It's no secret, especially after yesterday's epic meltdown by head coach Mike Yeo, that the Minnesota Wild are struggling.
Projected, again, by NHL prognosticators everywhere to finally turn themselves into one of the league's elite, the Wild are mired in a depressing mediocrity made all the worse by outside issues such as Thomas Vanek's weird gambling problems and Zach Parise's recent family strife.
But another reason for the listless organizational performance this season is the disturbingly dreadful play in net the team has received from Darcy Kuemper - who is now injured - and Niklas Backstrom. The Wild, despite allowing the second-fewest shots per game in the NHL, sport the second-lowest save percentage - Kuemper is 53rd and Backstrom is 60th.
As such, the team is apparently perusing the market for a possible goalie addition and upgrade.
"...I also know that Chuck Fletcher - we talked about Doug Armstrong, we talked a little bit about Peter Chiarelli trying to improve his club - Chuck Fletcher is going to try to do the same thing," said TSN Insider Darren Dreger on an episode of Montreal's TSN 690 Thursday morning, as transcribed by NicholsOnHockey.com.
"He's not hanging it all on his goaltenders, but I'd be real surprised if the Minnesota Wild didn't do something to try and improve their goaltending."
One name that has popped up in conjunction to the Wild's search - and one whom the team has already reportedly inquired about - is Carolina Hurricanes netminder, Cam Ward.
"Ward is an intriguing name and undoubtedly could be had. Coming off some injury-riddled seasons, Ward, 30, has played well this season. He has a 2.37 goals-against average and .915 save percentage on a bad Hurricanes team," writes Michael Russo of the Minnesota Star Tribune.
Ward is set to count for $6.3 million against the cap this season and next, so the Wild's financial investment wouldn't be small. But Russo reasons that the price to pry him from Carolina might not be significant as they'd most likely be happy to get out from under his contract.
As for Yeo's future with the Wild, Dreger sounded a positive tone, but admitted that should things continue on a downward trajectory, that could change very quickly.
"I didn't get the sense in that conversation that Mike Yeo was in jeopardy of losing his job, at least in the moment. If Minnesota continues to flounder, then all bets are off, and of course his job is going to be questioned.