Article: Wild Now On Disheartening Losing Streak After Hosting Jets

[Thomas Williams]

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[Imyourhuckleberry]

Wild now have fallen behind the points pace they had through December 13th.

Quinn Hughes first hit the ice for them on December 14th, and they have a 102 point pace since that point. Still good, but the details seem to have fallen off in their game after the initial goal scoring bonanza when Quinn Hughes arrived.

Obviously, when the Wild are without Eriksson Ek and Brodin, they lose a lot of what makes them a top level team on the defensive side. Hopefully their recoveries goes well and they can join the lineup again soon.

[Pewterschmidt]

21 minutes ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

the details seem to have fallen off in their game after the initial goal scoring bonanza when Quinn Hughes arrived.

It’s interesting watching an entire group adjusting to one player Quinn Hughes Hughes gets so much TOI and is involved in the play whenever he’s on the ice so the rest of this group has no choice but to adjust to him versus Hughes adjusting to the wild team I think that’s what we’re watching now the good news is I saw some glimmer of chemistry between 43 and 97 last night for this Hughes Hail Mary™️ to pay off those two need to bond the way 97 and 36 bonded

[Scalptrash]

18 minutes ago, Pewterschmidt said:

It’s interesting watching an entire group adjusting to one player Quinn Hughes Hughes gets so much TOI and is involved in the play whenever he’s on the ice so the rest of this group has no choice but to adjust to him versus Hughes adjusting to the wild team I think that’s what we’re watching now the good news is I saw some glimmer of chemistry between 43 and 97 last night for this Hughes Hail Mary™️ to pay off those two need to bond the way 97 and 36 bonded

He really doesn't fit the system that the Wild have always employed. Defensive structure. They are now stuck in the middle and Hughes still doesn't look that comfortable to me. He wants to drive offense, but holds back to be true to the Wild's system. Something has to give, either take off the leash or he adapts to defense first, and then it was a horrible trade for something that doesn't fit.

[MNCountryLife]

Some interesting notes from last nights game.  

Hartman is not capable of replacing Ek.  There is a steep drop off between these two.  We are very dependent on Ek.

Bogo and Brodin really solidify 3 D pairs.  Without them our skill on the backend drops off dramatically and struggles.

We need Johansson producing like he was in Nov and Dec.  Without him playing to his potential our top 6 is not top 6 quality.  We need Mojo... not Nojo.

[Will D. Ness]

It's a little early to scapegoat but damn that was an ugly game.  This common theme of starting out dominant and then falling apart is an issue but the complete lack of focus to end the 1st was pathetic.  

Wally had the puck on his stick behind the net with 15 seconds left.  The score was 1-0.  Period ends and it is 3-0.

I swear that Brodin is the only guy that knows to work clock in the corner at this point.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

34 minutes ago, MNCountryLife said:

Some interesting notes from last nights game.  

Hartman is not capable of replacing Ek.  There is a steep drop off between these two.  We are very dependent on Ek.

Bogo and Brodin really solidify 3 D pairs.  Without them our skill on the backend drops off dramatically and struggles.

We need Johansson producing like he was in Nov and Dec.  Without him playing to his potential our top 6 is not top 6 quality.  We need Mojo... not Nojo.

Sadly, the Hartman, Boldy, and Johansson seemed like the only thing going well for the Wild last night. I agree that Hartman cannot replace Eriksson Ek defensively, and I'm not a Johansson fan, but seems like strange notes when Johansson was a key factor in both goals the Wild did tally.

Nice shot by Yurov on the feed from Johansson too.

I only watched the NHL highlight package, and the Jets clearly had some nice offensive plays, but I cannot shake one question. What was Hughes doing simply watching the guy closest to him, who had just checked him while Hughes passed the puck out to the Jets player at the point, skate in front of Wallstedt to take multiple shots while Hughes simply watched and made no effort to impact what was happening in front of the net. That was the first of the 2 goals at the end of the first period.

I understand he is an offensive defenseman, but I would hope to see a little more application of his craft on the defensive end in situations like that. I'm used to seeing Spurgeon's efforts, and it's hard to live up to his standard, but some effort there would be a better look.

Edited 3 hours ago by Imyourhuckleberry

[MNCountryLife]

1 hour ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

and I'm not a Johansson fan, but seems like strange notes when Johansson was a key factor in both goals the Wild did tally.

I don't think Johnsson is playing bad... but I don't think he is playing as well as he was .. It feels like he has started to do more of his skating drills and is engaging in the corners less.  

[Imyourhuckleberry]

13 minutes ago, MNCountryLife said:

I don't think Johnsson is playing bad... but I don't think he is playing as well as he was .. It feels like he has started to do more of his skating drills and is engaging in the corners less.  

You won't get disagreement from me. I also think a lot of the team may have lost some attachment to the details they were playing with before the Hughes trade. They were very dialed in back then.

While unsustainably good, the Wild allowed just 1.85 goals per game in their 20 games from November 1st through December 13th. Hughes started playing with them on December 14th.

In the 16 games since December 14th, they have allowed 3.06 goals per game. If the Wild record a shutout in each of their next 4 games, they will have still allowed a dozen more goals in the 20 games with Hughes than they did in the 20 games before Hughes first played with them.

Mind you, I am not blaming that on Hughes specifically, just noting that even though they had an early uptick in goals scored to cover up things, they may have been losing the details all throughout the process of incorporating him.

Now that the new trade smell has faded, and it's just back to playing hockey, the whole team will need to get back to embracing the way they had played in November and early December.

The Wild have the 9th best points% in the NHL since December 14th, but the hockey they have been playing the last 2 weeks isn't anywhere close to good enough to win in the playoffs against the top 5 teams they would face, assuming they don't completely tank and get passed in the standings by Utah or someone else in the division.

The Wild are 2-3-3 since New Year's Eve, and missing two key defensive components in Brodin and JEE lately. Hopefully Eriksson Ek can return soon.