The Minnesota Wild's bye week is here and it really could not come at a better time. Now, the team does not play until Wednesday, February 7 -- an entire 11 days between games for them -- and obviously, only one of them in Kirill Kaprizov has to worry about attending All-Star Weekend in Toronto.
With such a long break, the team should be given time to relax and reflect and heal from every physical and mental wound they have suffered after playing 49 regular-season games on a team that is suffering. Currently, the Wild are seven points back of a playoff spot, but are at the bottom of the list of five teams who are within those seven points. Yet still, according to general manager Bill Guerin, he is not giving up on the season and is hoping for a miraculous comeback.
At some point, a towel needs to be thrown in, but it won't be anytime soon with the trade deadline coming just a month after the Wild resume play. Guerin will be looking to add some players to recover from disastrous injuries, like Jared Spurgeon being out until next season, and has such limited players to sell that that might be his only move to make.
Per Micah Blake McCurdy of HockeyViz, it is going to take roughly a 90-point team to just squeak into the playoffs in the Central division. For the Wild to achieve that many points with their remaining 33 games, they would need to be earning a .651 points percentage the rest of the way. Essentially, they would need to be having the same results as the Colorado Avalanche or Vegas Golden Knights have had for their entire season. Even the Metropolitan-leading New York Rangers don't have a point percentage that high on their season, but this team would need to be better than them.
Now is a time for reflection and rest. Rest for the players to heal, and reflection in the front office to really be realistic about what this team can do the rest of the way.
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