Wild- What went wrong

 This is the second in a series of team recaps from past seasons who are now in the offseason.

For most people, this past Wild season was a success. They made the playoffs, and nearly made the series interesting during a first round matchup with the Chicago Blackhawks. However, the Wild should not have been in that position in the first place. This year's Wild faltered during critical moments near the end of the season, nearly losing their spot to the surprising Columbus Blue Jackets. Some pointed to the loss of Matt Cullen and Dany Heatley, two excellent goal scorers, but Cullen was back in time for the last few games, and the Wild had a lot of success without Heatley during the last part of the season.
However, the main reason was that the team was disorganized and unmotivated down the stretch. The moment a playoff spot seemed guaranteed, they came up with a lackluster effort, such as the late losses against Edmonton and Calgary, two mediocre teams. Usually, when something like this happens, the coaches take care of motivation problems and they don't happen again for the team. This season, that did not happen. Many players repeatedly showed little effort and did not play the game like they should have. This leads to the logical assumption that head coach Mike Yeo is either not saying the right things or is failing to address the issue. Mike Yeo needs to prove that he can keep his players motivating and playing hard in this upcoming season, or the team may need a coaching change. Most fans are willing to give Yeo another shot. If the team improves and makes it past the first round of the playoffs, many of the negative talking will die, and Yeo will have a job for years to come. If, however, the team misses the playoffs due to poor play, the next logical move is to find a new motivator who can take this team to a championship.
This is probably the team currently closest to a championship out of the major Minnesota teams, the Lynx excluded, and the last step is coming together and rebounding after defeats. If they can do that, it will be a fun winter next year.