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PALISADE HEAD… The travails of the Minnesota Wild are continuing to be a source of despair and desperation for many fans, scribes and those associated with the team. The club has been more up and down lately then an Embarrass MN thermometer. After playing a great game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday eve in a 3-1 win, the team traveled to the Big ‘D’ and dropped a 7-1 decision to the Dallas Northstars in a mainly lackluster performance. The team beat writer from one of the 2 big Metro area publications let them have it in his description of the game. And this from a fellow who is usually even handed and honest in his game descriptions without putting the hammer on any players or staff members even if they performed poorly. He had the hammer out in his gamer.

And the team had it coming. In the players defense they owned up to their performance. I heard no excuses from anyone. I guess after last nights tilt, and honestly, I have been wondering about this frequently in the recent past, what are the realties of the Wild as currently constructed? Can Head Coach Mike Yeo match wits and game plans with the big boys in the league or are his game schemes figured out now and opponents have adjusted to them? Can Wild players adjust to another level after an oppositions adjustment to theirs? About a half hour after the game last night I started reading fan blogs about the game, the players and coaches.

They were predictable, and most of them weren’t complimentary. Everyone in the organization was taking the heat. When I got up this morning and gave them another look, the volume had only increased and so did fan consternation about the teams fortunes. The fans weren’t on owner Craig Leipold, most are satisfied that he is willing to do what it takes to create a winner. The fans weren’t quite as kind to GM Chuck Fletcher, and a lot of them were all over coach Yeo. Opinions vary widely about certain players and in sports as in life, the team has it’s fan whipping boys and favorites. In my experience most of these posts are emotionally guided and aren’t necessarily objective.

But with the season getting to the point where you need to make a move if you are on the outside of the playoffs looking in, the Wilds win-lose stuttering isn’t moving them upward. In December the team had the following sequence; W-L-W-L-W-L-L-L-L-L-W-L. That’s 4-8 for the month and that’s a killer. In a division like the Central and in a conference as tough as the West, that will ruin you in a hurry. The team went 7-7 in November and is 1-1 so far in the new calendar year. The promise of a 6-3 October has went for nil. Perhaps the optimism leftover from last springs playoffs was overzealous compared to the realities of the club.

At 40 points after 37 games they are 5 points out of a wild card position, but hold 3 games in hand to the team in that spot, the Calgary Flames, who have been off of their early season win pace. However, there are two other teams between them and the Flames in Dallas and San Jose and both of those clubs are playing better then the Wild right now. Dallas is 8-1-1 in their L10 while San Jose is 6-3-1. The Wild are 3-4-3 in their L10. You might presume they still have a chance at the post season and they do, but every game they play that doesn’t close the gap makes the odds stronger that they won’t.

There is the obvious; the goaltending isn’t there this year. With Josh Harding incurring an injury before camp even started, the team was forced to go with either Niklas Backstrom or Darcy Kuemper. They have both been about average on their better days. Hards won the team a few games last season on nights the team didn’t deserve it. Earlier in the year the team had a strong, positive SOG differential. That wasn’t always converting to victories because the team wasn’t finishing on their chances. Their goal differential, which was also in the positive is now at a minus 2.

The team defense is 22nd in GAA at 2.81 per game and team offense is 13th at 2.73 per game. Injuries and illness have not allowed the club to build or go with a consistent lineup on most nights. The team PP is 23rd at 15.1% but the PK is still strong and comes in at 8th in the league with an 84.2% success rate. After 37 games the team has only 3 players with double digit goals, and there was more expected offensively from both veterans and some of the younger, 2nd year players. Coach Yeos offensive strategy of playing a 4th man into a rush or offensive scheme hasn’t yielded anything on a lot of nights and the real good teams can recognize and defense that without a lot of trouble most of the time. And the Wild aren’t the only team doing that either.

One star player lost his father right before the season and on some nights he doesn’t look like he has in the past. Another star player has a father fighting for his life and that can take a mental toll. These things can effect others around them too. The psyche of the team has been a question mark on many nights. And one thing that has concerned me the most is the toughness of this club. The one guy that brought that the most the last couple of seasons, Clayton Stoner, wasn’t re-signed, and the team lost him to the Ducks. Sure, I think they overpaid for him, but you better not underestimate for one second what that meant to the team. That allows other players to go about their game with a little less worry. Stones is one tough hombre.

A couple of guys have tried to fill that role, but their presence in the lineup is inconsistent and that has left some guys in this lineup unprotected. Speaking of protected, what is Yeo’s status with the club? The Dan Bylsma talk has been heating up in these parts recently and Disco Dan is ready to dance…. PEACE

MFAN EXTRA; Stuart Scott, RIP brother. You were as cool as the other side of the pillow…. OVER & OUT!

Marc Elliott is a sports opinion writer who splits time between his hometown in Illinois and Minnesota