ST. PAUL — Minnesota Wild president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Guerin made two things crystal clear during his midseason press conference with reporters on Monday night: he still believes in his team and expects them to push for a playoff spot despite their disappointing first half of the season.
“If you look at our roster like when we are healthy,” Guerin said, “I think it’s a good team. I want to keep the expectations high. … I expect us to compete for a playoff spot.”
Less than three hours after Guerin stood at the podium fielding questions about his struggling team, the Wild earned a dominant 5-0 victory over the New York Islanders, and Marc-Andre Fleury passed Patrick Roy for sole possession of second place all-time in regular-season wins.
A celebration ensued as Fleury’s teammates all surrounded him on the ice and fans cheered and chanted “Fleury!” The vibes were suddenly different than they’ve been over the past two-plus weeks with it being the Wild's first home win since Dec. 27 after losing six straight games at Xcel Energy Center.
The Wild, who entered the game with losses in eight of their past nine contests, also snapped their four-game losing streak. The Wild hope their dominant victory Monday is a prelude to a second-half turnaround, but there's a lot that needs to happen before that takes place.
The Wild went 1-7-1 between Dec. 30 and Jan. 13 after starting 11-3 under coach John Hynes. As a result, they currently sit 27th in the league with a 18-20-5 record. The Wild were outscored 38-15 (24-8 at five-on-five) during this nine-game stretch. Their special teams didn't help matters, either, with their power play (18.5%) and penalty kill (72%) ranking 18th and 24th, respectively.
During this nine-game span, the Wild went 0-5 against Central Division teams. They were outclassed in home-and-homes against the Winnipeg Jets and Dallas Stars, and they had a no-show performance in their shutout loss to the Arizona Coyotes on Sunday, who are directly above them in the standings.
“If we’re going to make the playoffs, we need to be a lot better than we’ve been,” Guerin said. “Our core guys, our big players, have to be better and produce at more key times. Our special teams have to be better, and our role players have to contribute more than they have. I believe that they can. I believe that they will, or I’m hoping that they will.
“I still believe in this group, and I know people are going to say I’m crazy, but I do. I think we’ve shown that when we are healthy and when we are doing what we’re supposed to be doing, we’re a good team. So we’re going to have to really put our minds to it and try to get it done.”
Despite this brutal stretch that has had serious playoff implications with their postseason odds down to 6.6 percent, according to MoneyPuck.com, Guerin's belief in his team is unwavering.
“There’s a lot of hockey to be played,” Guerin said. “So we’re definitely not ready to wave the white flag or anything like that. We just want to get healthy and move forward and see what we can do.”
Guerin's right. There's still about half a season left to be played, and the Wild's win Monday moved them to within six and eight points of the Edmonton Oilers and Nashville Predators, respectively, in the two wild-card spots in the West. The Wild have a game in hand on the Predators, but they’ve played three more games than the Oilers.
A fifth consecutive playoff appearance under Guerin isn’t out of reach by any means, but this will be a daunting uphill battle for the Wild after a disappointing first-half of the season that has put them in an unfavorable position.
Their strength of schedule is on their side, though, and they’re fully healthy with the exception of Jared Spurgeon, who the team placed on long-term injured reserve on Monday.
The Wild have been one of the league's most significantly injured teams this season. As of Jan. 12, the Wild's 2.62 lost wins above replacement from the injuries is the fourth-highest league-wide. The Wild have been injured all season and almost every single one of their top players has missed time at some point — but their injury report during this nine-game setback was especially costly.
During this nine-game stretch, they were without their top two defensemen in Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin (who had been out since getting injured in Edmonton on Dec. 8) for six and all nine of the games, respectively. Their top forward in Kirill Kaprizov and No. 1 goalie in Filip Gustavsson were out for eight of the nine games, and Marcus Foligno and Mats Zuccarello were out for three and four of the games, respectively.
“You can only control what you can control,” Guerin said, “and when we controlled the way we were playing, it was good. We can’t control injuries. Injuries happen. … There are some positive things going on, and we do have a lot of hockey to be played, but we don’t have time to waste. We don’t have games to waste. We don't have time to waste. That’s the reality of it.”
That’s also true. The Wild have entered urgent territory, and this six-game stretch before the all-star break is crucial before they have 10 days off from Jan. 28 to Feb. 6. The positive is they haven’t been this healthy in a long time.
“I like our team; I like our players. I think they have to be given a chance to perform again as a healthy group,” Guerin said, “and then we’ll address the (trade) deadline when we get there.”