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Just How Far Away is....

April 23, 2019, 11:07 AM ET [6 Comments]
Dan Wallace
Minnesota Wild Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
So how far away are the Wild anyway?

So many said and continue to say that they need to blow it up.

To those that say this I give you the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs and the upsets and wide open opportunity for each of the 16 qualofiers.

Tampa tied the regular season wins record and are out in round one after being swept. Calgary, the top team in the Western Conference banished in five games by Colorado. Nashville ousted last night by the other wildcard entry from the West, Dallas.

Washington the Metropolitan Division champ and defending Stanley Cup Champion have been stretched to game seven in their first round series with Carolina. Winnipeg, everyone's darling from a year ago and the team most experts saw as a potential perennial contender, handledled with relative ease by St. Louis.

What does this all mean and how does it relate back to what the Wild and Paul Fenton are doing.

The clear message is that no matter what happens in the regular season, the playoffs are a whole different game. The tracking up of points and personal accomplishments mean very little over a two week span come Spring.

So getting back to the Wild, who hung around the playoff picture until the final week of the season and quite honestly could very well have slipped in. Now what might have happened once they got there seems pretty apparent given the fact that they ended the season with a whimper offensively.

This is not so much about if the Wild made it in this season and more about what they are doing with the roster to put themselves back into the playoffs next year.

The fact of the matter is Matt Dumba will be back next season and that changes the dynamic of the Wild offense instantaneously. Given the youth movement and the focus on a shoot first philosophy combined with some cap space to add talent, the Wild are simply not as far off as one might give them credit for.

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