Walking a Mile in Coach Richards’ Shoes

In a few days (hopefully), Coach Todd Richards will have a little thinking to do and maybe a little tinkering to do. 

Why? 

In a few days (again, hopefully), both Martin Havlat and Petr Sykora will be back from injury and ready to go.  Richards will then have to tinker with the lineup in order to put his best foot forward and try to turn this early season slide around. 

So, when they come back, here is what I would be looking at for line combinations: 

Brunette-Koivu-Pouliot
Pouliot has played his way onto this line over the past couple games, quite frankly.  With Clutterbuck and Bouchard both out, we really don’t have any other options for a first line forward and, if he plays like he has been, Pouliot certainly has first line skills.  Do I think there are better options for this first line?  Absolutely.  But those better options aren’t available to us until Clutz and/or Butch are back in the lineup. 

Sykora-Belanger-Havlat
During its brief time together, this line was one of the best the Wild had.  With Bella centering the two snipers, he finally got his opportunity to shine and did just that.  It’s now just a matter of Sykora and Havlat picking up their game and burying the puck—something that has eluded the two top snipers for the Wild this season.  They had good chemistry and keeping them together is the right move. 

Nolan-Sheppard-Kobasew
Someone needs to teach Sheppard how to play with an edge, and if anyone can do that it’s Nolan.  Sheppard has played soft all season long and putting him between Nolan and Kobasew will not only mitigate his soft play with two players very capable of hitting and grinding, but will give him a good example to follow.  Not to mention that this line could have a great deal of offensive potential if they got going. 

Boogaard/Scott/Hilbert-Brodziak-Miettinen
Honestly, with the addition of Kobasew, I almost don’t see where Mittens fits into this lineup anymore, but having him on the ice with Brodziak and the token enforcer or Hilbert could pay dividends for the team.  Miettinen has struggled to get going so far, but is a very talented defensive forward.  Foregoing the enforcer route and playing Brodziak and Mittens with Hilbert could give the Wild a very formidable checking line. 

Schultz-Burns
In all honesty, it’s time for our top two defensemen to be our top two defensemen.  No more excuses for either.  Putting Burns with Schultz would give Burnsie a player that he knows well alongside him as his partner.  This could put a stop to his “I have to do everything” attitude.  In addition, pairing Schultz with Burns might be good to get Schultz back to the steady game that he is known for. 

Zanon-Zidlicky
These two are familiar with one another from their Nashville days and it makes a lot of sense to pair Zidlicky with a solid defensive d-man.  So far this season, you can give Zanon the best complement that you can give a defensive d-man—that you don’t notice him on the ice.  With that being the case, Zanon is more than capable of making up for the mild aneurysms that Zidlicky is prone to give the coaching staff and fans in trying to be the “fourth forward.” 

Hnidy-Johnsson
Honestly, I’m a big Johnsson supporter.  Yes, he hasn’t produced offense like we all had hoped he would, but he has turned into a very solid defensive d-man.  This season he has experienced some growing pains in trying to get back in the offensive frame of mind and has struggled.  Putting him with Hnidy, a very steady d-man, will help turn his season around. 

The bottom line is that this season is not only still salvageable, but is still very promising if we can get healthy.  The addition of Kobasew makes us a better team and can give us a legitimate third line that can score, as well as another example for Sheppard of how the game should be played. 

I know I’ve been very pointed in my criticism of Pouliot, but in the last couple games he has done a complete 180 from the player that he was at the beginning of the season—something that tells me that he very well could be ready for the test of playing with the big boys.