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This is Michael Russo's 18th year covering the National Hockey League. He's covered the Minnesota Wild for the Star Tribune since 2005 following 10 years of covering the Florida Panthers for the Sun-Sentinel. Michael uses “Russo’s Rants” to feed a wide-ranging hockey-centric discussion with readers, and can be heard weekly on KFAN (100.3 FM) radio and seen weekly on Fox Sports North.
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Posts about Wild game coverage
Bobrovsky steals extra point from Wild; Cullen close to returning; Wild's cap/roster situation
Posted by: Michael Russo Updated: April 14, 2013 - 10:54 AM
Sunday morning update: Charlie Coyle will face no supplemental discipline from the NHL for last night's incident. The league deemed it a full body check and that Coyle was not targeting Artem Anisimov's head.
So, yes, 17 seconds into a big game, the refs and linesmen had a conference after not calling an initial penalty and wound up blowing the call massively, handing Columbus a major power play and forcing the Wild to mix and match first-line right wings for 59 minutes, 43 seconds. I think 17 seconds into a game, if you're going to boot a first-line right wing this time of year, you better be certain you're getting the call right. Just the latest in a long list of dubious calls and missed calls against Minnesota.
Plain, simple: Sergei Bobrovsky stole the Columbus Blue Jackets two points from the X tonight with a 3-2 shootout win.
Everybody in the Blue Jackets’ room knew it and said it. Same with the Wild’s.
The good news is at least the Wild got one in a game it deserved two thanks to Jason Pominville burying Ryan Suter’s rebound with 3:15 left in regulation. The Wild could have really used that second point, but Bobrovsky, who has a 2.01 goals against average and .932 save percentage, made two more saves in overtime, then two more saves in the shootout against two of the best shootout performers in the NHL – Zach Parise and Mikko Koivu.
I was just talking to the Columbus Dispatch’s Shawn Mitchell up here in the press box and the Blue Jackets beat writer said, “He has four shutouts this year, but that was by far his best performance of the season.”
Still, Pominville said of Bobrovsky, “He’s had a good run. He made some big saves early. As good as he is, I think it falls on us to find a way to put one through. As good as he is, we’re the ones that are shooting.”
The Wild outshot the Blue Jackets 41-22, outchanced them dramatically and if not for a sloppy first 6:18 of the second period, would have skated off with two points. On the two shifts that resulted in two goals, Mikael Granlund lost Vinny Prospal on the one goal and on the second, the crowd sensed what was coming when Kyle Brodziak, who started the mess by coughing up the puck, Cal Clutterbuck, Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Jared Spurgeon and Brett Clark got hemmed in the zone for 60 seconds of a long, long shift that actually lasted 1:34.
Finally, Niklas Backstrom left open the wickets and Fedor Tyutin fired it right through. But despite Bobrovsky stoning and frustrating the Wild to no end, finally Devin Setoguchi drew a power play late and Pominville scored his first goal at home and second with the Wild.
So, tonight could have been worse. The Wild could have sure used that second point though. Instead, it settled for one and remains seventh in the West – but only two points up on Dallas, Detroit and Columbus as it now heads on a three-game trip to Calgary, Edmonton and San Jose.
Before I continue on the game and Charlie Coyle incident, some news:
-- The Wild is 1-4-1 without Matt Cullen. He will be on the road trip, coach Mike Yeo said after the game.
-- Because of Zenon Konopka’s injury, which sources tell me is a broken foot, Jason Zucker was considered an emergency callup. Because that was considered an emergency, technically Mikael Granlund remained an emergency. That means the Wild still has exhausted only two of its four non-emergency callups – not the maximum. This is only important because there may come a point where the Wild may want to give Marco Scandella a shot.
However, for that to happen, the Wild would have to put Dany Heatley or Josh Harding on retroactive Long Term Injury Reserve to create the cap space. The Wild has so little cap space right now, GM Chuck Fletcher may go over the ceiling if he buys a coffee and a bagel (just a joke). Honestly, it’s like $6,000 or $7,000 bucks shy of the ceiling.
By the way, there is little doubt Jonas Brodin will hit some rookie bonuses, meaning the Wild will likely be charged a bonus overage next season, meaning there’s a chance the Wild’s cap ceiling next year could be a few hundred thousand less than the league’s $64.3 million.
Back to the game, rookie Charlie Coyle was assessed a match penalty for contact to Artem Anisimov’s head 17 seconds into the game. The Columbus forward never played another shift. Clearly dazed. Anisimov was reaching for a puck, so he was bent downward.
Yeo felt it was a “clean hit” and it should not have been a penalty. GM Chuck Fletcher felt the same and met with Supervisor and former ref Mick McGeough during the first intermission. We’ll find out Sunday what the league feels. I don’t even want to venture a guess. Coyle was given a warning earlier this season by Brendan Shanahan for his high hit on Matt Stajan. To me, Niklas Kronwall’s flying forearm to Coyle’s head in Detroit last month was way worse and more blatant, but who knows?
Losing Coyle meant Yeo had to mix and match right wingers on the snakebit Parise-Koivu line the whole game. Setoguchi saw time there for the first time this season. Pominville and Cal Clutterbuck saw time there, too.
Koivu has no points in seven games by the way. Bouchard scored his first goal since March 25 tonight.
Yeo loved Jason Zucker’s game. He had a game-high six shots and Yeo wants to see this continue on the road now.
I asked about Brodziak. He is minus-15, turned the puck before the second goal, missed on some golden scoring chances and only has six goals after 22 last year.
Yeo: “I’m not going sit here and throw Brodzy under the bus. There were a lot of guys on the ice at that time (Tyutin goal). For anyone that’s watching and have no idea how much a guy like Brodzy cares, you have to make sure you channel it the right way and it doesn’t affect you the wrong way.”
But he said it’s a team game.
Suter again awesome tonight. Played 30:29, assisted on the tying goal, and he probably should not have been playing with his injury. If you watched the game closely, watched how he shot, watched how he stick-handled, watched how he checked people, it should be clear to you what’s wrong.
On a personal note, great seeing Vinny Prospal after the game. I covered him briefly in Florida. Just a class act all the way around and he’s very happy with this Blue Jackets team and what they’re accomplishing right now.
OK, I have to get out of here. Early flight to Calgary and I still have to pick up a prescription tonight. I will talk to you Monday from Calgary. Kent Youngblood is covering Sunday’s practice.
Mike Yeo upbeat despite Wild's latest loss; Ryan Suter hurt
Posted by: Michael Russo Updated: April 11, 2013 - 11:03 PMFirst things first, the Wild lost for the sixth time in eight games tonight (2-0 to the red-hot St. Louis Blues), was shut out for the third time in four games and second consecutive game on home ice and lost defenseman Ryan Suter with an undisclosed injury.
Coach Mike Yeo said he talked with the NHL’s leading minute man after the game and “we’re confident he’ll be fine.”
This is Russo. Technically off tonight, but since I came to the game, I figured I should blog. Rachel Blount covered the game, so please read her gamer and notebook in Friday’s paper.
Suter, pretty much unarguably the Wild's most important player, got hurt on his first shift of the second period. He missed six minutes, returned to the game but never played again after the 17-minute mark of the second. On that first shift of the second, he wasn’t on camera much. The time he is, he did try to peel away from an oncoming David Backes, so if that’s where the injury occurred, maybe it’s a pulled muscle.
The Blues have won six in a row, are one of the best road teams in the NHL, are outstanding defensively, have shut out three teams in a row and are basically a well-oiled machine right now. When Jason Pominville hit the post on his first shift of the game, it basically foretold what the Wild’s puck luck would be the rest of the way.
The Wild controlled the play much of the game, didn’t give up a lot of chances but committed a couple defensive mistakes and couldn’t buy a goal.
Yeo was upbeat in his presser, walking in even with a grin because he pretty much knew what he was going to say off the bat. It was as much an orchestrated message for the fans and media as it was for a fragile locker room that he is trying to keep positive.
“Before the onslaught begins, I’ll start by saying my message to the team and the way that we feel is we have nothing to apologize for and nothing to feel sorry about,” Yeo began. “We played obviously a strong team and we played a good game. I’m not saying we can’t be better in a couple areas, but obviously the complexion of the game changes if we score first. We’ve got to quit giving up the first goal, but right through the lineup we competed hard. We did a lot of good things. Obviously made a couple mistakes but we’ve got nothing to hang our head about that’s for sure.”
Yeo noted they didn’t have very many scoring chances either, saying, “That’s this time of year. I know the chances were even. … Bottom line is we didn’t finish. Again I’m not saying we can’t be better in some areas, we can for sure.
“I know there’s been so much losing around here for so long that it’s almost like we’re waiting for it to happen again. Hey, one thing that we’re learning is that the final push is the hardest. Let’s not be afraid to write that that’s a pretty good team we played tonight. They’re a pretty strong team. We played a good game, we didn’t win it, and certainly we’re not happy about that, but I know what’s going on and we want to write a negative story and we want to feel sorry for ourselves and I’m telling you, it is not happening in the dressing room.”
Still, it’s been three out of four where they haven’t scored. The second line of Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Mikael Granlund and Devin Setoguchi was much better tonight but didn’t get it done. Cal Clutterbuck has one goal in the past 23 games and three in 34. The team’s losing ways may have begun in that first St. Louis game, but it really started in San Jose when Charlie Coyle was taken off the first line.
He was back there by the second period, the Wild quickly rallied to make it 2-2 before the six-turnover shift by Clayton Stoner, Jared Spurgeon, Dany Heatley and Kyle Brodziak gave up the losing goal. Coyle hasn’t been back there since.
I wrote today in this article the reasons Jason Zucker isn’t here right now. But there’s eight games left, and as much as Yeo tried to smartly keep it positive tonight, the Wild’s played itself right onto the playoff bubble.
So how much longer can it wait?
It’s time to get Zucker here, slot him right onto the Granlund-Setoguchi line, reunite Coyle with slumping Zach Parise and Mikko Koivu (I think Yeo should have done it at the start of the third period tonight to perhaps create a jolt) and maybe try Jason Pominville on the right side of Clutterbuck and Brodziak. Maybe that’ll add an offensive spark to break out that line.
But second-liner Pierre-Marc Bouchard has one assist in nine games right now.
All this of course partly depends on how close Matt Cullen is to returning.
I asked Yeo if it’s time to shuffle the lines and get Coyle back to the top line and he said that will be talked about tonight and Friday morning.
On being shut out in three of four games, I asked Yeo what needs to change: “Put the puck in the back of the net. We’ve talked about this many times before, obviously the first goal this time of year is very important. … It’s almost like playoff hockey right now, that first goal is very important. For sure if we’re not going to come right out and score a goal early then we better not give one up. We have to be better there, we can’t make that mistake in that situation.”
The blue line has major holes, especially if Suter is sidelined. Justin Falk was on for two goals tonight, and played big roles in both. He turned the puck over in the neutral zone 30 seconds before the first goal and couldn’t play a bouncing puck before the second.
Tom Gilbert, who had a defensive breakdown with forward Mike Rupp on the first goal, is now a minus-14.
But, regardless of the blue-line issues, it all comes down to scoring. There are just too many passengers on this team, guys that are not stepping up at all and contributing.
“There’s a lot of gripping the stick really tight, and a lot of tension, that’s why I said this is something we’re learning to deal with right now,” Yeo said. “It will make us better. If we think that it’s intense and it’s emotional and it’s tough right now, where we want to get to, the P word, it gets a little bit more. So this is part of it, learning how to deal with it.”
And you can see it on certain faces on the ice. They almost play jittery, and I’m talking about the guys that have been on this team through the non-playoff years. It’s like they sense the wheels are coming off and are afraid to do anything to mess up.
Well, that won’t get it done.
“The effort’s there, we’re working hard, we’re creating some chances,” Pominville said. “We can’t sit here and feel sorry for ourselves. We’ve got to pull up our sleeves, dig deep and find a way. It’s been a little tough go here lately to get on board, but that’s when you have to dig deeper and maybe simplify things and hope to get a bounce and go from there.”
“We’re doing some good things,” the former Buffalo captain continued. “Our execution might not be where it needs to be. But at the same time we’re playing teams that have been going really well, have been on a roll and … have been doing some good things defensively, but we can’t use that as an excuse. We have to find a way to create.”
I asked Parise about the mood in the room: “Pretty frustrated. It’s a game, another one, that we feel we could have come on the other side of. There’s frustration a little bit.”
On the need for guys to step up, Parise said, “You can’t single anyone out right now. It’s a collective thing. We all can play a little better and limit our mistakes. We’ve played against some pretty good defensive teams three out of the last four games, I think probably three of the best defensive teams in the league. And we’ve gotten shut out in each one of those games. We all can do a little more. We’ve given them a few goals and found ourselves playing from behind and that hasn’t been working.”
Niklas Backstrom played well. There were some turnovers right in front of him despite the Wild only giving up 20 shots. The key now is for Backstrom’s game not to fall apart because of the pressure with literally no goal support.
Here is a translated quote he said in Finnish to colleague Samuel Savolainen: “You want to win. That’s why we play. For a goalie, it’s a challenge because there’s only that much I can do. I can only take care of my own part. I can’t let other things affect me. If I do, my own package falls apart. And then I’m not helping the team to its fullest.”
Rachel is covering practice on Friday, so follow her on Twitter (@blountstrib) to get updates on any line changes at practice and Suter updates. What I hear, I’ll tweet, too.
When Suter got hurt tonight, Jonas Brodin moved to the left side with Spurgeon on his right. Stoner played the left and Gilbert moved to the right. So my guess is if Suter can’t play, Falk would play the left side of Nate Prosser. The other option is to call up Marco Scandella, but he has been very inconsistent in the minors and I’m not sure the Wild feels his game is ready to step back in here.
Columbus comes to town next on Saturday, then a three-game trip to Calgary, Edmonton and San Jose. This thing is going to come down to the wire.
Postgame thoughts after Wild's 1-0 loss to Chicago
Posted by: Michael Russo Updated: April 9, 2013 - 11:21 PMThe Wild held the NHL’s best offensive and defensive team to one goal tonight here at the X but couldn’t muster up a goal of its own and fell 1-0 because of it.
The Wild picked off several passes at center-ice to get on the attack, but it just couldn’t sustain anything close to sustained pressure and were beaten to or outbattled on most offensive-zone loose pucks. That led to a lot of offensive-zone time for the Blackhawks.
Still, this game had the feel of one big mistake costing one of the teams, and Clayton Stoner committed that faux pas when Marian Hossa read and reacted perfectly to his attempted cross-ice pass to Mikko Koivu.
Hossa picked off the ugly pass and used a quick release to beat Niklas Backstrom five-hole for the game’s only goal with 4:46 left in the second period.
The crowd groaned, especially when it became clear it was Stoner, who has been so maligned lately got a string of poor games with the puck. My Twitter mentions went into overdrive.
Coach Mike Yeo didn’t protect him after the game because there was no hiding the blunder. He said he would talk it over with his staff if he could keep playing him. My initial guess is Stoner keeps playing. The left-shot D behind him – other than Marco Scandella in the minors – are Justin Falk and Brett Clark, and the Wild hasn’t shown the confidence to give them top-4 minutes.
Right-shot D Tom Gilbert can play top-4 minutes, but he has struggled bigtime lately and can he play the left side? And Yeo has indicated over and over that Stoner’s issues have been with the puck and that he brings a hard-to-play against, physical, positional element that is valuable.
The problem is this is hockey. He’s a defenseman. Defensemen have to play with the puck.
Yeo said he has no concern about his blue-line depth (the Wild’s given up one goal in two games and held Patrick Sharp, Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and the Blackhawks’ horde of other scorers to goose eggs tonight.
So the key is to keep this in perspective. The Wild played the best team in the league, was in position to win the game but “blinked first.”
Offensively, the Wild didn’t win enough battles, weren’t opportunistic, especially on one second-period sequence when ice-cold Cal Clutterbuck couldn’t bury a loose puck he squeezed into the crease. He has one goal since Feb. 9.
The first line didn’t seem in sync tonight, the second line, especially Devin Setoguchi, misses Matt Cullen badly (Yeo said he’s getting closer, and Chuck Fletcher seemed to indicate that if Cullen had his way, he would like to play Thursday or Saturday, but the team may not feel comfortable risking his long-term health).
But sorry, it’s time to figure out a way to get Jason Zucker back. The Wild needs his speed, energy and clutch goal scoring.
While it’s easy to overreact to this loss, I still wouldn’t. One mistake cost them against arguably the best team in the league.
Still, the Wild has lost five of seven, is now seventh in the West and only five points up on ninth (Dallas). Two big games coming up against St. Louis and Columbus, which won big tonight. And the home game before this, the Wild laid a giant egg against the big, bad Blues.
Dany Heatley is indeed out for the year. What this means for his future in Minnesota now becomes cloudy. He has one year left on his deal at $7.5 million with $5 million in real money. Way too premature now to speculate. There will be time for that after the season.
Tough loss for a guy that almost never misses games.
“It's going to be a big blow,” Setoguchi said. “Not many guys in this room have played in the playoffs, so losing Heater is huge. He’s positive all the time, he plays big minutes, he's a big guy, you can't get the puck off him, he scores big goals.
“No one wants to miss a year, especially with his track record [of playing every game].”
The Wild has its team picture Wednesday morning. Talk to you after the noon practice.
Wild gets big win in Columbus; Dany Heatley to undergo shoulder surgery
Posted by: Michael Russo Updated: April 7, 2013 - 9:21 PM
There’s really no way to portray how big this one 3-0 victory in Columbus was tonight.
The Wild had lost three in a row and four of five. It had sunk to 7th in the West with red-hot Phoenix surging from outside the top-8 and Detroit right on its tail. It’s about to head home for a three-game homestand in front of what’s bound to be a restless, nervous home crowd anyway, a crowd that felt compelled to boo this team profusely last Monday despite having won eight of its previous nine. Can you imagine what it would have been like if it had lost tonight?
So the Wild needed to stop the bleeding in Columbus and lower the temperature a bit before Tuesday’s game against Chicago.
Mission accomplished as it played a strong all-around game, got great special teams (two power-play goals, four spotless penalty kills), got a goal and assist from Jason Pominville in his second game, a winning goal from Ryan Suter, a first career power-play goal by Charlie Coyle, solid effort from scores of players and a 24-save shutout response from Niklas Backstrom.
It’s now got a 6-point cushion on Phoenix and moved back to 6th in the West.
Evening from Nationwide Arena, where the Wild snapped the Blue Jackets’ 12-game home point streak tonight.
The Wild will not practice Monday as one of its four mandatory days off per month in the new CBA. I will host a live chat on startribune.com at 2 p.m.
As I began to indicate the past few days, I finally got it confirmed tonight that Heatley will undergo shoulder surgery Tuesday at the Cleveland Clinic on Tuesday. That’s why the itinerary changed and he flew here to Ohio.
It’s a scope to repair a dislocated left shoulder suffered in San Jose during that altercation with former teammate Marc-Edouard Vlasic on Wednesday. Mike Yeo says this doesn’t necessarily mean Heatley will miss the remainder of the regular season, but you know it’ll be pretty darn close. The reason he and the team has elected for surgery is because this should quicken his return rather than just letting it heal naturally.
The good news is now the trade for Pominville is even bigger. Pominville took Coyle spot as the first-line right wing and tonight, Yeo might have discovered Heatley’s replacement with Cal Clutterbuck and Kyle Brodziak.
Not only did Coyle score and play outstandingly in all three zones, Clutterbuck and Brodziak were as good as they’ve been in a long time. They were hard to play against for Marian Gaborik’s line, they were pains in the rear with good sticks in the neutral zone and they got the puck in often on the forecheck. All three were also strong on the penalty kill. Clutterbuck caused turnovers and foiled chances all night with back pressure and a good stick.
“We’re losing a huge piece there [with Heatley], so you need guys to step up,” Yeo said. “What Heater brings is a guy who is puck strong and a guy who can score goals. And I think we saw a lot of those qualities in Charlie Coyle tonight.”
The hope is Matt Cullen is close. He missed the road trip with a lower body injury.
As a team, Clutterbuck, who had a money quote in the gamer you should check out, said, “We just needed to get back to the certain way we were playing, and the good thing is we know exactly what that is and we know that it works.”
Yeo was delighted with Backstrom’s response after being yanked in L.A. He recorded his 28th career shutout and now leads the league with 20 wins in 31 starts. He had 19 in 45 starts last year.
As a team, Yeo said, “What you saw tonight is what our game is supposed to look like.”
He did say, “We’re not going to sit here and say this road trip was a huge success, but we found a way to in a very important game for us.”
On the back end, he scratched Brett Clark and veteran Tom Gilbert: “I thought the entire defensive group was really strong. One of our better ones execution wise. Taking hits to make plays.”
Clayton Stoner, so maligned lately, had a real solid game. Yeo: “He’s had a couple tough plays with pucks for sure. The base of his game, he’s going to be a physical guy, he’s going to be hard to play against down low, he’s not a fun guy to play against, I guarantee you that because positionally he does a good job. He did a very good job with the puck tonight, which is important.”
Tonight, Yeo said, “Scorers were scoring, checkers were checking.”
Mikael Granlund had one of his best games of his season. First period, Yeo said he was somewhat average, but he was great in all three zones in the second and third, set up a tremendous Coyle goal and was physical and strong on the wall.
Said Yeo: “I thought he elevated his game in the second and third. That’s really important for us. It’s a matter of confidence for the kid. Once he really starts to figure out what he can do and what he’s capable of, it’s going to be fun to watch.”
Pominville had a solid game. Thirty minutes before warmups, his wife and two kids surprised him by driving in from Buffalo. The Wild surprised the family by outfitting them fully with Wild gear.
Coyle was real good. Suter real good. Torrey Mitchell had a great game. The fourth line really set a strong tone in the first, but Backstrom made a series of clutch saves that calmed the tide too.
That’s it for me. Early flight. Ten games left, amazingly enough. Again, no practice Monday but I will be hosting the live chat on startribune.com at 2 p.m. Please join in.
Struggling Wild finishes "grueling stretch," admits fatigue; Heatley, Pominville, Haula updates
Posted by: Michael Russo Updated: April 5, 2013 - 9:08 AM
The Wild lost its third in a row tonight and fourth in five games tonight when it was shut out for the first time this season by a 3-0 score at Los Angeles.
Try to get down to the end of the blog because I have some interesting news and notes down there.
The Wild is starting to look like a worn down team and it certainly said it was after playing its eighth game in 13 days tonight.
The legs look like mush and the minds are tired, too, which leads to bad decisions, turnovers and mental mistakes, like the two bad line changes that led directly to goals tonight.
Bad starts continue to kill. For the fifth game in a row, the Wild fell behind 1-0. That quickly became two by the 3:07 mark and Niklas Backstrom was on the bench after giving up two goals on two goals. Both were off odd-man rushes.
“It’s tough for sure to start the game like that,” coach Mike Yeo said. “We have to eliminate some of the big mistakes that we’re making. Two goals on line changes, and that’s actually usually something that we’re pretty strong at.
“The reality is this has been a grueling stretch. We have a couple days now, but having said that, it doesn’t mean that it’s just going to be better. We’ve got to use the couple days the right way. We’ve got to make sure that we get the rest that we need and we’ve got to get focused on this final stretch.”
The Wild fell out of the top spot of the Northwest tonight and is now five points up on 9th-place Edmonton. The attention to details and focus has been shoddy to say the least.
Asked if there’s concern the Wild is going to be able to fix this, Yeo said, “That’s the last thing we need. We need to focus on the next game and that’s it. It becomes increasingly more difficult to do that, you start looking at the big picture, you start thinking about what other teams are doing. The reality is the only thing that matters is our next game and going out and playing well. That’s a huge part of the challenge with this, of being a winner and managing the emotions involved with it. If you don’t do it the right way, it’s not productive. We have to get focused on improving our game and getting back to our game and eliminating some of these mistakes that we’re making.”
Asked about the forecheck, and how there’s been little sustained pressure, Yeo said, “I’m not one for making excuses, you know me, you can see it on the video that we don’t have the legs. You see it in the game tonight. We’ve got one guy going and F2 and F3 are dragging their feet coming up the ice, it’s not because we’re not working. It’s because we don’t have that extra push to get there right now. The good news is the schedule eases up now, but on top of that, we can’t just sit here and say ‘ok, that’s great. We’ve got to demand a little bit more of ourselves.”
I know a lot of you are probably flipping out reading all this, but look, it’s the reality. You can say every team has to deal with it, and that’s only partially true.
The East do not. They have cupcake travel. The Wild logs the most air miles in the league, and the reality is, these guys aren’t robots. They’ve played a lot of games. Anthony LaPanta figured out that it’s been 15 straight games since the Wild’s opponent basically had less rest than the Wild. Because of this schedule, when the Wild practices Saturday, it will be its first real practice since March 22. That’s 14 days.
The team is tired. I can tell you that I feel like the walking dead, and I’m not playing (Of course, I’m the one with 4 a.m. wakeup calls every day and have another in the morning, so I better wrap this up) :)
I asked Ryan Suter about the lack of practices because the attention to details has been so bad. He said it’s because they’re tired mistakes.
“Practices aren’t that important this time of year,” he said. “I think the travel is the biggest thing. You get worn down. It’s tough. I’m sure it’s tough for you guys and it’s tough for us. But we’re not making excuses. We just have to dig down and just get back to playing simple hockey. I think we’re trying to complicate it and that doesn’t make it any easier for us.”
Friday will be a full travel day to Columbus. The question now is how does it get out of this. Whether it's real or not, it can't be used as an excuse because the standings don't accept excuses.
“I don’t know if it’s a crisis,” said Backstrom. “We know we’re a good team. We know we can play good. It’s not like we’re getting outplayed every night. It’s just some mental errors that’s costing us. I know I can play better. A lot of guys know they can be better. It’s up to us as individuals to play better. But as a team, we have to play the right way the whole game and lately we haven’t been doing that. We have to get back to that.”
Said Suter, “Obviously you’re concerned, but you can’t panic. Throughout the year, you’re going to go through ups and downs. You’ve got to work harder to get out of it. At the beginning of the year, we weren’t playing well, we weren’t playing to our capabilities. You just have to dig down and work harder to get out of that hole. We have the guys in here that can do it, we just have to do it.”
Yeo still was happy with the effort despite the lack of legs. He also was very happy with the Parise-Koivu-Pominville line, which did have a ridiculously good shift in the offensive zone for almost a minute. But it didn't result in a goal or penalty -- despite some clear ones by LA.
Couple other notes:
-- Dany Heatley, who will be out for an undetermined amount of time, is expected to return to the Twin Cities on Friday. Matt Cullen, whom they hoped to meet the team in Columbus, is not expected to.
-- I have confirmed the Buffalo Sabres are picking up part of Pominville's $5.5 million salary and $5.3 million cap hit this season and next. The Wild right now is a little more than $100,000 from the cap ceiling, which is why the Wild's got to be careful with its callups. Plus you only get four (not including emergency recalls) the rest of the season.
If Buffalo wasn't picking up part of the salary, the Wild would be above the cap. Together with the webmaster of capgeek.com tonight, we went over numbers. He estimates that Buffalo must be picking up around $225,000 of Pominville's salary this year, which would translate to around $900,000 next year. The good news is in a daily cap world, you accrue cap space daily. Slowly but surely it should gain more cap space. If the Wild ever gets in a pickle though, I think the only way out of it would be to LTIR Josh Harding.
-- Pregame note tonight from Mike Yeo on Clayton Stoner: Despite struggles in recent games, Yeo resisted pulling defenseman Clayton Stoner from Thursday’s lineup.
“I’m not concerned about him,” Yeo said. “This has been a very difficult stretch. There’s been a lot of hockey and what I’ve seen are tired mistakes. Nobody is more aware of those mistakes and harder on themselves than Stoney. Quite often that lends itself to making another mistake to making another mistake.
“I have a lot of confidence in him. He’s played some great hockey for us. He’s gotten us to this point, so I know he’ll get it back.”
--Erik Haula could soon be the fourth University of Minnesota hockey player to leave the program since season’s end.
The Wild, the 2009 seventh-round pick who led the Gophers in scoring the past two seasons, is closing in on a contract with the Wild, sources say. This week, Nate Schmidt signed a free-agent contract with Washington, while draft picks Zach
Budish and Nick Bjugstad signed with Nashville and Florida, respectively.
OK, that's it for me. I am really exhausted and have to wake up in a few hours to fly to Columbus through Minneapolis, which is a tease. No blog Friday unless there's news as I'll be working on my story for Saturday's paper and my Sunday package.
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