Wild's Early Stink Can't All Be Blamed on Coaching, System Changes

When you watched the Minnesota Wild the last eight years, there were some things that could be counted on almost every game.

The teams coached by Jacques Lemaire weren't known for being lazy, uninspired, or unprepared. In fact, Lemaire has developed a reputation for getting the absolute maximum out of even the most marginal NHL players. They might not have been the most exciting team in the league, but they were competitive.

None of this should be seen as an indictment of new coach Todd Richards yet. Frankly, he wasn't left with a full cupboard when he arrived, given that his best player (Marian Gaborik) was going to leave via free agency, and he was desperately short of quality centers for the style of play he wanted to employ.

After a 1-4 start, however, there are problems with this team that can't all be blamed (fairly, at least) on the fact that Richards overhauled Lemaire's system and wants a wide-open style.

For starters, the team has no business being 1-4. Only a few fortunate bounces (in this case, these "bounces" are of the officiating variety) stand between the Wild and an 0-5 start to the season. They needed to get a couple lucky calls -- and subsequent power play goals -- to beat Anaheim last week in their home opener.

More disturbingly, the Wild have had some insane stretches of bad hockey over their first five games. They played so poorly in the first period at Los Angeles last Thursday that Richards could have justifiably benched half his roster and changed goalies. The Kings jumped to a 3-0 lead, mainly using long shots and relying on traffic in front of the net to cause problems. In the meantime, the Wild lost battle after battle, including those for position by the goal.

During training camp, Richards talked many times about how tough it was to train the returning players on the nuances of his new system. Likening it to re-training a dog, Richards knew he would be in for challenges during the first half of the season.

While injuries to Petr Sykora, Cal Clutterbuck, Pierre-Marc Bouchard, and now Martin Havlat haven't made things any easier, but it's not like Richards could be fully pleased with what he was seeing out of these guys before they were hurt.

Sure, Clutterbuck will rarely -- if ever -- give you less than everything he has on a shift. Bouchard had a pretty good camp adjusting to being a center. Meanwhile, Havlat has been benched for at least two stretches of games because of poor play in his own zone, and Sykora rode the pine during the aforementioned Kings game.

Injuries aside, Richards knows he can't just make blanket statements about his players trying to adjust. Wednesday's 3-2 loss to Anaheim is a stirring example of why. Instead of giving up goals because guys weren't quite in the right place, or because there was a missed assignment, the Wild weren't competing.

This had to drive Richards absolutely crazy. You can do whatever you want with the system. Run set plays until you're blue in the face, or double-shift your best players because they're your best players, and none of it matters if your team isn't competing.

For the Wild, it was a 20-minute absence of fire. It led to a 2-0 deficit the club wouldn't overcome, no matter how well it played in stretches over the rest of the game. It was something you rarely saw with Lemaire on the bench, and now it has happened multiple times over Richards' first five games.

The mistakes you'd expect from such a drastic system overhaul have been happening, too, but those are accepted and more will happen before Richards' work is done.

Wednesday night featured players not battling in front of either goal, and one of the worst line changes in NHL history. The Wild had four players making their way off for a change before they had succeeded in getting the puck across the red line. It led directly to the first of two goals by Corey Perry, who had a breakaway while the enemy was busy going to the bench.

It's the kind of elementary play that can't possibly be blamed on Richards or the transition. Instead, it was just bad hockey. Actually, Richards called it "selfish" after the game, and that's accurate. It was totally out of character for a Wild team that fans were used to watching sell out for every loose puck.

Until he can find a way to fix his players' willingness to compete at a high level all the time, Richards doesn't have to worry about his new system.