By Luke Sims -
Every Jan. 1, people make resolutions to fix bad habits or start new things. Whether it’s sticking with a new diet or beginning a workout routine, many set a new goal for the new year. This Jan. 1 should be no different for the Minnesota Wild and their players.
For the Wild, only one thing comes to mind when you think of a New Year's resolution for this bunch. Say it with me:
“I pledge to fix the penalty kill.”
The penalty kill has been a lingering problem for Minnesota. You could have made the same New Year's resolution for the team last season and the year before. Regardless of whether John Hynes or Dean Evason was behind the bench, the penalty kill has been a sore spot under both bench bosses.
Minnesota kills off the penalty 69.4% of the time. That would be a D in school and a failing grade at most universities nationwide. If the Wild were enrolled in PK 101, they’d have to take it again next semester.
The only two teams worse than the Wild on the penalty kill are the New York Islanders, whose leading scorer, Anders Lee, has as many points as Kirill Kaprizov has assists (27). The other team is the Detroit Red Wings, who just fired their coach. That’s not good company.
The only saving grace for the Wild has been that they have been one of the least penalized teams in the NHL, sitting at 24th in penalty minutes on the year. They have played disciplined hockey, which works in the abstract – you can’t get scored on during the penalty kill if you don't take penalties.
The world is not crashing down on the Wild. On Jan. 1, Minnesota will still be sitting in a playoff spot, with a 56.4% chance of making the playoffs and a 108-point pace. They have two superstars in Kaprizov and Brock Faber, and Filip Gustavsson has had a bounce-back season.
Minnesota has faced some injuries and setbacks recently. As a result, they have lost 6 of their last eight games while failing to kill penalties. The Wild were getting scored on early and often in the penalty kill. The opposition scored less than 10 seconds into the man advantage on multiple occasions.
I’m no expert on how to fix a penalty kill. I understand that when something is broken, it may take multiple tries to fix it. But calling up an NHL journeyman in Brendan Gaunce to try and save your struggling penalty kill is unlikely to solve it. Guys like Matt Boldy and Ryan Hartman have seen little to no time on the penalty kill, and they would likely be more effective than AHL call-ups.
The injuries to Gustavsson, Joel Eriksson Ek, Jonas Brodin, Yakov Trenin, Jakub Lauko (twice), and Jacob Middleton have meaningfully hurt the team. When you don’t have the guys you count on to kill penalties available, it makes being consistently good at it much more of a challenge. For crying out loud, Zach Bogosian has played the second most minutes of any player on the Wild not named Faber on the PK. That’s ridiculous.
Fixing the penalty kill won’t be easy, and it’s not an overnight fix. Still, this New Year’s, the Wild must make their New Year’s resolution about fixing the penalty kill. It starts with getting healthy; the little holiday break should have helped.
Say it with me one more time:
“I pledge to fix the penalty kill.”
Happy New Year, Wild fans!
All stats and data via HockeyDB, Evolving Hockey, MoneyPuck.com, and Natural Stat Trick, unless otherwise noted.
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