Wild Trapped in NHL's Playoff Format Mess

The Minnesota Wild sit pretty in third in the Central, but the NHL's divisional playoff setup already boxes them into a brutal first-round clash with the Dallas Stars that no one saw coming this early. Bill Guerin knows the format's quirks better than most after years of navigating these minefields, and now it forces his squad to prove they can hang with a Stars team that's built for the grind.