NASHVILLE -- General manager Chuck Fletcher's preference would be to let the Minnesota Wild play their way out of a month-long slump before he seriously goes in search for outside help before the 2016 NHL Trade Deadline on Feb. 29.
The Wild went 3-7-3 with 23 goals in January. They dropped to one point behind the Nashville Predators for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. They were in the first position with a seven-point cushion at the start of 2016.
"I think we're dealing with mainly a confidence issue," Fletcher said. "Hopefully the break will help. We have a lot of players who have scored in this league that just did not score last month."
The one stat Fletcher is focused on most is Minnesota's shooting percentage. It was 6.0 percent in January after being 9.6 percent through the first 36 games of the season. The decline happened despite the Wild averaging one more shot on goal per game (29.3-28.3) in January than they did in the first three months.