Kirill Kaprizov is the best player in Wild history, and they're going to need more from him to turn this around. Jerome Miron / USA Today
We knew there would be growing pains with the Minnesota Wild's young players, and there have been.
What's been more alarming during the team's sluggish start is how core veterans are underperforming.
Marcus Foligno has zero points in eight games and isn't his typical physical self (2.5 hits per game). Ryan Hartman hasn't scored a goal since opening night. Jared Spurgeon, Brock Faber and Jonas Brodin have been on the ice for too many goals against. Jake Middleton, in the first year of a four-year, $17.4 million extension, is struggling. Remember how Yakov Trenin came into camp in better shape, ready to build on last year's improved playoffs? He has one assist.
Joel Eriksson Ek has lost too many key draws and has no even-strength goals. Vladimir Tarasenko has one goal, looking more like the Detroit Red Wings version than the sniper from the St. Louis Blues. Even Kirill Kaprizov, the Wild's soon-to-be $17 million man, has just one even-strength goal, and it was an empty-netter.
Yes, that's right: Last year's Hart Trophy frontrunner until he got hurt in mid-December has zero five-on-five goals for a team that has the second-fewest in the NHL (nine). He's also been on the ice for nine even-strength goals against -- most amongst Wild forwards.
Thank goodness for Matt Boldy, the only vet who's "on" most nights.
Where does that leave the Wild heading into back-to-back home games this weekend against the fast, skilled Utah Mammoth (with Logan Cooley coming off a hat trick in St. Louis) and San Jose Sharks (just won their first game behind Macklin Celebrini's five-point night at MSG)?
Predictably, in trouble.
"I don't think it's lack of effort," Foligno said. "It's been weird. There's been games where you feel great but you just don't have nothing to show for it. I'm hoping we can find that consistency soon. I think we're a team that's idling, .500, right now, and we haven't had a lot of guys going yet, myself included. So once we get those guys going, then I think we'll be the strong team that we all thought we should be."
Yes, it's early, and things often get magnified early. There's time to right the ship.
But after losing four of five on the recent road trip, Minnesota is 3-4-1 entering what appears to be a critical six-game homestead.
Heading into Friday's NHL action, the Wild's nine five-on-five goals were one more than the 32nd-ranked Calgary Flames. Remember those nine straight power-play goals and 10 overall in the first four games? In the four games since, the power play is 0-for-12. The goaltending has been good, but there's been little or no margin for error for Filip Gustavsson and Jesper Wallstedt. And there's no help coming. It's not like Mats Zuccarello's return, which isn't imminent, will automatically change things.
"After our hot start last year, it was like you expect so much after a good training camp, and you expect to score and to get points and to win games," Faber said. "Sometimes early, it gets amplified when you lose a game or two games because it's so early and it's so emotional and it feels like every point you need, which is true. It's one of those things where it's like I don't think that we've put together horrible games when we've lost.
"I think it will turn in the right direction and it's just kind of one of those starts and it sucks and I think everyone's looked in the mirror and been like, 'OK, what do I need to do? What do I need to do? What do I need to do?' How I see it is, I think we just need to go and play, and we're going to be OK.
"Our heads are high. We're confident. It's frustrating, to say the least, but we're on to the next, and I think we've done a good job relaxing and recovering."
If the Wild don't show signs of improvement, we'll see how patient president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Guerin is. There's no doubt he's looking for help via trade, but those types of deals aren't easy this early.
And as we learned last year with the Wild barely making the playoffs despite being near the top of the standings in mid-December, the Wild can't afford to let this slide mount.
"It's early," Boldy said. "We're trying to have that game every night. There's a curve that we have to get better at to be able to put that game back out there game after game. I think that's part of the beginning year. But we've got to get it going.
"I have a lot of faith in this group."
Will that faith be rewarded? Time will tell, but here's what we've learned so far.
Kaprizov is the best player in franchise history, and they're going to need more from him to turn this around.
He has had some strong games this year and has four power-play goals, but he hasn't been enough of a difference-maker five-on-five. For every game like Monday in New York, when he had 10 shot attempts, there have been nights when he is uncharacteristically quiet, like in Wednesday's loss to the New Jersey Devils, when he had zero until late in the game. Playing against Nico Hischier was a part of that, but Kaprizov is, as teammates call him, the "engine" of the team, and he needs to show it.
One reason he's struggling is how ineffective most other players have been. It's why coach John Hynes had to split Kaprizov and Boldy at times on the road trip, to spread the wealth. Plain and simple, right now, the opposition knows if they check the heck out of Kaprizov and Boldy, it'll be up to everybody else to beat them. And so far, that hasn't happened.
The biggest issue Hynes has had so far is the inconsistency in playing to the team's identity.
The way the Wild are built, they have to play a certain way to win. As Boldy pointed out after Wednesday's loss, the speed and skill game the Devils play is a completely different style than Minnesota's.
That's concerning heading into the Mammoth game because they can also skate circles around opponents.
What's the Wild's identity?
"Everyone talks about being hard to play against, but I define that for us, we play a north-south game," Hynes said. "We're up and out of our zone playing north and direct. We put the other team under duress. We're strong on the forecheck, strong and heavy in the offensive zone. We get to the net. We're good at both net fronts, offensively and defensively.
"When we're on the defensive side, we're stingy defensively as well."
How many games have you seen the Wild play that way? The Rangers game. The season opener had long stretches of it. But it's been hit or miss otherwise.
It's not an easy game to play. It's physical, grinding, patient. But the Wild have shown they're capable before (see: last season's hot start). And most of the core players remain, so it's not like it's a new system.
"It's a mindset and a willingness to put that game on the ice," Hynes said. "That's the one that gives us a chance to win. There needs to be a commitment to it."
Spurgeon hasn't been on the ice for a single five-on-five goal for, and his even-strength goal differential is tied with Zeev Buium for a team-worst minus-8.
But Spurgeon has a lot on his plate playing with Buium, who can do things no Wild defenseman has ever been able to, but has been extremely high risk at even strength with almost no reward.
Still, at 35, the captain hasn't been as steady as usual and has been uncharacteristically out of position too often as he tries to cover up for Buium.
Faber also hasn't been the shutdown defenseman the Wild need, on the ice for 11 goals against already.
"I've had a frustrating start," Faber said. "I've had good games, and nothing has come from it. I've had opportunities to make great plays, and nothing's come from it. And I feel like I've been out for a million goals against and none for.
Hynes planned to meet with Foligno after Friday's practice.
He's coming off such a good season, in which he was a physical force, a producer and one of the best defensive forwards in the league. But he hasn't been that guy. He even admitted Saturday that he got into a fight because sometimes you need to get punched in the face to get your game going.
Foligno is the main vocal leader on this team, but it all starts with his play.
"The way we've been playing as a collective group, I think it translates to my game," Foligno said. "There's been spurts of feeling good, and then there's been spurts of just kind of blah -- just not much going on. So, yeah, it's on me.
"Maybe I've been overthinking the game a little bit, and that's not good for me. I think just the more direct I play and the more physical I play, is when I'm good. It's just taking some time to get familiar. I'm not making excuses, but you get put in with new linemates the first game, and it doesn't connect right away.
"There's been spurts where I feel great and then there's been spurts where I'm chasing the puck and it's not falling into my type of game that I want to play. So it's been frustrating. ... We have no points, no goals for, right? You're not generating offense, you're getting minuses, you're watching goals go in."
It still seems nonsensical that the Wild traded Brandon Duhaime, a strong-skating, physical forward willing to drop the gloves who could have been re-signed for less than $2 million, only to bring in Trenin for four years at $3.5 million per season.
The result is a fourth line that frankly has a couple of minor-leaguers and isn't hard to play against.
The youngsters are going to be up and down.
Buium has shown flashes but also looks like a rookie at times, even getting taken off the top power play late in Wednesday's loss. He has been on the ice for one even-strength goal for and nine against.
Danila Yurov is on the upswing, getting confidence from his first NHL goal Monday. Everyone wants him to be promoted to the second line, understandably, but the Wild need him up the middle with Nico Sturm sidelined, and he's not going to supplant Eriksson Ek or Marco Rossi.
David Jiricek will get a longer look with Zach Bogosian coming off surgery, and he looked better in his first couple of games back from AHL Iowa, but continues to make major mistakes, including a penalty that led to a power-play goal Wednesday.
Liam Ohgren is getting his touches with Iowa, which badly needs help, after a disappointing training camp and start to the season in Minnesota, so he'll likely need an injury to get called back up.
Marcus Johansson is playing on the second line because 1) He's actually been playing fairly well, and 2) Nobody has jumped off the page as earning that role.
That a Zuccarello injury could wreak such havoc is more of an indictment of the roster-building than anything. When the Wild are healthy, with Zuccarello and Sturm back, we'll see where Johansson slots in. He said he's open to playing any role. He's not the problem.
How many times have we written that Eriksson Ek is the Wild's most irreplaceable player? And when he's playing his typically strong two-way game, he is.
But, like a lot of the veterans, Eriksson Ek has been off. He needs to fix the faceoffs problem, and he isn't scoring, either. The game was on his stick Saturday, with a wide-open net on a two-on-one overtime rush, and he hit the post. Those are ones you have to finish.
Boldy hasn't produced every night, but as Guerin has said, he's been "on" pretty consistently as he grows into more of a leadership role.
That showed Wednesday, when he tried to carry the Wild back into the game.
There are nights when he and Kaprizov look terrific together and you understand why Hynes doesn't want to split them up. But with the lack of scoring at five-on-five hitting a pressure point, the dynamic duo has had to be separated for a spark.
Who had the Kaprizov, Eriksson Ek, Vinnie Hinostroza line on their bingo cards to start the season?
Guerin has said he has the flexibility to make big in-season trades after missing out on big-name free agents such as Brock Nelson, who, for what it's worth, has only two points in eight games for the Colorado Avalanche. But that doesn't mean there's an easy answer out there.
Tage Thompson, most Wild fans' dream target, isn't available, at least not yet. Alex Tuch might be at some point, but he could cost more than $10 million on an extension. Nazem Kadri could be available, but he's 35 with three years left at $7 million per. Yegor Chinakhov wants out of Columbus, but if you're the Wild and paid so much for Jiricek, do you really want to give the Blue Jackets more assets for another young player on the outs?
The hottest name on the board is Artemi Panarin. But why would the Wild offer something significant to acquire him midseason when they could just pursue him in free agency? It's not like Minnesota is one 34-year-old winger away from going on a Cup run.
Iowa struggled mightily under new coach Greg Cronin, going 0-4 and being outscored 20-6. They won their first game Friday, 3-1 at Texas. We've written multiple stories on the organization's lack of development in the AHL, with the latest from GM Matt Hendricks being that development will take precedent over wins.
Regardless, besides Hunter Haight, Ohgren and maybe Carson Lambos -- who Guerin hasn't been enamored with, which is why he reacquired Daemon Hunt off waivers -- how many NHL-ready prospects are there down there? David Spacek has been good in juniors and internationally, but the Wild brass thought so little of him, they traded for Jiricek.