Minnesota Wild Make Surprising Decision as Team Continues to Struggle
Photo credit: Pioneer Press
The Minnesota Wild have struggled mightily as of late, and now they're resorting to an interesting tactic to turn things around on the power play.
After a red-hot start to the 2024/25 season, the Minnesota Wild have been falling in the standings, and now, the teams below them in the Wild Card race in the Western Conference are in striking distance.
Now, they've got a massive stretch of games coming up that could decide their fate, and now they've made a major change as they have decided to go with five forwards on the power play as opposed to having a defenseman to QB the unit.
Head Coach John Hynes defended the decision stating that they wanted a lefty to QB the power play, and now we will simply wait and see how things play out for this team moving forward.
"The power play's been struggling a little bit. I think just having a left shot up there, it is a big difference the way that we run it. It basically runs a lot off Zuccy's side. I think Boldy's a very good shooter, so put him in some positions. Try and put your best shooter in positions to be able to shoot on the power play. He feels comfortable being up there. And I just think that the hands work really well together, particularly sometimes on a power play, depending on what side you run it off the most. Ideally there's hands that matter."
The player in charge of taking on that role has been Matt Boldy, and when he was asked to react to his new role, he admitted he was no Cale Makar, but will try his best to make things work for this team.
"Yeah, first time I've ever been up there. The first power play we didn't really get in there too much, and then the second one, kind of having a little bit up there. But you know, you just adapt, I think. Playing half wall, I feel like I played it for a while, you kind of know what you like and when the 'D' kind of make plays and move up there so that was kind of my mindset. But honestly, it was pretty simple. Get up there, pass it to Zuccy or Jojo and shoot it if I could. I'm definitely no Cale Makar up there."
This is an interesting tactic for the Wild to take, and with games upcoming against the Devils, Rangers, Islanders and Stars, they will be hoping that this can pay off as they look to hold onto a slim lead in the Wild Card race.
| POLL | ||
MARS 29 | 183 ANSWERS Minnesota Wild Make Surprising Decision as Team Continues to Struggle Will the Minnesota Wild make the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2025? | ||
| Yes | 97 | 53 % |
| No | 86 | 47 % |
| List of polls | ||
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