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By the numbers: What went wrong with the Wild under Mike Yeo?

Christian Petersen / Getty Images Sport / Getty

There are certainly teams in worse shape than the Minnesota Wild, who dismissed head coach Mike Yeo on Saturday, but a glimpse at the numbers shows they have issues across the board.

Entering Saturday's 4-2 loss to the Boston Bruins, the Wild ranked in or near the bottom third of the league in a bevy of telling statistical categories.

On the most basic level, the Wild weren't scoring enough while allowing too many goals. Their goal differential (minus-5) ranked 17th in the NHL, but their averages were worse:

Category Average League Rank
Goals For 2.45 22nd
Goals Against 2.51 20th

Special teams are another concern:

Category Percentage League Rank
Power Play  17.4 23rd
Penalty Kill  79.1 22nd

As Wayne Gretzky (and Michael Scott) famously quipped, you miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take, and the Wild simply didn't generate enough attempts on goal:

Category Average League Rank
Shots 29.3 19th
Shot Attempts 51.3 23rd

Analytics further illustrate Minnesota's issues driving puck possession at even-strength:

Category  Percentage League Rank
Corsi For 48.5 20th
Scoring Chances 48.7 20th
High-Danger Chances 50 14th

(Courtesy: War-On-Ice)

PDO combines shooting percentage and save percentage, essentially measuring how fortunate or unfortunate a team or player has been. A high number typically regresses over time, and the Wild had the 10th-highest mark, at 100.5, entering Saturday's game, according to Stats.HockeyAnalysis.com.

That doesn't bode particularly well for Minnesota going forward, considering how poorly they've already played, and how low they're already ranked in all of the aforementioned categories.

The Wild lost eight straight games and 10 of their last 11 before firing Yeo, who was in his fifth season behind the bench in Minnesota. They're only three points out of a playoff spot, but the numbers indicate their downward spiral might not be reversed any time soon.

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