WINNIPEG – With the Wild playing its first game of many without No. 1 center Mikael Granlund, coach Mike Yeo still scratched Erik Haula on Monday against the Jets in order to send a clear message to the underperforming center.
"We need the player that we know he can be and we need him more than ever," Yeo said. "There's been a lot of conversations and a lot of things that we've tried to do to get him to play at the level that we know he's capable of."
Granlund suffered a broken left wrist after landing awkwardly following a crushing check from Winnipeg's Dustin Byfuglien on Saturday. Granlund underwent surgery in Bloomington on Monday and will miss approximately four weeks. The injury came late in arguably Granlund's best game in a month (one goal, one assist): "A very tough void for us to fill," Yeo said.
Haula, who has three goals, an assist and is minus-5 in 30 games, wasn't used to fill that void, at least Monday. Instead, Tyler Graovac made his NHL debut on the third line with Matt Cooke and Justin Fontaine.
Haula's speed hasn't been a threat all season, and Yeo hasn't been happy with him offensively or defensively. He was scratched last week against Philadelphia, too, and can't be sent to Iowa without waivers.
"It's not a confidence thing," said Yeo, who watched video with Haula Monday. "It's an understanding of how he has to play the game and a willingness to do it. He's a young kid that had an awful lot of success and a lot of attention put on him last year, so sometimes you need a bit of a reminder and unfortunately, sometimes those reminders are a little bit cruel."
NHL debut
Brett Sutter, recalled with Graovac on Sunday, has played 57 NHL games over parts of seven seasons. The 27-year-old was thrilled for Graovac, 21, before his first NHL contest.
"He was like a kid on Christmas morning Monday. It was a fun day [traveling] with him," Sutter said.
