Wilderness Walk: Can We Blame This On Injuries?

Quote

• Charlie McAvoy has been suspended four games for his hit to Oliver Ekman-Larsson's head. It was a nasty one. [Yahoo Sports]

McAvoy - 4 games

Anderssen - 4 games

Is the wheel broken, or is DOPeS trying to be consistent this year?  Maybe it's too soon to tell, but these suspensions seem oddly consistent given DOPeS history of picking a random number out of a hat after drunkenly watching a few minutes of a hockey game.

One key injury can probably be excused.  The Wild managed pretty well in Kaprizov's absence last year.  However 4-5 injuries at the same time?  At some point, that has to be understood as a problem.  It plays a role, no matter what else is going on.  Don't handwave bad play, but don't discount what just Spurgeon does for everyone else on defense.  We've seen what they've been missing.

On 11/1/2023 at 10:17 AM, Citizen Strife said:

One key injury can probably be excused.  The Wild managed pretty well in Kaprizov's absence last year.  However 4-5 injuries at the same time?  At some point, that has to be understood as a problem.  It plays a role, no matter what else is going on.  Don't handwave bad play, but don't discount what just Spurgeon does for everyone else on defense.  We've seen what they've been missing.

On this topic, this is where the Wild get handcuffed a bit with the cap penalties. I still maintain the belief that you can certainly stack a competitive team with the penalties, even a cup winning team, you just have to find it in unproven talent and promoting young players who are a tremendous value.

However, injuries are a different animal, and this is where the thinness of the organization hits. You simply cannot stock enough depth. You'd then be depending on young players who are not your best to come in and fill holes before their time. This recipe is very risky, and rarely works. 

It would have been nice had Sammy Walker stepped in and provided offense. Lettieri did play well for a couple of games. But no one could expect a Calen Addison or Daemon Hunt to step into Spurgeon's shoes. You find a guy like that, and he never gets sent down again.

I believe Sammy will be better for it. He's got some holes he needs to shore up and he never really got a chance to use his speed. For Hunt, the debut is over, and I'm sure he took back valuable information for himself and his baby Wild teammates of just how good the next league jump is. My hope is he puts on 10 lbs. of muscle and becomes a beast back there.  My other hope is that the rest of the defender room takes up his lead and does the same. Masters, Spacek, Lambos, O'Rourke all need that, and they can do it together!