Minnesota Wild: Revisiting the rebuild versus retool debate

The Minnesota Wild must decide whether they’re going to retool or rebuild.

For the past few years, especially after last season, the State of Hockey has been debating the future of the franchise. There are two camps to chose from – Team Tank (or rebuild) and Team Retool. There are a ton of soldiers fighting the fight on each side, but with the current ten-game point streak the Minnesota Wild are on does the war even need to be fought?

First, let’s look at what each of the sides is fighting for, the pros and cons, and who is in what camp.

TEAM TANK

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Team Tank is all about being bad, in order to be good in the long term. People in this squad want the Wild to be either incredibly good or incredibly bad, which is completely understandable. It’s believed that the Wild being around .500 is the worst possible thing for the franchise, keeping them in hockey purgatory.

They want to trade away anyone who would have value on the market and shoot for the highest possible draft pick. Every game the Wild win, you can feel team tank on any social media losing their grip on a top-five draft pick. It is infuriating.

Now in my personal experience (certainly not everyone in this camp), people on this side have a certain outlook and apathy for the team. Every win is a loss and every inkling of success is just failure disguised as hope.

I agree with Team Tank, in the sense that being in a .500 purgatory is a horrible place to be. If you look at teams like the Colorado Avalanche, Chicago Blackhawks, and Edmonton Oilers, they’ve had success from being very bad and drafting high. Look no further than Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews.

TEAM RETOOL

The other side of the battle, who is certainly thrilled with the Wild’s play of late, is Team Retool. There’s no question the Wild aren’t of the quality of the Boston Bruins, Tampa Bay Lightning, or Washington Capitals.

If they want to get to the same level as those teams, they cannot be stagnant. However, people on team retool want to have their cake and eat it too. The change of a rebuild, while still managing to win now.

Team Retool wants to add and move pieces, in order to support the already existing cast, such as adding Mats Zuccarello to an already existing core of Eric Staal and Jason Zucker. If the Wild are going to get younger, they have to be capable and ready to contribute to the core immediately, like Ryan Donato and Kevin Fiala.

The most important thing about Team Retool is who’s on the roster because the leader of the movement is none other than the owner Craig Leipold. It’s the reason moves like Zuccarello, Staal, and even Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, happened. His mindset has proven to be “win now at any cost”.

I’m with him. If I could convince you to any side, it would be Team Retool. I think it is unethical to tell your rabid fanbase you’re going to intentionally lose. Nothing is better for a team than meaningful games late in the season.

But now the question is rapidly changing. The Wild are on a 10-game point streak, and the locker room seems to have a winning mojo. It’s not asking if this team can be successful in the current state anymore, it’s asking how successful can they be.

Hockey is such a morale and momentum sport, and it was the one thing the Wild were lacking in October. Now after every game, you can see really fun locker room celebration videos, staples of a winning team. Look no further than the mob around Mikko Koivu after the game against Dallas if you don’t believe me.

The longer this point streak goes, the more games the Wild win, and especially the more the momentum builds, the more people should be giving retooling a chance.