Wild season preview: What changed over the off-season?
MINNEAPOLIS - The Wild open the season Thursday night at Xcel Energy Center against the New York Rangers.
Last year, the Wild finished with 113 points; it was the best regular season in franchise history, and good for fifth in the National Hockey League. Although the regular season was terrific, the post-season was all too familiar for Wild fans: a first-round exit.
The Wild have made the playoffs in 12 of their 21 seasons. In those 12 playoff seasons, nine have ended in the first round, including the last six in a row.
Minnesota should again be a top-tier team in the Western Conference.
The question mark: Did the offseason give this team a better chance to make a deep playoff run?
Offseason Notables:
It was a relatively quiet offseason for General Manager Bill Guerin. The two biggest moves were both departures.
Goaltender Cam Talbot is gone, and Minnesota has a new backup in Filip Gustavsson. It was a one-for-one trade with the Ottawa Senators.
Talbot had a fantastic year in 2021. Will Gustavsson be able to fill his void?
He's a largely unproven goalie with only 27 games played in the NHL.
Guerin – who was part of the regime that picked Gustavsson 55th overall in 2016 when he was an Assistant General Manager in Pittsburgh – now gets him back. The Wild think Gustavsson's game will improve under a drastically better defensive core in Minnesota than when he played for Ottawa.
The Wild would like Gustavsson to play more games than the average backup because Marc Andre Fleury – the three-time Stanley Cup champ – is now 38. Fleury is the unquestioned starter, but Minnesota wants to lessen the regular season allotment to keep the former Vezina Trophy winner fresher when the postseason rolls around.
Goaltender Jesper Wallstedt – Minnesota's first-round pick two years ago – will likely spend the full season in Iowa. He's just 19.
The other splash the team made in the offseason was trading away Kevin Fiala to the Los Angeles Kings for a first-round pick, plus prospect and collegiate defenseman for the Golden Gophers, Brock Faber.
Fiala contributed 85 points last season which would have set the Wild's franchise record, but Kirill Kaprizov notched 108.
Minnesota did not fill Fiala's roster spot with an addition in free agency.
Instead, they hope to fill the void internally with a few youngsters.
The 'Kids'
The biggest 'addition' to the 2022 version of the Minnesota Wild?
Marco Rossi.
The former first-round pick spent the 2021 season in Iowa. He was called up for a handful of games with the big club but now is here to stay.
Rossi led the NHL in points this preseason.
The 21-year-old will start this season on the fourth line and the team's second power-play unit.
Head coach Dean Evason has stressed the unit will get their fair share of ice time in comparison to other teams' fourth lines, however.
Defenseman Calen Addison, a former second-round pick, also made the club this season after spending the majority of last year in Iowa.
He is an offensive-minded defenseman and had a clear path to make the club because the Wild traded Dimitry Kulikov – a top-six defenseman last year – in the offseason, and did not add much on the back end over the summer.
The swift-skating defenseman will be on the top powerplay unit.
"To see them perform as they did throughout the preseason, that's part of the development, and that's an exciting part for the entire organization," Wild coach Dean Evason said Sunday in regards to Rossi and Addison making the team.
Those two have a lot to unveil to Wild fans.
The last of the three has already shown he's a star in the making.
Matt Boldy has solidified himself on this team. The former 12th overall pick had 39 points in 47 games last season in his rookie year.
Fiala - who Boldy shared a plethora of offensive success - is gone. On opening night, Boldy will be on the right side of center Sam Steel – signed this offseason – and Frederick Gaudreau.
Boldy and Gaudreau were on the same line a year ago with Fiala, but it was a different composition. Gaudreau was playing at center.
Top Lines
The Wild's number-one line from a season ago returns with the same three: Kaprizov, Ryan Hartmann, and Mats Zuccarello.
This is the engine that makes the team go offensively.
Hartmann played in all 82 games last season and recorded a career-best 65 points, 34 more than his previous career-best.
His two wingers are the centerpieces, however.
Kaprizov has proved he's worth every penny heading into the second year of a five-year, $45-million contract.
Not only did he help Hartmann shatter a career-high in points, but Zuccarello did that too.
Zuccarello had 79 points in 70 games last season, 18 more points than his previous career best, and he did it in 11 fewer games.
If this line avoids significant injuries like it did last year, the Wild's offense should again be near the top of the league.
The GREEF line – an acronym for Jordan Greenway, Joel Erikkson Ek, and Marcus Foligno – will play together when they are all healthy.
At their best, they rarely allow grade-A opposing scoring chances and control five-on-five play.
However, Greenway will miss the early going – he had surgery in the offseason – so Tyson Jost will fill his spot for the time being.
Greenway is expected to return to the lineup soon. He was cleared for full contact Wednesday, according to Wild beat writer Michael Russo of TheAthletic.
Defensively, Minnesota is very similar to last season.
Jonas Brodin and Matt Dumba will be a pair, along with captain Jared Spurgeon alongside Alex Goligoski, according to Daily Faceoff.
Addison is expected to be on the third pair with Jake Middleton. Defenseman Jon Merill had off-season surgery but was also cleared for full contact Wednesday.
Special Teams
A question mark heading into the season is a carry-over from 2021.
Will the special teams improve?
Both were below the league average last year. The powerplay was 18th and the penalty kill was 25th.
The play carried over to the postseason and was detrimental towards the first-round exit.
It's been a talking point all-offseason.
Will these new units lift the team to new heights?
With Fiala gone, Joel Erikkson Ek has filled his spot on the first powerplay unit, according to The Athletic, and Addison will be the lone defenseman.
The top unit can certainly change given injuries or a lack of production, but that's how the Wild are expected to stack up as they open the season.
The Question
Is this team good enough to win the Stanley Cup?
The 2021 champion and Central Division foe Colorado Avalanche are the obvious roadblock in the Wild's path. The Avalanche is the favorite to win it all again this season.
Minnesota has the eighth-best odds in the league at 17-1.
On paper, the Wild is a legitimate contender to raise the state's first-ever Stanley Cup banner.
One question will persist in the minds of Wild fans throughout the next seven months no matter how well the regular season goes.
How will they perform when it matters most?