TEFLON category under Yeo's leadership. In my opinion only one guy truly deserves to be untouchable and that is because he is the first to call himself out in addition to his teammates. I am talking about Zach Parise of course and although he is still having a pretty good season he will be the first to admit he MUST be better. The guy is losing his dad this year and Michael Russo wrote a beautiful tragic story about it.
Even Ryan Suter probably deserves the same pass having lost his father this summer which surely has contributed to him not paying his best hockey this year either. I think the very legitimate issue with Suter though is his role on this team and ice time being a problem. Yeo has made several statements about Suter dictating himself how much ice time he plays a game which has created real consequences this season in particular for the Wild.
Suter has not contributed much to a brutal power play this season as he rarely shoots the puck ever and when he does it is more of a pass than a rocket anyways. Suter has been directly responsible for goals against near the end of shifts this season whether it be on turning the puck over or just standing still with no legs left under him.
Suter is certainly a gifted athlete and he is a very good two way defender but his overall play this year has left a lot to be desired and when he has played LESS minutes his overall game has been sharper. How is responsible for keeping Suter's minutes reasonable? It should be Yeo but he has a documented history of avoiding conflict with the veteran leadership of his teams.
It dates back to Dany Heatley's 2nd season in Minnesota when his performance and production fell off the face of a cliff and Yeo refused to take action moving him off the top line and then eventually out of the lineup all together. The same can be said of Mikko Koivu and Jason Pominville as well. Both of those guys are on the protected list for Yeo so don't expect him to any decisive action no matter how they perform.
Stoner thought that his development with the Wild had reached its endpoint. Living in Minnesota was something the avid outdoors man appreciated but working there was no longer to his satisfaction.
“I didn’t like the way it was run in Minnesota,… Stoner said. “They kind of just give one defenseman all the minutes and the rest suffer. And I wasn’t happy there. I don’t think the minutes displayed how I was playing. It was more of the just the way things were run there.
“That being said, I wanted a new opportunity. A new chance. Bob said that there’d be a good chance here. Everything so far has been good, if not better than I thought it would be.…
Stoner believes that he has in Boudreau a coach “that trusts all the players on the ice.… Boudreau said his defenseman has become an entrenched part of a group that he hopes will become a championship-caliber mix.
“He’s been a big part of helping Sami, as far as protecting Sami,… Boudreau said. “And when Sami’s rushing, he’s backing him up and knows his role. I can’t say enough good things about Clayton.…
Ultimately what this all means is without a repeat of last year's huge rally down the stretch which saw Yeo fall on the grenade for his veteran core group, this could very well be the farewell tour for #YeoknowsBest era. Also if this team fails to make the playoffs I gotta believe that General Manager Chuck Fletcher despite and outstanding rebuild of this franchise will be out of a job as well.
Sorry to hang a cloud but these are certainly the dark days here in the 'State of Hockey', and it is particularly alarming to me that while we can all see under performance and a bit of apathy creeping in we are not getting any acknowledgement of major changes being required. If Yeo believes that he can keep trotting this same lineup out there in the same roles and have magic happen, he is going to the well one too many times.
The Wild are currently deep in the hole and the way to motivate your team isn't to avoid reality and shelter your top guys. Maybe that earned Yeo another shot last year but it certainly has shipwrecked his squad this season.
Just My Take, Tony Dean
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