With how strong of a performance the Minnesota Wild have had over the last few weeks, it’s hard to imagine they’d have a very long Christmas list for Santa, but there’s always something a team needs. There are a lot of choices to ask for, like better goaltending, good health, more scoring, and perhaps an upcoming trade, depending on the team.
The Wild have had great goaltending, strong scoring, and even a recent trade, so what else could they ask for? When thinking over a Christmas wish list for Santa, a few things popped into mind, and we’ll take a look at what they are, starting with an item that has been on their list every year, and that is winning more faceoffs.
Wish #3: Wild Need Faceoff Wins
The Wild have struggled for so long to win faceoffs, and at this point, most fans likely consider it something that won’t ever be fixed. They’ve tried over and over again to improve their faceoffs with little success, but this season, they’ve found a way to still win games, which is crucial. If they can still win games without winning faceoffs, they’ve figured something out.
However, they could make winning games a bit smoother if they could win more faceoffs. Out of the top five teams in the NHL currently, they have the lowest faceoff win percentage with just 46.6 percent of their faceoffs won, but still have a hold on third place. Some of that percentage is thanks to a couple of their centers, Joel Eriksson Ek and Nico Sturm, who’ve done their best to win faceoffs.
If the Wild have been good enough this season, maybe Santa will help them figure out a way to win more faceoffs. Again, they’ve found a way to the top despite dealing with this issue, but the more faceoffs they win, the more goals they can score and therefore the more games they can win.
Wish #2: Wild’s Special Teams Improvement
Realistically, everyone knew the Wild’s strong power play performance in October would not last. None of the teams in the NHL could’ve kept up that pace. It was great while it lasted, but what wasn’t expected was the dramatic stop in goals on the man advantage. Again, no one thought it would continue; a drop was predicted, but not stopping stone cold, like it hit a brick wall.
It was almost like the Wild forgot how to play on the power play with how abrupt their scoring stopped. Surprisingly, they are still tied for fourth in goals on the man advantage as they’ve found a way to start scoring again, but what they need from Santa on their wishlist is more consistent goal scoring on the man advantage. It doesn’t have to be every single power play, but at least one every game or every other game would be helpful.
However, while their power play could use some help, their penalty kill needs it almost more. That’s part of the reason they lost their most recent game to the Nashville Predators just before the holiday break; they let in two goals while shorthanded. So if Santa has to pick one or the other to gift the Wild for Christmas, it should be help for their penalty kill.
While they may not be able to score a lot of goals on the power play, they can score them while playing even-strength. However, if they can’t stop goals being scored on their penalty kill, they’re going to struggle to come back from that, just like they did the other night.
Wish #1: Wild Need Health
The Wild faced quite a few injuries to start the season, and in October, it seemed like those injuries were going to hinder them horribly. However, once November hit, the injuries didn’t cease, but the losing did, and the Wild seemed to have found a way around them. This continued through the month of December, but what the Wild need most of all on their Christmas list is health. So many names have been on the injured list at some point this season, including Mats Zuccarello, Jake Middleton, Marcus Foligno, and so on.
Just because the injuries didn’t hinder them the past couple of months, that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t have eventually. The Wild did clear their injury list in their final game before the holiday break, but everyone knows that will only last so long. There will be injuries as there always are, but if Santa could find a way to either limit them or make them shorter, less impactful ones, that would be great.
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Last season, the Wild were dealt a number of blows in the injury department, and they’re hoping that’s all in the past. They found a way to win without a number of important players, but it’ll be fun for fans to see what this team can do with a full lineup, and hopefully Santa will help them keep this healthy streak going for the rest of the season.
It’ll be interesting to see what the Wild get from Santa for Christmas, but it would be great if these were on their wish list. They’ve been a good team and well-disciplined for most of the season, so hopefully they’ve earned these things from Santa, and more wins will come with them.
