Minnesota Wild hit rock bottom; Mike Yeo in trouble?

There are losses and then there are LOSSES, and dropping a 7-1 decision to fellow Western Conference bubble boys the Dallas Stars may have been rock bottom for the Minnesota Wild.

That’s what Ryan Carter of the Wild called it. That’s what Michael Russo called it, and what Hockey Wilderness wondered about. The Pioneer Press was much kinder, simply calling it a “humiliation.”

Starting with a Dec. 16 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks, the Wild lost five straight before edging the Winnipeg Jets on Dec. 29. They lost to the Columbus Blue Jackets on New Year’s Eve, appeared again to right the ship against the Toronto Maple Leafs with a 3-1 win on Friday before traveling to get their lunch handed to them by the former North Stars.

Russo’s assessment:

It was a never-ending pattern of sluggishness, sloppiness, getting hemmed in its own zone and then standing around. The Stars skated circles around the Wild and the fans here in Dallas got a heckuva Saturday night party.

There is no simple fix right now, but GM Chuck Fletcher is going to have to make some sort of honest assessment of what he’s got here because this season is not going to magically repair itself. The vets are struggling, the kids are struggling, the goalies are erratic, the coach is under immense scrutiny again.

Unless something changed in the past week – 7-1 losses have a way of doing that – Yeo was in no danger of losing his job. But this team – players, coaches, management – is up against it bigtime right now. The Wild’s digging itself a hole and tonight was a humbling experience for all of them to be a part of.

The Wild’s best excuse throughout the season has been health, or lack of it. They were one of the mumpsiest teams during the NHL outbreak, and just five players in the Wild have appeared in all of their games this season.

But the goaltending has been an issue all season, in a boom or bust sense. Darcy Kuemper makes 34 saves in a win over the Leafs; Darcy Kuemper gives up four goals on 21 shots against the Stars. That kind of thing.

He’s a got a .909 save percentage at even strength while Niklas Backstrom has a .901. That’s not going to get it done. Hence there's rumors about the Wild making a deal, although Elliotte Friedman shot down those deal rumors for Jhonas Enroth of the Buffalo Sabres on Hockey Night in Canada.

It’s said a coach is only as good as his goalie, which is true, but there’s also something to be said for the giant egg laid by this Wild team in Dallas last night. Is that on the players, or the guy behind the bench?

Said Zach Parise after the loss:

“That’s kind of been the common theme – no energy for us. I guess looking at the standings, coming into here where they always play well, we looked like we didn’t know what to expect. We were pretty sloppy in a lot of different areas, feels like we were just chasing the puck the whole night.”

Yeo’s been on the ropes before and bounced back into the fight. He’s gotten this team into the playoffs in consecutive seasons and has a 122-97-30 record since taking the gig in 2011.

But there’s a part of me that wonders if Yeo’s former bench mate in Pittsburgh, Dan Bylsma, wouldn’t ultimately make sense in Minnesota.

Like Yeo, he worked for years with GM Chuck Fletcher in Pittsburgh. There’s a connection and a mutual admiration there. And if there’s one thing we’ve seen from Bylsma, it’s an ability to take a talented team to the next level.

(Unless something from their Olympic experience soured Zach Parise and Ryan Suter on him, of course.)

A bad December and a blowout loss have changes for the Wild on the radar. A bad three-game homestand against the Sharks, Blackhawks and Predators might bring them to the forefront.

Was this game rock bottom for Minnesota, or is there still another level to hit?