Rough Start Thus Far for the Wild as Regular Season Quickly Approaches

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As if implementing the exact opposite system that Wild veterans have been used to from years past wasn't hard enough, head coach Todd Richards seems worried with just two exhibition games remaining before the regular season gets underway in a little over a week for the new-look Wild.

For much of Thursday night, many Wild players looked lost out on the ice, something Richards was quick to point out after the game.

"We didn't generate much and I don't think our compete factor was great for a good portion of the game.

"We lost a lot of battles and they (St. Louis) forced us to take some penalties. We were a step behind."

Currently, several Wild players are banged up with injuries.

Enforcer Derek Boogaard is out indefinitely with a concussion that he suffered a few nights ago playing in Columbus. Benoit Pouliot is also out with a strained groin and his return is estimated from a couple of days to maybe a little over a week.

Winger Pierre-Marc Bouchard is getting over an undisclosed illness while Mikko Koivu, Andrew Brunette, James Sheppard, Craig Weller and Shane Hnidy are also dinged up, but at least aren't suffering anything major.

Problem is, with so many players out, it's tough for Richards to teach his team key components of his style of play. Richards admitted that his team is currently "not prepared" when it comes to playing the game and being ready for the start of the season.

With not being able to get everyone on the same page, many players have been reverting back to the "old system" that former head coach Jaqcues Lemaire employed.

"It's a little frustrating and a little disappointing," said Richards who is quickly running out of time with only a handful of opportunities remaining to try and prepare Wild players for the rapidly approaching regular season.

With the regular season only eight days away, the Wild and its fans could be heading for a rude awakening next Saturday in Columbus.

This article is also featured on The Wild State of Hockey

The injuires are without a doubt hampering progress, but IMO the coach should be keeping this to himself and his assistant coaches - discuss it in private, not whine about it in public.

Not "frustrating and disappointing" - injuries happen! It's an inevitable FACT there's going to be injuires, Murphy's Law! IMO he should be saying its a challenge they can deal with and an opportunity for other guys to step up. Frustration is a loser emotion. Deal with it and drive on. Richards is displaying very poor Leadrship traits here. He needs to rally the troops, not whine to the media. I don't know crap about hockey, but I know a lot about Leadership and IMO Richards is failing the toughness test right now.

And NO! I don't hate Richards and I don't want him to fail! But IMO he's really screwing up making excuses and talking like this when he's been in charge for such a short time. This is preseason, for God's sake. What's he gonna say and do when they lose five games in a row in Regular season? People aren't stupid, we all understand how the injuries are screwing things up. Accentuate the positive, tell us how you're going to fix the problem, what's the plan? Not "I'm frustrated and disappointed, pout snivel, shine." How old is he? And he's in charge?

Fletch should call him up and rip him a new one IMO.

I'd rather the coach speak his mind than feed a lot of PR-approved bull. Lots of second guessing from Wild fans two weeks into his job (if preseason counts0. I guess we Minnesotans know best though.

You guys both bring up very valid points and I can see where you're both coming from.

This season certainly is going to be interesting, especially when the Wild hits it's annual rough spot in November/December.

Nobody is saying he can't speak his mind either! We're just saying that the words he chose to use don't seem to fit the situation on the ice.

Yes, it will take time for the players to adapt to his system.

Yes, we will all need patience for that transition to take place.

Yes, injuries are having an affect on the learning curve.

Where in any of that did JL's name need to come up?

Fargocase wrote:

The injuires are without a doubt hampering progress, but IMO the coach should be keeping this to himself and his assistant coaches - discuss it in private, not whine about it in public.

Not "frustrating and disappointing" - injuries happen! It's an inevitable FACT there's going to be injuires, Murphy's Law! IMO he should be saying its a challenge they can deal with and an opportunity for other guys to step up. Frustration is a loser emotion. Deal with it and drive on. Richards is displaying very poor Leadrship traits here. He needs to rally the troops, not whine to the media. I don't know crap about hockey, but I know a lot about Leadership and IMO Richards is failing the toughness test right now.

And NO! I don't hate Richards and I don't want him to fail! But IMO he's really screwing up making excuses and talking like this when he's been in charge for such a short time. This is preseason, for God's sake. What's he gonna say and do when they lose five games in a row in Regular season? People aren't stupid, we all understand how the injuries are screwing things up. Accentuate the positive, tell us how you're going to fix the problem, what's the plan? Not "I'm frustrated and disappointed, pout snivel, shine." How old is he? And he's in charge?

Fletch should call him up and rip him a new one IMO.

There is some speculation that the nature of Richard's practices are at the root of the injuries. I am not comfortable criticizing a guy for hard driving practices. Evidently Richards said something publicly that lead to the speculation, according to Jim Souhan (or what ever his name is, I am not impressed by him by the way. ANybody have any idead what he's talking about?

Man that was a horribly composed post... even by my standard. Sorry.

Here's a few theories:

1. Players did not come to camp in shape
2. Coach is running the players too hard too soon
3. The ice is not good

The first isn't likely because of so many injuries to so many players. The second is likely if the injuries occur in practice, and I think that's where Koivu and Brunette got hurt. The third is likely if the injuries are common to players of different teams.

I know from reading HFBoards that many teams are battling a lot of injuries, and ice is a concern league-wide. But looking at the injuries:

Bouchard - illness (not related to ice or practice likely)
Boogaard - concussion (not related to ice or hard practice)
Pouliot - groin/hip (sustained in a game in Columbus)
Johnsson - groin/hip (sustained in a game in Chicago)
Koivu - leg (probably from practice)
Brunette - leg (probably from practice)
Sheppard - not sure when he got hurt, he played in the last game and haven't heard anything

So maybe two injuries from practices, three from games, one from illness. Doesn't seem like it's Richards fault to me.

I would like to see the ice being made earlier and the preseason schedule a little lighter. Too much too quickly IMO.