Tag: hockey

Wild hockey, or any hockey, for that matter. You can hear the passion for the sport in the voice of Kevin Gorg, a hockey analyst for Fox Sports North. He was a recent guest on the Minnesota Sports Weekly podcast, a voice we hadn’t heard in a while. Gorg wished he could be talking about the Wild under better circumstances.

“Unfortunately, the season is not going the way we want for the Minnesota Wild,” he admitted ruefully. “There is still time to get it turned around. Things were very promising from November through December of last year, but January has not been kind so far.”

Struggling in the new year

Minnesota was one of the highest-scoring teams in the National Hockey League from November through December when they didn’t lose a lot. What happened? First of all, Gorg said no one close to the team saw a stretch of hockey like that coming from a team built from the defensive zone on out.

“It’s not a case of the team not being able to score goals,” he said. “Those of us who cover the team thought if they were to make the playoffs, it would be with solid goaltending and good defense. The firepower up front doesn’t match up with some of the elite teams in the NHL. We thought they could defend, we’ve loved their blue line, and the goaltending’s been good for years.

“That’s what caught us by surprise,” he said. “They were outscoring teams. If you look at who the Minnesota Wild really is, that wasn’t a sustainable way of doing things. Now, goal-scoring has run dry and the team is having to play from behind, which makes things worse. You saw that the other night during a (7-2) loss at Pittsburgh.”

It’s difficult in the NHL, the highest level of professional hockey, to always be down a goal or two and playing from behind. Compounding that during the recent game at Pittsburgh was the fact that the Penguins were welcoming back their team captain and top goal scorer, Sidney Crosby. Could the timing have been any more unfortunate for the Wild?

“He’d been out for nine weeks,” Gorg said. I could almost see him shaking his head even though Gorg was on the phone. “For anyone that knows hockey, he’s a hero in that town. The crowd was amped up, the team was amped up, and Crosby got going. You thought there’d be a little rust there, but no, he put up four points in that game.”

Back to Basics

Teams that hit a losing skid tend to try to do too much to get off the slide. Players will try to overcompensate and their desire to play outside of their roles can make things even worse. Gorg, a lifelong hockey fan and one-time coach, talked about how the Wild get out of their current run of non-winning hockey.

“They just need to get back to basics,” he said right away. “They’re not going to outscore people. Maybe that run of high-scoring hockey late last year got in their heads a bit. They’ve got to be a lot more responsible in their defensive zone, a better back-checking team, they’ve got to take fewer penalties, and be much better on the penalty kill.”

Starting goaltender Devan Dubnyk has been carrying quite a load this year. He missed a month of the season because of his wife’s serious health problems and recently came back to take his place between the pipes. Gorg says the Wild’s top goalie is hanging in there through his family challenges.

“He’s got to be a rock back there, along with (backup goalie) Alex Stalock,” Gorg said. “If you look at the defensemen in front of them, this core is as good as any you’ll find in the NHL, especially when you talk about the top four. However, they haven’t played that way.  

“The forwards have to be better in the offensive zone,” he added. “This team has to win games 3-2, rather than 5-4. Score early and play good defense. We don’t have pure scorers like Crosby on the roster. We do have Zach Parise (16 goals, 28 points), who’s on pace for 30 goals, Jason Zucker (12 goals despite just coming back from a broken leg), who should score 25-30 goals, and a guy like Eric Staal (16 goals, 33 points), who’s on pace to score 25-30 goals.”

Young players

That core of young players is what will likely put the Wild into the playoffs if they can raise their level of play. Guys like Kevin Fiala, Jordan Greenway, Joel Eriksson Ek, and Ryan Donato all have to elevate their games. So far, it’s just been Fiala (9 goals, 17 assists) that’s taken that step, with Gorg calling him a potential “25-30-goal scorer.”

The guy many hockey fans are most curious (and maybe concerned) about is Jordan Greenway (5 goals, 11 assists). The one-time U.S. Olympian has been a bit of an enigma. Six-foot-six inches tall off his skates, the big left-winger can look like a freight train on skates, but many times simply disappears in long stretches.

“Last year was his first full season of professional hockey,” Gorg recalled. Between Iowa and the Wild, he played over 100 games last year. You’d think that foundation would have him set up for bigger and better things this year. We’ve seen the flashes. For a guy his size, he’s got really good hands and offensive instincts. He just can’t stretch it out four or five games. But, you don’t give up on a guy that size.”

Buyers or Sellers?

One interesting topic is the trade deadline, which is coming up on Feb. 24. Will the Wild be buyers or sellers? As of right now, it’s not looking like they’ll be buying under new General Manager Bill Guerin.

“Eight points out of a playoff spot in the standings, I think that’s still to be determined,” Gorg said. “I’m impressed with Guerin’s patience. That may be because he’s already got four Stanley Cups in his pocket, two coming as a player.”

Jesus Christ Changed A Hockey Life