Weekly Wild Update: Week of 1-9-2012

Anyone still around? We have scheduled stops at all major intersections for you to get off the bandwagon, should you so choose. No one wants to jump off while it is still moving, right? That would just be painful.

The Wild are not doing well. Understatement, to be sure, but also very true. The ability for us to ignore the "see I told you so" posts from around the web has been tested, and yet thus far it has been accomplished. Notice that, once again, the Corsi and Fenwick numbers haven't changed much, but now the team is losing. Perhaps something else changed? Nah. Can't be.

Also note that 20 and 30 games weren't a large enough sample size to draw conclusions from, but the last 15 are a plenty big enough sample to do so. It all just makes so much sense.

Moving on. Let's take a look at last week and the week ahead.

Last Week

At this rate, we made to install Jagermeister on tap here at Hockey Wilderness to suppress the memories of the weeks as they pass by. The number of games that have been completely forgettable is growing, and like last year, no one seems to have an answer as to how to right the ship. Not good.

A completely embarrassing performance against the Canucks and a solid 15 minutes of hockey against the Flames led to another winless week. It also saw the Wild fall to being just one point from being outside the playoff race. The players are healthy, the system hasn't changed... they just need to start playing hockey again and quit with the emotional breakdown.

The Week Ahead

Tuesday should be a fun one for Wild fans as Brent Burns comes back to the X for the first time since being traded. He has admitted this one will be tougher than when the Wild stopped by his new pond, and it is obvious the reason why. If the roof doesn't cave in with the standing ovation the fans give him for his years of play here, it will be an insult to the fanbase. Don't miss this one, folks.

After their short stay at home, the Wild head back on the road for games that, in their current state of mind, will be huge challenges. They get the Blackhawks on Thursday, and the Blues on Saturday. The Hawks are dangerous for all of the obvious reasons. The Blues are dangerous because Ken Hitchcock has turned them into a lethal force that does nothing but win.

The week ahead is a huge challenge for a team being called "fragile," not playing aggressive enough, and seemingly completely lost in the world. This could be the knockout blow, or it could be the time everyone points to and says, "That's when they rediscovered their game."

Which shall it be?