In the classic baseball movie "Bull Durham" — the best baseball movie, actually — Kevin Costner's Crash Davis character tells Tim Robbins' Nuke LaLoosh character that it's never a good idea to mess with a winning streak.
That sentiment sometimes clashes with another notion in sports that says someone shouldn't lose their job because they're injured. Once they come back, they should be able to reclaim their old spot and old surroundings.
In the case of the Wild, though, I'm going to side with Crash — and it's not even close. Mikko Koivu was injured Dec. 6 but might be ready to come back soon. Since the injury, the makeshift line of Zach Parise, Nino Niederreiter and Charlie Coyle has provided a significant scoring lift.
The question for Wild coach Bruce Boudreau is whether to put Parise and Koivu back together on the same line once Koivu is healthy. The answer is pretty clear: no.
Read Michael Rand's blog at startribune.com/randball. michael.rand@startribune.com.
