Written by Nicolas Hallett
Smoke and mirrors work for magicians, and so can they, too, for public relations.
Whatever his true reasoning is for making a major shift down the middle of his forward lines in the midst of a 3-game winning streak, only Minnesota Wild coach Mike Yeo truly knows.
Sure, it could be that the Wild actually really want to get third-year man Charlie Coyle going. The 22-year-old has enticing offensive potential with his size and speed combination. He is also becoming increasingly comfortable with the NHL game at the benefit of his production.
But then again, why would they need to get him going? As mentioned above, the team is winning right now and filled with offensive depth. Coyle hasn’t been great nor has he been horrendous, as his nine points in 17 games shows. In fact, he has three points in the last three games while playing with the line he was just removed from. That line was the team’s de facto second line, which featured Coyle alongside Mikael Granlund and Nino Niederreiter.
Yeo said Wednesday that Coyle has been moved up and down the lineup myriad times this season to help other guys light the spark.
“It seems like whenever we’re moving Charlie it’s not because his game’s not good enough or it’s not because of him, it seems like — it’s a real compliment to him — it’s because we need to get somebody else going,” Yeo said.
Throughout his tenure, Yeo has never been afraid to shuffle the lines. Below are the presumed lines for Thursday’s game at the Philadelphia Flyers based on Wednesday’s revelations.
Parise – Koivu – Pominville
Niederreiter – Granlund – Fontaine
Vanek – Coyle – Zucker
Carter – Haula – Brodziak
But you don’t move a player around that frequently if he’s a focal part of your gameplan. Athletes in this mold are known as role players. Major moves are rarely – if ever – made to facilitate production from role players.
It’s all sleight of hand.
Yeo’s sentiments were similar when he instituted the Niederreiter-Granlund-Coyle line before the game against the Buffalo Sabres last week. In that instance, he said he wanted to get the 2010 No. 9 overall pick, Granlund, going. He reiterated this point again this week.
“We wanted two big, straight-line skating forwards, and I think he really helped Granny get going again,” Yeo said.
Yes, he did. Granlund was in the middle of a 4-game pointless streak, which coincided with the Wild’s 4-game losing streak, before the switch. In the following three games, the Finland centerman had a point in every game (1 goals, 2 assist).
The new line combination also had a buoyant affect on Niederreiter, who has been on fire ever since, scoring 4 goals. He now leads the Wild with 8.
Let’s get that straight. A trio of the Wild’s young forwards, all three of whom are considered major pieces for the future of the team, start scoring together and demonstrating evident chemistry – not to mention that the team started winning again – and the decision is to dismantle that unit.
Yeah, now does seem like the perfect time for that.
The best signal that Yeo isn’t being genuine with his intentions was his non-committal stance to the move after announcing it.
“That’s not to say that we’ll stay this way,” Yeo said, “whether it’s a period or whether it’s five games, I don’t know, but we want to give him that opportunity.”
Yeo’s true motivation lies not with boosting one player, but rather his frustration with two others – Erik Haula and Thomas Vanek.
Moving Coyle to center, a position he hasn’t played in any of the 17 games he’s participated in this season, on the third line jettisons Haula down to the fourth line. Yeo has been frustrated with Haula dating back to the preseason.
The implication seems to be that Haula isn’t showing the work ethic or attention to detail that saw him become a defensive force and consistent offensive contributor during the thrilling postseason run last season. The 23-year-old has just two points in 15 games this season, compared to seven in those 13 playoff games.
Meanwhile, Vanek has so far been a complete disappointment for the Wild with just one goal on the year. The veteran forward’s lack of production has seen him demoted to the third line. It seems Coyle’s move is actually, once again and contrary to Yeo’s statements, to help someone else produce.
“When you have Thomas there, and now we have the opportunity to put [Jason] Zuck[er] there, we’re not asking those guys to go out and be a checking line … we want that line to go out and create offense for us,” Yeo said.
Most damningly, it appears, Yeo, in attempt to highlight Coyle’s positive qualities, compared Vanek to one of the Wild’s previous underperforming acquisitions: Dany Heatley.
“We like the idea of getting [Zucker’s] speed and his skill with Thomas. We wanted an offensive dynamic, and that’s — again, looking back at what Zuck and Charlie did for us with Heater on a line last year.”
Heatley posted the second-lowest goal total in his 13-year career last year with the Wild while also averaging the lowest amount of ice time in his career.
And in Yeo’s eyes Coyle managed to help him.
That three-year contract Vanek signed, not to mention the rest of this season, is going to be a lot more difficult to manage if the veteran continues garnering comparisons to the departed Heatley.
Coyle may be the rabbit Yeo pulled out of his hat on Wednesday, but he was just disguising his larger trick: delaying criticism of two of his biggest underachievers.