There’s a whole lot of things going wrong for the Minnesota Wild as we wake up on Tuesday morning, ready for them to continue their five-game road trip against the Montreal Canadiens tonight. They have earned just three points out of their five games this season and have just looked, well, GM Bill Guerin recently talked about how they looked.
“I think it’s simple here: We’re just not a pretty team,” Guerin said, via The Athletic. “We have some skill — maybe not as much as some other teams — so when we don’t play hard, heavy, physical, when our competitive level isn’t where it needs to be, we struggle. And when we are, we’re good. That’s how we became good. We’re not doing that right now. I don’t see it. And I want to start seeing it.”
It is a little jarring considering last year’s team was extremely entertaining and pretty, but there is a hint of truth in there. The Wild have a particular system that if everyone buys into it and they get support in other areas like goaltending, then they can be successful. It’s not individual-focused, but as a team unit while some skilled players like Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy can just work their magic at whim.
With the unsuccessful start, head coach Dean Evason decided to overhaul basically the entire lineup at yesterday’s practice. Matt Dumba is on the bottom pairing, and Frederick Gaudreau is at the top center spot, if you can believe it. [Hockey Wilderness]

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