LAS VEGAS — In a season where injuries have been so much a part of the storyline for the Minnesota Wild, the run-up to the playoffs has been about additions to, rather than subtractions from, the roster.
Two rare exceptions to the non-stop injury parade have been defensemen Jon Merrill and Declan Chisholm; each has been a healthy scratch this season, but between them they have missed just four games, total, due to injury.
But with Jake Middleton healthy again, and Zeev Buium becoming the first player in Wild franchise history to make his NHL debut in a playoff game, that means both Merrill and Chisholm were set to spectators on Sunday night. Their said such decisions aren’t easy, especially when players who have been good soldiers all year need to come out of the lineup.
“Those guys have battled for you all year long, and obviously they’re not happy about it. But they’re good team guys,” John Hynes said. “They’ll do what’s right for the team, and I think they all know that you get in these series, and most playoff series or playoff runs, you need eight to nine defensemen, usually, to be able to impact your team.”
Having gone through 82 games where the Wild roster looked different most nights, and heading into a postseason where injuries — especially on defense — are a normal part of the picture, Hynes is fully aware that a healthy scratch for Game 1 could be a vital part of the roster later in the series.
“They’re not happy about it, which I get — and I’m good with,” Hynes said. “But we had a good conversation and I told them where I was coming from, and they told me where they were coming from, and you walk out of that room and you’re all in it together about what’s best for the team.”
Another Wild forward, Devin Shore, played 55 regular season games on the team’s fourth line, with a goal and four assists before being sent to the AHL when Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek got healthy. While he was not in the Game 1 lineup, the Wild recalled Shore from Iowa on Sunday and Hynes said he, too, could be an important depth player as the series rolls on.
“He gives us good center depth, which is one of the reasons he was with us throughout the year,” Hynes said. “On top of him being a really good player, I think he’s a great teammate, fits in really well with our group, plays a really responsible game and he provides center depth if we need it after this game.”
Time off
March was a grind for the Wild, as they played without key players, saw their once-secure playoff prospects become more challenging. Because of the condensed schedule following the 4 Nations Face-Off break in February, they played a game almost every other night.
That is in sharp contrast to the run-up to Game 1, which gave Minnesota four full days, and most of Easter Sunday, before facing Vegas. And while they were itching to play by the time Sunday’s playoff opener started, most players were fine with a bit of a break.
“It’s a little different, that’s for sure, but there are a lot of things to dive into with meetings and things, so it’s nice to have that extra time for sure,” Wild captain Jared Spurgeon said.
Hynes said there needs to be a balance between rested and rusty, but overall he was happy the team could take a breather before the noise and intensity of facing the Golden Knights on the road.
“We were grinding there for a while and I think it was … nice to have a day off for them to relax and refocus, and then you have a couple practice days,” Hynes said, noting that his team arrived in Nevada on Friday rather than the day before the game, which is normal in the regular season. “We were able to come out here early and practice and get set up and be around each other and then (get) time to clearly shift the focus from getting here to Vegas and what we need to do now.”
This is the 14th time since the Wild entered the NHL in 2000 that the franchise has qualified for the playoffs.
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