By Tony Abbott -
What's different about this Minnesota Wild team than the ones of years past? A cynic might say nothing. The Wild are still a team that can't compete with the elite squads of the NHL, at least until their youth movement fully blooms. But if you're an optimist or Bill Guerin, you might point to the team's culture as entirely distinct from years past.
Under the leadership triumvirate of Mikko Koivu, Zach Parise, and Ryan Suter, the Wild's idea of a good time was wearing matching, plain-looking polo shirts to playoff games. Not Weird, Wild. By contrast, the Wild aren't even in the playoffs but still appear to generally be having fun with each other. This sense of fun extends even to players who've left the team, as in the ongoing "feud" between now-Colorado Avalanche Brandon Duhaime and Marc-Andre Fleury.
Some would undoubtedly prefer the Wild to live in monk-like silence, having the disappointment of a lost season dominate a somber locker room. But Guerin emphasizes Minnesota's culture, and a team sticking together at a time when the dynamics could fall apart seems like a genuinely good thing.
While Guerin's front office targets players who fill on-ice needs for the team, they also pay special attention to what they bring off the ice. They brought Ryan Reaves in for his role as a grinder in the 2022-23 season, but also because "He's always full of energy. He's a big personality," according to Guerin. They brought Pat Maroon in for his "intangibles." If the team extends Fleury, it'll be as much for how beloved he is in Minnesota's locker room as it is for his play.
After good vibes seemed to propel Minnesota to consecutive 100-point seasons, Guerin sought to keep that chemistry going by extending veterans like Marcus Foligno, Mats Zuccarello, Ryan Hartman, and Freddy Gaudreau. Foligno is an alternate captain, Zuccarello is a wizened sage with 14 seasons of NHL experience, and the slightly goofy locker room that rallies around each other appears to be intact.
But if we've learned something over the past seven months, it might be that vibes aren't enough. At least, they aren't the foundation this team needs to build upon. On March 16, the Wild entered a big game against the St. Louis Blues and sat three points out of a playoff spot. They fell in the shootout that night, finding themselves four points back of the Los Angeles Kings with a head-to-head game coming soon.
They fell to the Kings in embarrassing fashion, 6-0. From March 16 until their April 9 elimination, the once-resilient Wild went 4-5-2.
What failed Minnesota? Based on coach John Hynes's comments after the following game, another embarrassing loss (this time 7-3 against Vegas), he didn't exactly chalk up their shortcomings to youth and inexperience. "I'm looking at the veterans," Hynes pointedly said. "Where were we tonight?"
Uh-oh.
"All of the things we're talking about was the mental readiness to play and the commitment to do the right things and we didn't have it tonight," outlined Hynes. "I thought a couple of those younger guys did, but I think there's gonna be some things addressed."
Foligno has been out with injury since March 23, which exempts him from this criticism. But you stock a locker room with players like the Zuccarello, Hartman, Marcus Johansson, and Zach Bogosian of the world for that reason. Those veterans are supposed to know and communicate what it takes to win in the NHL. They're supposed to make sure the team is mentally prepared to play. If their coach calls them out for not doing that important job, even before some of their extensions kick in, isn't that a problem?
There's no playoff slogan for teams that go home early, but if there was, Where Were They? wouldn't be a bad one.
Where was Zuccarello? In the critical home stretch from March 16 to April 9, he had zero goals and eight assists. Eight of the 23 points (3 goals, 20 assists) he posted since the All-Star Break came in four-point game outbursts. He registered a point in only 13 of 28 games past the All-Star Break.
Where was Hartman? He had two goals and four points in eight games between March 16 and April 9. He also missed three games by getting suspended for (with the most generous reading) carelessly throwing his stick in the direction of the referees. Minnesota eeked out a win against the Ottawa Senators but lost two crucial games to the Avalanche and Winnipeg Jets with Hartman out of commission.
Where was Johansson? From the All-Star Break to April 9, he averaged 15 minutes and 33 seconds over 25 games. How do you do that in crunch time and only have two goals and four points to show for it?
Minnesota's been unfortunate not to have many alternatives when their veterans disappeared. Prospects like Marat Khusnutdinov and Liam Öhgren could only join the NHL recently after their seasons ended overseas. But next year, that's not an issue, and it's not hard to read between the lines in Hynes' interview with The Athletic on Monday.
"I think that there's certainly some things from the player standpoint that need to be communicated and followed through this summer," Hynes told Michael Russo. "Whether it's fitness, attitude, whatever, some guys need that talk." When Russo asked about players who "have been given top-six jobs almost by default," Hynes hinted, "I will tell certain players that things have to be earned and much more competitive."
If that means that Khusnutdinov, Öhgren, and perhaps even Danila Yurov can make a push in next year's training camp to supplant some of these veterans, that will be a welcome sight to Wild fans. But if those veterans are the ones Guerin extended for what they bring off the ice and on, where does that leave Minnesota going forward?
Guerin defended those extensions as recently as March 6, saying, "You're either gonna go with guys you know, or you're gonna go out and spend a lot of money on people you don't know. That's scarier to me."
The unknown is indeed scary, and it's generally good to bring in well-liked players who fit well in a locker room. There is nothing wrong with targeting good character, either through the draft or with trades and free-agent signings. But knowing that the vibe-heavy veterans failed Minnesota when they were supposed to uplift them, compounded by the knowledge that they're married to many of them for the next two to four years, is frightening in itself.
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