A GOOD CHANGE
Nov 19, 2014
By Tom Witosky
Iowawild.com
Follow Tom @toskyAHLWild
There was something a little different Saturday about Iowa Wild General Manager Jim Mill -- there was a bit of a smile on his face.
“This is the way I expect this team to play,” Mill said of the club’s last three games. “This is what we built the team to be able to do.”
Mill was reflecting on last week, which began bleakly with the dismissal of long-time friend Kurt Kleinendorst as the team’s head coach following a rough 2-10-0-0 start to the 2014-15 season. But the week ended well with the club under new coach John Torchetti collecting two wins in a row – one on the road in Milwaukee and one at home against Oklahoma City -- and a narrow last-minute loss of Saturday’s rematch against the Barons.
The change in the team didn’t go unnoticed. Wild fans tweeted vigorously about how the team’s newly discovered aggressiveness twice resulted in Iowa scoring three goals in the first period at home and brought them to their feet with hard checking and an occasional fight. Some suggested there was an entirely new team on the ice.
For the record, the Wild scored as many goals in their last three games, 11, as they did in the previous five. Moreover, the team appeared to stabilize itself with substantially improved puck control out of its zone and improved goaltending from starting goalie Johan Gustafsson.
“It’s funny,” Mill said. “Once a decision like that is made, the only thing you focus on is moving on. It is so so critical that we had success coming out of it.”
Asked why the team’s performance intensity seemed to change overnight, Mill pointed to the hiring of Torchetti, a/k/a Torch, and his visible intensity in practice and behind the bench.
After Saturday’s loss, Torchetti said that the team is still developing its strengths, but he was pleased by the team’s overall response.
“I like our response as a team,” Torchetti said. “It was a tough one to lose right there, but we just have to get back to work.”
Torchetti said the club competed well, but has to develop greater discipline on the ice to reduce an unacceptable number of penalties during games.
“We have to be disciplined,” Torchetti said. “We can’t go on the road and be giving up five powers plays with Rockford, Charlotte, Chicago and Milwaukee. We can’t learn like this. “
Veteran defenseman Danny Syvret, who had one goal and two assists in three games, said the week had been plus.
“We played two very good teams and played the way we wanted to play for almost the entire nine periods,” Syvret said. “There was only a lull in one of periods so overall it was a plus.”
Mill attributed much of the improved effort to the circumstance of the situation.
“Anytime you have a change, it does spark a team,” he said.
But Mill said he and Torchetti made it clear that a change in performance level was expected immediately from the players.
“We made it very clear to the team, after what we went through, we took action and it is time for them to take action,” Mill said. “It is on them to perform because we did what we felt we had to do.”
Mill said he is confident the team still has time to get the team back into the playoff hunt. On Tuesday, the club got a potential shot in the arm when NHL veteran goalie Josh Harding agreed to play for Iowa as he plays himself back into shape after almost a year away from the NHL ice.
Harding was sidelined with complications from MS last year after opening the 2013-14 season as the best goalie in the NHL with an 18-7-3 record and a 1.65 GAA and .933 save percentage. Harding had been expected to open his season in Minnesota, but an injury during training camp sidelined that possibility.
As a result, Harding will remain with Iowa for as long as it takes to get into playing condition, Chuck Fletcher, Minnesota’s general manager, told wild.com.
In addition, Minnesota recently reassigned forward Jordan Schroeder and defenseman Justin Falk to Iowa after brief call-ups to the NHL. When Schroeder was called-up to Minnesota, he was the Baby Wild’s leading scorer.
Mill said he expects the club to begin a successful campaign to get back into the playoff race.
“We put it squarely on the players and we believe they are already responding,” Mill said. “This is hockey. This is way I expect the team to play.”