The Minnesota Wild are in a tailspin.
The Wild were thought to be on the come up this season following an impressive showing in the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Instead they sit dead last in the Central Division.
On Tuesday the Wild lost even more ground, and lost that ground decisively, with a feckless showing in a 7-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Following the game, the Wild players held a players-only meeting that lasted for longer than 20 minutes, according to Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
That's the point where the Wild are in the season. From meltdowns in practice, to their general manager telling reporters that head coach Mike Yeo isn't going to lose his job (though everyone suspects that he will), to the players getting frustrated and playing undisciplined hockey on the ice.
Now the players-only meetings have begun, which only completes the cliche of the struggling NHL team.
Yeo tried to put a positive spin on the meeting.
"If they'd quit they wouldn't be in there meeting right now," Yeo told reporters post game.
"We use the word 'unflappable'," Yeo continued. "For whatever reason it's not in our vocabulary. As a team, for whatever reason, we fall apart."
Good try, good effort. It's more than his team managed on Tuesday night.
"We're so easy to play again" Wild forward Zach Parise said of his teams play. "They just tic-tac-toe right around us."
Wild captain Mikko Koivu, meanwhile, threw around the word embarrassing:
Koivu: with this effort, the game we've been playing, it's embarrassing and every guy should feel that." #mnwild
— Michael Russo (@Russostrib) January 14, 2015
Wild times in Saint Paul. At least off the ice.