When logic in coaching goes out the window

I don't mean to be overly harsh on Prosser. He has some value on the ice (citation needed). He does quickly get into position there, ahead of Benn, but therein lies the problem. Benn posts up in front of Devan Dubnyk, and Prosser just sort of stands there wondering what the hell he should do. Before long, it's too late.

Honestly though, it's not Prosser's fault he failed to even register a hit in his meager time on ice, or post any stat worth talking about besides maybe the 1 goal against on the PK. At the end of the day however, the fact that he was even played as the 7th defenseman is purely on coach Mike Yeo.

I get that the Wild are in salary cap hell at the moment. There were only 22 souls on the roster for the Dallas game. Well, 21 really. At this point are we even counting Backstrom anymore? Yet 1 of those, 1 extra spots was taken by a forward, who I don't know, could have played maybe? I promise you Bulmer would have had a lot more to offer the team than Prosser could muster up in his 2 minutes and change of PK time. Does Yeo really not trust his other 6 defenseman so much that he is going to play arguably his worst defenseman exclusively against the Western Conference's best power play unit?

I guess about the only logic in that is, if Prosser gains control of the puck long enough without getting drilled into the boards, he's good enough to ice the puck. What better time for him to shine in icing than on the PK?

Ultimately, it was at it's bare minimum a poor coaching decision on Yeo's part. He's starting to slip into some old habits, where Prosser gets a pass for under-achieving, and Suter's minutes are starting to sky rocket. Something I haven't noticed so much in the last week or so is Suter's mobility. It was just a few short weeks ago I was dazzled by some speed he showed on the ice, and we were seeing the benefits of rolling 3 healthy defensive lines. Did it cost us the game in Dallas? Who really knows for sure. It's always been tough for the Wild to go into that city and come out with 2 points. The fact that they pulled 1 point is a nice little bonus.