Iowa's seamless integration ensures call-ups play like seasoned pros, not winging it. Injuries don't derail the Wild; their structured system keeps them winning.
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Minnesota Wild (20-9-5) aren’t surviving injuries by chance. They’re surviving them by design. It truly is incredible how many injuries have happened recently but it is also more impressive how many wins the Wild have been able to put together even with all the injuries.
Through another night of lineup shuffling in a 5-0 win over the Washington Capitals (18-11-4), Minnesota looked anything but disjointed.
No one looks out of place. In game 34 of the season for the Wild there were seven guys in the lineup that were not on the opening night roster.
Yet none of those seven look to be learning on the fly. They all fit in like a glove. That’s not luck, and it’s not coincidence. It’s structure. Credit to Iowa head coach Greg Cronin and the rest of the Wild's coaching staff for that.
“I think Greg’s done a good job in Iowa implementing how we want to play,” Wild head coach John Hynes said on Tuesday. “So when players come up and down, there is not a change of the tactical areas of the ice.”
That alignment between the Wild and their AHL affiliate has quietly become one of Minnesota’s biggest competitive advantages. When injuries hit, and they’ve hit hard recently, players aren’t guessing. They know how to play.
Despite ranking 31st out of 32 AHL teams, the Iowa Wild are doing a great job of preparing its players to fit in the Wild's NHL lineup when injuries happen.
“It’s the rules and the style of play from a structure standpoint,” Hynes said. “There is no set question what they need to be able to do.”
That clarity matters. Especially at this level.
Instead of being asked to fill a specific role or replicate a specific player, call-ups are asked to follow the same rules as everyone else. Stay on the right side of structure, and play connected hockey. The role part takes care of itself.
Yakov Trenin was the perfect example on Tuesday. With Marcus Johansson out with an injury, Trenin had to play on the second line. He was not asked to replace Johansson's scoring. He was asked to play the same structured game he has been playing all season.
Defenseman Matt Kiersted picked up a point against Washington and didn’t look out of place doing it. Ben Jones has played a steady, responsible game. Tyler Pitlick has handled his minutes without disrupting flow. Nicolas Aube-Kubel is playing in a top-nine role and doesn't look out of place either.
That’s the point.
“It’s not like it’s just the system,” Hynes said. “There’s usually — it’s a dynamic between the American League team and the NHL team.”
Hynes was quick to credit the call-ups themselves for more than just knowing where to stand. When players come up from Iowa, they bring a competitive edge with them and it has fit in perfectly.
“They’ve come up, and they’ve played hard,” Hynes said. “They’ve been responsible, they’ve been structurally sound. I think they brought some things to the team too, from a competitive standpoint.”
That statement was echoed inside the room.
“It’s easy,” Marcus Foligno said of the transitions. “The guys we’re putting in the lineup, they know their role and they do it really well. All great, hard-working skaters and just know how to play that defensive hockey where you gotta fight to live another day and not hurt the team.”
That wasn’t always the case.
Last season, injury stretches happened to the Wild and suddenly a 18-4-4 start turned into somehow scraping into the playoffs.
The injury stretches came with visible breakdowns. They came with missed assignments and just a team that looked like it was waiting for reinforcements rather than trusting what it had. This year, the Wild look prepared for the disruption.
“That’s again credit to them. I think it’s just the way we have to play. As a team right now, we’re on our game. We’re doing all the little things right and the guys that come up in the lineup they buy in right away and it’s easy for them," Foligno said. "It’s been a good group. We have a lot of leadership in this group now and adding Hughes he does a lot with just the poise and the way he escapes with his feet. So, you’re feeling pretty secure when you got a couple guys on the back end that know what they’re doing.”
The talent really hasn't changed between last year's AHL and NHL groups. But the commitment to the structure and expectations of how to play in the NHL has changed for the AHLers and their impact has helped so much.
“Yeah, give the guys credit. Kiersted had a point tonight and played great. Jiri [David Jiricek], all the guys, Pitter [Pitlick] and Jonesy and Kubey [Aube-Kubel], just guys that can come up and play that experienced game. All those guys have experience in this league, so it’s easy. It’s an easy transition for them to go up and down but these are tough times and you look back at them when you’re in the playoffs. It’s what gets you in.”
For the Wild, surviving this stretch isn’t about holding on until help arrives. It’s about proving that their foundation is strong enough to absorb pressure without cracking.
Nights like Sunday against Boston and Tuesday against Washington are perfect examples of just that. It’s the system working exactly as it was designed to and now the Wild are the third best team in the NHL with 45 points.
So as injuries continue to hit Minnesota, the Wild won't be waiting to get healthy. They will be proving their system is already strong enough to carry them.
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