Tank, tank, tank, tank.
During the Wild's two-month stumble down the Western Conference standings, many despairing fans looking for a reason to be optimistic about the future have embraced the old tanking crusade that has kept dejected fans in Buffalo and Edmonton hopeful during another season of pain.
You've heard of "McEichel," haven't you? If not, check out McEichel.com, scan Twitter for accounts like @RaceForMcEichel and hashtags like #embracethetank, see how losing-team beat writers post nightly updated "McEichel" standings, which is the NHL's reverse statistics that read in order, "Edmonton, Buffalo, Carolina, Arizona, Columbus and New Jersey."
Yep, despite all the losing the past two months, all that winning in October has killed the Wild in the "McEichel" standings.
What the heck is "McEichel," you ask? A blend of the last names of Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel, the two dynamic teenagers expected to go 1-2 in June's draft. They're considered franchise-turners, and after a season of treading water and looking at the lack of a gamebreaker in the Wild organization, some Wild fans are hoping to finally make losing count this season.
It's hard to blame Wild fans. They see what bottoming out has done for Chicago (Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews) and Pittsburgh (Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Marc-Andre Fleury). They see how Tampa Bay can win a Stanley Cup in 2004, yet one bad year earns the Lightning Steven Stamkos. They see how three perfectly timed bad years "earned" the Colorado Avalanche Nathan MacKinnon, Matt Duchene and Gabriel Landeskog and how John Tavares has helped turn around the on-the-rise Islanders.
It's why fans like @normaliswear tweeted Thursday, "Going to be Sabres toughest #McEichel challenge in weeks. Minn is nose diving and Suter suspended. Gotta buckle down and get reg L."
It's why @FakeOilersGM Craig MacTavish tweeted Wednesday, "Well played, Don Maloney …#McEichel," a laugh-out-loud joke insinuating that Maloney, the Coyotes GM, was assisting his team's tanking by trading his best-playing goalie, Devan Dubnyk, to the Wild. Hey, Penguins GM Eddie Johnston proudly tanked in 1984 so he could draft Mario Lemieux.