Yeo juggles pairs on Wild blue line

NEWPORT BEACH, CALIF. – For most the past five years, Marco Scandella has grown accustomed to looking right and having the comfort of seeing Jared Spurgeon as his defense partner.

They were a tandem with the old Houston Aeros and for most their time together with the Wild.

But this season, at least four games in, Scandella is playing on the Wild's third defense pair next to mostly Christian Folin or, for one game Thursday in Arizona, Nate Prosser.

This season, in an effort to decrease Ryan Suter's ice time, create a potentially dynamic second pair in Jonas Brodin and Matt Dumba, and balance things out on a deep blue line, the Wild coaches made the decision to scramble the pairs of one of the league's best defensive teams last season.

It's early, but the byproduct has been a little bit of good and a little bit of bad.

The Wild, 3-0-1 heading into Sunday's game against the winless Anaheim Ducks, has allowed 11 goals in four games and the defense pairs just don't seem as in sync as we're used to seeing.

Suter, who is tied for second among NHL defensemen with five assists, is off to a quality start. After leading the NHL in ice time per game in each of the past three seasons, he is averaging 25 minutes, 3 seconds a game this season, eighth-highest in the NHL.

"It's a little bit of an adjustment this year," Scandella said. "We're so deep on defense that anybody can play with anybody. We have three really good pairings. [Coach Mike Yeo] spoke to me and is trying to fit me into the lineup. I'm going to be playing with different pairings, different guys, and I just have to be ready."

That conversation between Yeo and Scandella took place on the ice before last Sunday's practice. Scandella was coming off mediocre games against Colorado and St. Louis. Yeo not only wanted him to pick up his play, he wanted to explain his rationale as to why Scandella wasn't playing with Spurgeon, who so far has been Suter's partner.

"Basically I told him it's going to take a little bit of time to sort it out," Yeo said. "I don't want him thinking he's a third pairing D-man. That's not the case. He's a very good defenseman for us, and we're trying to balance things out, and it's going to take some time minute-wise to make sure that we're sorting it out and getting everybody what they need."

In the third period of Friday's 2-1 overtime loss to Los Angeles, Yeo and assistant coach Rick Wilson scrambled the defense pairs as the Wild attempted to rally for a victory. Folin only played five shifts in the third, and Scandella played with multiple partners.

"If we just roll through the pairings, then it's probably not going to work the way we want it to," Yeo said. "There's going to be a bit of a system that we have to find."

The big question is if Brodin and Dumba don't pick up their play, will there come a point that the coaches simply reunite Suter and Brodin, Scandella and Spurgeon and maybe go with a Dumba-Folin or Prosser-Dumba third pair?

Yeo calls Scandella "a very, very important hockey player for us" and doesn't want him to get lost in the shuffle.

Scandella, 25, is coming off such a good season, he earned a five-year, $20 million extension last November. He had career-highs with 11 goals, 23 points, 112 shots and 90 hits and led the NHL's No. 1-ranked penalty kill in shorthanded time on ice per game (2 minutes, 23 seconds).

"It's a little bit different not playing with Spurge," Scandella said. "We've always played together and knew where we were on ice. It's just an adjustment. It's not better or worse. It's just a little different getting used to playing with everybody.