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Slumping Wild shake up lines, but Yeo won’t divulge details

mikeyeogetty

With just one win and 12 goals in its last six games, Minnesota is changing things up at forward.

That much we know.

What we don’t know is how the new-look Wild will, uh, look. That’s because head coach Mike Yeo refused to divulge details prior to tonight’s game on Long Island, telling reporters they’ll have to wait until warmups to see the changes.

Yeo keeping the lines out of the public eye until warmup. He joked, we can “critique” them then.

— Michael Russo (@Russostrib) March 18, 2014


First, some context. The Wild have been slumping lately but are still in reasonably good shape -- three of their five losses came in a shootout, meaning they’ve actually collected five points during the “slump.” It’s a big reason why they’re on 80 points and holding the first of two wild card spots in the Western Conference, five clear of ninth-place Dallas.

That said, all is not well in Minnesota.

Outside of the stellar Zach Parise-Mikael Granlund-Jason Pominville line, scoring has been virtually non-existent. Matt Moulson, the club’s big deadline day acquisition, has struggled to find his niche in the lineup and has just one goal through six games.

Captain Mikko Koivu is pointless in his last four games. Nino Niederreiter has two points in his last eight. Charlie Coyle has one goal since the Olympic break. And so on. And so forth.

Following Monday’s 4-1 loss to Boston -- Minnesota’s second straight game scoring just one goal -- Yeo acknowledged changes were necessary up front to help generate some offense.

“Certainly, we’re going to look at our lines,” Yeo said, per the Pioneer Press. “I’m not sure we have exactly the right mix.

“We have to figure that out, though, because it doesn’t quite have the right feel right now.”