Article: Joel Eriksson Ek's Injury Has Exposed the Wild's Lack of Depth

[Eric Forga]

View full article

[MNCountryLife]

A pretty big ask.  Who in the league is going to replace Ek and be as good as him defensively and turn the tables on the opposing teams best offensive line.  About the only name that comes to mind for me is ROR.

I'm not sure we even qualify as a bubble team without Ek.  Yurov is getting better every day.  But he still probably has another year or even 2 before he might be Ek caliber.

[mnfaninnc]

1st of all, welcome to the HW writers club Eric. We would be interested in hearing your story and how you see the game. It's been a few weeks now, but you are churning out articles at the rate of Tony, which is nice.

This article is right on the money, especially after last night's game. However, we also must acknowledge that in both of the losses to NJ and Win, we started out the game like gangbusters, but couldn't get the lead. All shooters seemed to go cold at once, and either hitting the goalies chest or missing the net all together. That was the good part. When they went down mainly due to a PK, it got ugly and that is part 1 of Ek.

Part 2 is elevating Hartman who simply doesn't have the ice discipline to shut down other lines. He does some serious headscratchers at times, and, offensively, he has not really meshed with Boldy/Johansson. 

Last night was a perfect example of what was missing. Scheifele had a big night. Yet, that would have been Ek's matchup. Foligno lost his man on a dump out and Stanley put it in the back of the net...just after a PK. 2 PK goals against not even counting the one above. The PP looks worse with Hartman in the middle. He's good on PP2, but isn't the same caliber as PP1. 

But the other issue is what has also plagued the Wild for years. Last night, the dagger was put in because Toews cleanly won a faceoff with 8 seconds to play in the 1st and Morrissey drove it home from a completely screened Wallstedt who never saw it coming. That was the 2nd goal in 8 seconds to end the period. 

So, where do we go from here? The main issue is that our 2nd line also plays like our 3rd line in normal configurations. Ek is so good defensively that he can dominate another top line, keep them pinned in their zone for most of the night, AND produce offense. 

1 hour ago, MNCountryLife said:

Who in the league is going to replace Ek and be as good as him defensively and turn the tables on the opposing teams best offensive line.  About the only name that comes to mind for me is ROR.

This is probably the only guy in the league who can produce offensively like this and provide the same defense. Kopitar is another but unlikely available so we'll just cross him off any list. 

So, really, to take "pressure" off of Ek, you pretty much need 2 players. 1 a top 6 type of producer of which Yurov is developing into, and 2nd a defensive center who can also match up. Yurov is defensively responsible but not as clearly as Ek is. I believe Yurov will be another 200' center, but that is the future. Could moving Yurov back down to line 3 solve this? Then adding a top center for Kaprizov? Maybe. Or could we add a defensive center and leave Yurov up top? 

I think that Guerin will try and grab another big name, and not go defensive, but I still believe that Kotkaniemi could solve the defensive center problem. The trouble is, he's not worth $4.8m right now, he's playing like he's worth about $2m. I think if you shifted Yurov to wing for the stretch run and brought in 2 centers, we'd be in great shape. One issue is Yurov's ability to win faceoffs, but that goes for pretty much everyone. And while Jones lost the faceoff to Toews last night, we have seen throughout the season that we get scored upon because not only can't we win it, we can't even tie it up. Dallas beat us terribly in the playoffs 3 years ago just with this skill. I think I like this team going with X, Ek, Kotkaniemi, Sturm down the middle, and X would really be nice if it was ROR.

[Aimlessone]

The Wild were in a complete tailspin long before Ek's injury. Doesn't help the situation any, but his return will not be the solution, either. 

[Dis-allowed display name]

The last couple nights the team's play has been gutless to say the least. 

Fear not, Guerin is working the phones trying to add more grit!

[Burnt Toast]

 Nice Article!! With Ek out and Rossi traded, finding help up the middle is a big priority. Most NHL teams losing their 2 top centers would be in a similar situation. I’m confident the need will be addressed, considering how long Rossi was being shopped. I’m guessing originally the play wasn’t adding defense, but Quinn became available. Just gotta role the dice one more time!! After watching ROR play so well against us I’d love to get him back. BTW, speaking of centers, Charlie Stramel is developing quite nicely.