Minnesota Hockey Journal

Minnesota Hockey Journal October 2015

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4. Dubnyk The fate of all teams usually rest on health and goaltend- ing. In mid-January, the Wild acquired Dubnyk with its season crumbling and the former Oilers' No. 1 saved the day. Now, the Wild best hope Dubnyk doesn't regress. Was last year's second half a f luke or the beginning of something special in Minnesota over his new six- year contract? He's an intelligent, cool customer with good fundamentals, so the Wild's confident he'll be able to stand tall behind its normally strong structure. 5. Get by the Hawks Frankly, for this season to be a success, the Wild almost assuredly will have to solve the Blackhawks. The Wild's closest rival has been Minnesota's white whale, eliminating the Wild in three consecutive postseasons. In the new playoff format in the NHL, the Wild and Hawks could very well encore for a fourth consecutive time in six months. Until the Hawks are figured out, the Wild's Stanley Cup aspirations could be a pipedream. Michael Russo covers the Wild and National Hockey League for the Star Tribune. He co-hosts a podcast on malepatternpodcasts.com, and can be heard weekly on KFAN and seen on Fox Sports North. RUSSO'S RANTS BY MICHAEL RUSSO MINNESOTA WILD/GETTY IMAGES Wild's 5 Keys to the Cup 1. Consistency For two years in a row, the Wild needed miracle second halves to save its season. When the Wild slumps, it has traditionally really, really slumped. It would help everyone's blood pressure if the Wild didn't put itself in a position again where it requires another flawless stretch of hockey with zero room for error. 2. Internal improvement For a team that has made the final eight for two years running, it's amazing how many players essentially had down years a season ago. There were bright spots like Zach Parise finishing 10th in the NHL with 33 goals, Jason Zucker and Nino Niederreiter combining for 45 goals, Jonas Brodin posting a plus-21 and the impressive play of blue-line brothers Marco Scandella and Jared Spurgeon. But veterans Mikko Koivu (48 points), Jason Pominville (18 goals) and Thomas Vanek (21 goals) saw decreasing production and youngsters Mikael Granlund (8 goals, 39 points), Charlie Coyle (11 goals) and Erik Haula (14 points) didn't take the next step. 3. Power play Yep, the dreaded power play. If there was anything that gave fans and frankly the organization a coronary last season, it was the Wild's lousy power play. After leading the league in the preseason on the power play, the Wild started the season 0 for its first nine games and 2 for 44 in the first 14 games. The Wild knows it must solve its power-play woes this season. There's just too much talent to be this poor on the power play. MINNESOTAHOCKEYJOURNAL.COM // OCTOBER.2015 28 Dubnyk posted a stellar .936 save percentage after he was traded to the Wild last season. JASON ZUCKER d espite 100 points and tremendous second half on the back of goaltender Devan Dubnyk, the thing that people often remember is the last thing that happened. That was once again a quick and painful exit by the Wild at the hands of the eventual Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks. Not much changed this offseason largely because salary-cap space was so limited. Matt Cooke, Kyle Brodziak and Chris Stewart were purged and the only addition was highly sought University of Minnesota free agent Mike Reilly. The Wild will be looking within for improvement this season, and here are five keys to the 2015-16 campaign:

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