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Oiler Connor McDavid scores versus the Wild in a 4-3 win.

GRAND PORTAGE – On Sunday, Nov. 26, the Minnesota Wild played a solo road game out in the Motor City against the up-and-coming Detroit Red Wings. They dropped this tilt to the Wings in a basic 4-1 paint brushing.

If you were to examine the boxscore postgame, there is little that would stand out to you as to why the Wild dropped this tilt. The only two basic stats that did were that the Wild outshot the Wings (38-23) and blocked more shots than Detroit. (21-13)

Otherwise the "box" was as nondescript as you'll ever find in this league.  

But the mood in the Wild room was that of dejection and dead silence. It was only their second game since returning from Sweden and playing in the NHL Global Series. (2 losses) They traveled home on Monday the 20th and did not play until Friday the 24th when they dropped a home game to the Colorado Avalanche by a 3-2 final. They traveled out after practicing the next day and it was going to be a short trip. One game out and back.  

I recall before the game I had an indifferent feeling as to how it would go. This club is not the "dead Wings" any longer. They have some talent and are trending upward. No matter, the Wild's recent past against the Wings hasn't been stellar. The actual record is 6-4-1 for the Wild in the previous eleven tilts since the 17-18 season. But considering how low in the standings the Wings were at that time you'd believe the Wild would have had a stronger showing against them. They didn't. And now the Wings are getting better while the Wild are treading water while they are in salary cap hades.  

To add insult to injury regarding all kinds of hockey minutiae, the Wings went out and signed star Free Agent Patrick Kane who was ready to return after a major offseason surgical hip repair. The Wild were likely never on Kane's short list of teams he would like to sign with due to a multitude of reasons. Reason one is that the Wings are an up-and-coming team with a bright future ahead. The Wild? Let's say there is substantial uncertainty about that right now and it's more than clouded by the team's cap woes.  

And to add in some observations about the Sweden games and the two tilts afterward, the team played hard. I liked their effort. They just weren't getting any favorable results. So on this Sunday hockey afternoon, the team was silenced, the coaches did little more than the obligatory press after the game, and the team management was noticeably quiet. The team record was at 5-10-4. That hardly matched up with the preseason hype some of the sports media had sent the team's way. I had to think about that one more time. After 19 tilts the boys had won only 5 of them. Not only that, but their goal differential stood at -20.         

When I got up on Monday I didn't dig right into my daily reading like I normally do. But by the time I did the first thing I came across was that GM Bill Guerin had dismissed Head Coach Dean Evason and assistant Bob Woods. It was also announced that former Devils and Predators coach John Hynes was coming in to take over.  

I have been familiar with Hynes over the years. He is a longtime hockey guy who is well-known and well-thought-of throughout the business. The basic "skinny" on him isn't that different from Deano. Both guys are solid regular-season coaches who have had any major postseason success elude them. Hynes did have some playoff success (33-31) at the AHL level with the Wilkes-Barre Penguins, making it to the Conference Finals twice.    

Guerin had to do something. The first thing was to stop the bleeding the club was going through. The next move, bringing in an old friend with Eastern ties was almost predictable. Bill seems to like to have a certain comfort level around him. After that, it was also predictable that this move would give the team a boost. How long it would last was unknown. The team would win Hyne's first four games behind the bench. That isn't an easy thing to do, but I would caution that as of right now, the combined records of those four teams is 35-45.  

Then the reality of competitive life in the NHL came calling. I told my son William before the team took on the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night that with this game and then going back-to-back against the Edmonton Oilers tonight that we would find out quickly if the team's improvement was for real or not. The Canucks began the season en fuego, have settled down a bit, but are still formidable. The Oilers had an abominable start to the campaign, fired their coach, and then dug in and have been tough since. Unlike the Wild, their special team's play is at beast level.  

Vancouver is currently at 17-10. The Oilers are a meager 11-13 but are 7-3 in their L10, and 8-3 since they changed coaches. After the four-game win streak it looked like the Wild could keep pushing their way into a playoff position. But after losing 2-0 to Vancouver, and then dropping tonight's tilt in Edmonton 4-3, without gaining any points, my optimism is being reconsidered. On top of it all, the Wild's steadiest defenseman, Jonas "Jimmy" Brodin, was injured on a dirty check from behind by the Oilers menace Evander Kane, and his immediate playing future is unknown tonight.  

Kane didn't even get penalized for the hit but it is popular opinion that a fine or suspension is on the way for him. Immediately afterward the Wild's Ryan Hartman took a shot at Kane who went down like he was hit by George Foreman. And of course, in true Wild fashion Hartman was penalized and the Oilers scored on the ensuing power play to make it 4-3 in the 3rd frame and that would be the GWG. Am I surprised? Not in the least.  

Where does the team go from here? We need to know Brodin's status before issuing any opinion on that. The club will conclude this western road trip on Sunday night in Seattle versus the Kraken. As for Seattle, their first two seasons of existence were stronger than most analysts thought they would be, but in my view they seem to have taken a minor step backward this season. (8-19) Can the Wild rebound and earn a split on this roadie?  

Hynes hasn't made any major changes yet but he has made some tweaks in special team's play. It has made a slight difference so far, but they are still trying to level their horrid numbers pre-coaching change. For instance, tonight was the first power play tally they allowed since the changeover. (14 of 15 kills) On the other hand they still take the sixth most PIMs in the league.      

This isn't a deep microscopic dig into the data, and it is a small sample size of what might lie ahead. Can this team challenge for a playoff ticket? The jury is still out. PEACE