Remember when the Minnesota Wild last looked like a contender?

Honestly, this team hasn’t brought me real comfort since Jan. 4 vs the Carolina Hurricanes, whom they happen to host Friday night. I happened to be in Raleigh a month ago to witness the Wild dominate a Canes team that, at the time, had the highest shooting volume of any team in the league.

The Minnesota Wild sucked the life right out of the Canes that night with damn good defense and possession hockey. They won 4-0 despite Kirill “The Thrill”, Captain Spurgeon and Jake Middleton all being out.

🤩 ROSSI SCHREIBT GESCHICHTE 🤩

Marco Rossi bereitet beim 4:0 seiner Minnesota Wild gegen die Carolina Hurricanes alle Treffer seines Teams vor – als erstem Österreicher gelingen ihm vier Assists in einem Spiel! 🥰#mnwild | @mnwild | @marcorossi2383 | #Rossi pic.twitter.com/4UjIJvkgES

— NHL Deutsch (@NHLde) January 5, 2025

Minnesota allowed just 21 shots despite losing more than 60 percent of the faceoffs and committing five penalties. I attended the game that night with my cousin, a Canes fan. I tried to soothe his pain by alerting him, “hey, you won another faceoff” over and over. It likely had the opposite effect.

Even when the Hurricanes had it they couldn’t get it on goal. They had 20 shots. The Minnesota Wild blocked 17 shots and played their high-quality chances perfectly. Mats Zuccarello told Rossi to “stop taking all the glory” and pass the puck. He had four assists. He was a goddamn genius with the puck on a string.

Jon Merrill not happy with Wild head coach John Hynes

Tonight, Rossi is back on the MN Wild top line with the hope it sparks some offense to comfort coach John Hynes. But that’s not the only move he made at skate-around today. John Hynes scratched Jon Merrill, and Merrill didn’t take it very well.

In fact, he was pissed. Good. He should be pissed. I want a guy willing to rip into his coach when he’s benched. But I’d prefer I guy I don’t have to bench. “This is the most I’ve ever seen a player state his case,” Michael Russo (The Athletic) said of Merrill’s tantrum.

Paul Allen (KFAN) was there to provide play-by-play, but his color commentary was actually better and more on-point. Jon Merrill hasn’t built up enough stock to be going at his head coach like this.

Russo: “Oh, This is interesting. [John] Hynes and [Jon] Merrill are having a pretty animated conversation here.”

PA: “We have Hynes and Merrill off to the side. Everybody else is going through the morning state.”

Russo: “Yeah, you can tell Merrill is not happy.”

PA: “Merrill and John Hines are by the between the red line and the blue line and having an animated conversation about something and Heinzy just spoke up a little bit. Now Merrill’s like stating his case about something. Yeah, take us through what’s happening right now, Russo?”

Russo: “Well, as I I tweeted about five minutes ago, Meryl’s not playing tonight, just watching the defense pairings…Merril is clearly not happy. This is the most I’ve ever seen a player at state his case.”

PA: “You see Hynes tap his chest, like ‘that’s my call, that’s my call’. Whoa, this is unbelievable.”

Russo: “Yeah, he’s ticked. This is crazy.”

PA: “In that spot, with Brods [Brodin] having just returned, this, for Jon Merrill, with all due respect, it might need to be ‘yes, Hynsey. Yes, Heinsey. Three bags full. Yes, Heinsey.”

KFAN Radio – iHeartMedia

Merrill needs to just take his medicine there and bring the energy whenever he’s next on the ice, “which could be March,” Allen added. Thankfully, the Minnesota Wild play just six games this month. They probably only need to win two of them to avoid being sellers at the deadline, but I’d be taking offers on Merrill anyway. He’s an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. Problem is nobody likely wants him.

The real reason why Jon Merrill should be pissed…

Jon Merrill’s cumulative game score this season is 0.47. That’s worst amongst Minnesota Wild defenseman, and it’s been on the decline from 2.025 on Dec. 15. That was the last time he had a primary assist. Declan Chisholm has simply been better. He and Jake Middleton lead Wild defenseman with five primary assists. The Wild need to score. They haven’t scored this month.

Related: Minnesota Wild Claim Ryan Hartman’s Buddy Off Waivers

The Minnesota Wild are falling apart physically. The last thing they need is to show everyone how much they’re falling apart mentally. Carolina’s gonna come into Xcel Energy Center looking for retribution. They’ve all probably rewatched that piss poor performance they put on in Raleigh. Let’s see what you’re made of, Minnesota Wild. Oh wait, you’re already showing us.

This past offseason, the Columbus Blue Jackets brought in former Wild coach Dean Evason, and it’s turning out to be a win-win for both. The Blue Jackets and the Wild are having strong seasons, showing that the move has worked out well for Evason and John Hynes.

Minnesota Wild HC John Hynes and Columbus Blue Jackets HC Dean Evason battling for COTY

The Minnesota Wild have an impressive 27-14-4 record, ranking among the league’s best. On the other hand, the Columbus Blue Jackets are 22-17-6, already outperforming the low expectations many had for them at the start of the season.

As the NHL season crosses the halfway mark, oddsmakers now have both John Hynes and Dean Evason ranked among the top three favorites for Coach of the Year.

Jack Adams Odds (Coach of The Year)

• Spencer Carbury -450
• John Hynes +800
• Dean Evason +800

DraftKings

Related: Minnesota Wild Finally Release Good News on Injured Stars

The clear frontrunner for the award right now is Spencer Carbery. He’s leading the Washington Capitals, who are absolutely dominating with 65 points, the most in the entire league. Their record of 30-10-5 is seriously impressive.

The two names following him are pretty intriguing, John Hynes, now leading the Wild, and former Wild head coach Dean Evason, who coached the team from 2019 to 2023 and is currently at the helm of the Blue Jackets. So far, it’s shaping up to be a both sides win situation for both the Wild and Evason.

The Columbus Blue Jackets have won 6 straight and are sitting in a playoff spot. What an incredible story they've been this season. Team shows up to work.

1st in goals scored off turnovers (within 10s) – 68.
T-1st in goals off turnovers (within 5s) – 27. pic.twitter.com/SPkGmH44do

— Mike Kelly (@MikeKellyNHL) January 17, 2025

Before the season even started, sportsbooks set the Blue Jackets’ over/under for points at 67.5. Fast forward 45 games, and they’ve already hit 50 points, well ahead of schedule. The Wild, on the other hand, had their point total set at 93.5, and with 58 points through 45 games, they’re also ahead of pace.

It’s going to be fascinating to watch how the rest of the season unfolds. There’s still a lot of hockey left to play, but imagine how incredible it would be if it all came down to Evason and Hynes. Only time will tell.

Related: Minnesota Wild Depth Chart, Projected Lines and Current Salary Cap Space (2024-25)

So much so that he was willing to give up the extra period point entirely, as the overtime minutes started ticking away. With 1:50 left in OT, and the two teams at even strength (3v3), Hynes did something that the TNT broadcasters and analysts all said they have never seen in their (life)time of watching and playing the game of hockey.

John Hynes pulls Minnesota Wild goalie in OT at full strength

He pulled Marc-Andre Fleury out of net to give the Minnesota Wild a 4-3 advantage. Before the announcers or anyone else watching could wrap their minds around what was happening… Hynes’ astounding move worked. Kaprizov to Zuccarello to Boldy for the one-timer.

MINNESOTA PULLED THE GOALIE IN 3-on-3 OT AND WON THE GAME 🤯 pic.twitter.com/06zLovXLwr

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) March 10, 2024

Not only was the move shocking to everybody watching like me, who did not know some of the finer details to the NHL overtime rules. For those who have great hockey minds, their minds were completely blown when they saw MAF skate to the bench.

Related: Wild Land Intriguing Scoring Prospect Luke Toporowski in Pat Maroon Trade

Had the Wild given up the empty net goal, not only would the Wild have lost their chance at two points during the proceeding shootout, but NHL overtime rules state that pulling your goalie while at even strength in OT means that you relinquish the point you gained once the game went to OT. That’s right, once Fleury skated off the ice, it was all or nothing for the Wild.

What we just saw is not something that has happened too often in NHL history. If you pull your goalie for an extra attacker in overtime and get scored on, you lose the point https://t.co/yJaL2N7cbi

— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) March 10, 2024

So, thanks to an incredibly ballsy move by new head coach John Hynes, the Wild stopped the surging Nashville Predators, who now sit nine points ahead of the Wild in the 1st Western Conference wildcard spot. The Vegas Golden Knights hold the final playoff spot in the West, six points ahead of Minnesota.

Related: Bally Sports North May Stream Timberwolves, Twins and Wild on Amazon Prime

Closed Door, Players-Only Meeting Time

So after an embarrassing 6-0 blowout loss vs the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday night, Wild players closed the locker room doors to media and coaches for what we believe is the first time since John Hynes took over as head coach. It most definitely is not the first time this season, though.

Hynes said this was a players only meeting. https://t.co/WmRXFOALIC

— Jessi Pierce (@jessi_pierce) January 14, 2024

#mnwild room still closed. Feels like a players-only meeting kind of night.

— Joe Smith (@JoeSmithNHL) January 14, 2024

The Wild have now lost eight of their last nine games and, after John Hynes got off to an 11-3 start when he took over as head coach, Minnesota’s season is back on the ropes. Kirill Kaprizov’s return couldn’t ignite any fires and Filip Gustavsson gave up 5 goals on 18 shots in his return between the pipes, before he was relieved by Fleury in the 2nd period.

After the game, John Hynes told media, “It was great to have [Kaprizov and Gustavsson] back in the lineup but our team performance wasn’t close to where it needed to be”, which may be the understatement of the season.

Are the Minnesota Wild as good as dead?

As of today, the Minnesota Wild (39 points) sit in 7th place in the Central Division and 13th (of 16) in the Western Conference. Last night’s loss vs Arizona dropped them 5 points behind the 12th place Coyotes, too. [Insert ‘Not great, Bob!’ GIF here].

Related: Wild Rookie Brock Faber Wants All the Minutes and No Credit

But there is some positive news, to close. A lot of teams get into the NHL playoffs, these days. So even after dropping four-straight games (and eight of their last nine), the Wild are only back 8 points in the race for the West’s final wildcard spot, which is currently held by Edmonton (47 points).

So if the Wild can “get their game in order”, as Hynes put it, the season is still salvageable. But if you’ve watched this team perform recently, it’s hard to see that ‘if’ turning into reality. But who knows, maybe a few more players-only closed door meetings can get them there.

Dean Evason blames Minnesota Wild goalies for getting him fired

In last night’s loss, goaltending was far from the Wild’s biggest problem. But don’t tell that to Dean Evason, who told Darren Wolfson (KSTP, SKOR North) that Minnesota’s poor goaltending while he was head coach is ultimately what got him fired.

“[Dean Evason] doesn’t feel like he lost the locker room. He felt like he pushed literally every button. He screamed, he coddled, he switched lines. Bottom line, his goalies let him down. And that was one thing that maybe came up more so off-camera than on. He just told me, ‘you do the homework on this but look at the goals we have given up, then look at those shot opportunities…”

Darren Wolfson – Mackey & Judd Show (SKOR North)

The on-camera portion of Evason’s interview with Wolfson can be watched HERE and listened to HERE. In the sitdown, Dean shows a side of himself that we never really got to see while he was head coach of the Wild. Definitely worth watching/listening to.

Related: Wild in Advanced Talks with Tim Walz, Others on Major Renovations for Xcel Energy Center

And before we jump to conclusions and label Dean Evason as a sour ex-coach looking to point fingers at anyone but himself… let’s see if he is right. Did the Wild’s goaltending cost Deano his job? Ding, ding, ding… yes, it did.

Former head coach isn’t wrong about Wild goaltending…

In fact, goalie play has been the Wild’s most improved area since Hynes took over as head coach. The Athletic moved Minnesota up four spots in their weekly power rankings (#25 up to #21) and pointed to the play of Filip Gustavsson and Marc-Andre Fleury as the catalyst for improved play under Hynes.

A lot went right in Minnesota’s four-game winning streak to start the John Hynes era, as detailed in this from Joe Smith, but nothing looms larger than that .955 save percentage. Filip Gustavsson and Marc-Andre Fleury had been two of the NHL’s worst goaltenders, basically until Dean Evason was shown the door. Improved play from both, regardless of the reason, will go a long way.

The Athletic NHL Power Rankings

There are advanced analytics worth studying all over the game of hockey and that’s no different for goaltending. There’s Expected goals against and save % vs high danger scoring chances vs not… etc, etc, etc. But you don’t need advanced data to see that Evason is spot on with his assessment of the Wild’s goaltending while he was at the helm.

Filip Gustavsson, Marc-Andre Fleury good since John Hynes took over

Overall, Wild goalies are 4-1-0 since John Hynes took over as head coach. I’m not sure where The Athletic got that .955 save % from. Hockey Reference has Minnesota saving 120 of 127 shots, since Hynes took over, good for .945 save %. That’s still pretty damn good. The best team save % in the NHL this season is Boston’s .922.

Related: Twins and Bally Sports North are Done; Wolves and Wild are Next

Under Evason, goaltending was a completely different story. The kind of story you don’t read before bedtime. With Dean behind the bench Minnesota went 5-10-4 with a save % of .869. That’s dangerously close to the Carolina Hurricanes’ league worst .868 on the season.

Filip Gustavsson has started four of the Wild’s first five games under their new head coach. His combined save % in those four contests: .939. In 11 appearances this season under Evason: .881.

Marc-Andre Fleury will make his second start for John Hynes on Friday night. He allowed one goal on 29 attempts (.966) in his first appearance. Under Evason, Fleury was abysmal, posting a .875 cumulative save % in nine appearances.

If I’m Dean Evason, I’m not sure I go as far as telling the town’s scoop master that it was my goalies who cost me my job… but that doesn’t mean he was wrong. And… at the end of the day, you have to respect a guy who tells it like it is.

Hynes is known for his professionalism off the ice and a grinding, defense-first style on it. Most expect the Wild’s horrid penalty kill and extensive defensive issues to improve under their new head coach.

Related: Ryan Hartman Suspended Two Games for Slew Foot on Alex DeBrincat

But Bill Guerin rarely touched on execution issues, when introducing John Hynes in a press conference on Tuesday, and Billy made it known that this team doesn’t have a buy-in problem.

Minnesota Wild have a confidence problem

What they do have, according to their president of hockey operations, is a confidence problem. Guerin made it clear that there’s some high-end talent on the roster struggling with self-confidence on the ice and he went back to that well multiple times during his 30-minute presser this morning.

Reporter: “What needs fixing, first and foremost?”

Guerin: “First and foremost is confidence. I think the guys, as a team and as individuals, we need to help them get their confidence back. [Get them] confident in their individual abilities, confident to make plays, especially under duress, hold on to pucks… things like that. Just build them back up to where they can perform at their highest level.”

Reporter: “Bill, you mentioned you didn’t feel like ‘it’ was coming back. Can you elaborate as to what ‘it’ is?

Guerin: “I guess what I mean… ‘It’ is a little bit of everything, you know? It’s confidence, it’s swagger, it’s the ability to make plays. The feeling that when you step out on the ice, you’re gonna accomplish something. And it just didn’t seem like that was coming back.”

Obviously, as Billy noted, a losing streak like what the Wild are currently going through will zap any team’s confidence. Sometimes in life, you need a change, especially in sports.

Related: The Minnesota Wild Suck and Bill Guerin Has Nobody to Blame but Himself

Guerin isn’t going to fire himself (even though he maybe should, given the contracts he’s signed recently) and he doesn’t have a lot of options to shuffle the roster, if he wants to keep postseason hopes alive. And Billy made it clear, both during and after his presser, that the Wild made this move because they still plan on making the playoffs.

Poor play weighting on Matt Boldy ‘like a ton of bricks’

So, the only big change he could make was to fire the coach. It might work, it might not, but something had to be done. So here we are. But it was where Guerin went a few minutes later, when asked about his top playmakers, who haven’t been carrying their weight through the first quarter of this season, specifically Matt Boldy.

When pressed by reporters, Billy seemed less concerned with Kirill Kaprizov, who he believes looks better and more confident of late. As for the team’s second best youngster, 22-year-old winger Matt Boldy, the Wild’s president of hockey operations carried a much different tone.

Matt Boldy has a very serious confidence problem right now and it's clear Bill Guerin is concerned about it. #mnwild pic.twitter.com/MtuK3cRUH7

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) November 28, 2023

“Kirill [Kaprizov] loves playing hockey. He loves competing and when you see him doing that with a smile on his face, he’s got that personality coming out, you know something’s coming and I haven’t seen that a lot this year but [vs Toronto and Colorado] I could see glimpses of that, which is good.

Matt [Boldy]… hey, Matt’s struggling. And you know, it’s hard, it’s hard. Put money aside, put contracts aside, this is a 22-year-old kid, OK? And we’re asking a lot out of him. He knows he’s struggling more than anybody else, more than any of the experts out there. And I guarantee the experts out there have never been through something like this. This is weighing on him like a ton of bricks and it’s our job to help him get out of it. We’re not there to beat him up and point fingers at him or anything. We gotta help him out and nobody wants to do it more than him.”

Sure, John Hynes was brought in to help the Minnesota Wild execute in a way that Dean Evason could not. But what’s become clear, as this presser went on, is that he’s been brought in to fix a serious confidence problem that this team has, especially with Matt Boldy.