32 in (roughly) 32 Season Preview: Minnesota Wild

Minnesota remain at the top of their game despite a couple off-season losses

Team: Minnesota Wild

GM: Jake Firestone

Power Ranking Placement: 6/32 in league, 1/8 in division, 4/16 in conference

Significant Additions:

Brett Kulak, D - 77 OV

Significant Subtractions:

Jared Spurgeon, D - 87 OV

Jake Allen, G - 85 OV

Ian Cole, D - 79 OV

Ryan Suzuki, C/W - 67 OV

Offseason grade: C

The off-season for the Wild was very quiet. They only made 3 trades, none of which will really play an impact on the season, and no acquisitions during free agency. They didn’t necessarily need to make any big changes since they are still by all means a stellar team. However, they lost who would have been their best defenseman in Jared Spurgeon, as well as their best backup goaltender in Jake Allen, both of which were lost to free agency. They had a reason for not replacing the losses they’ve had this off-season, but regardless of the reasoning, they still didn’t replace them so the team did come out of the off-season looking worse regardless. In place of Spurgeon and Ian Cole, the Wild have Kulak and Feharvary coming in who can replace them to some extent. In place of Allen, the Wild don’t have many solid options, but I predict Lukas Dostal will be the guy backing Gibson. There will be a lot of pressure on Gibson’s back to perform unless the Wild acquire a goaltender at some point throughout the season. Their forward group remains exactly the same, however I imagine that Jesper Bratt, who was typically a healthy scratch last season, as well Mason Marchment, will be taking the place of Kotkaniemi and Hoglander as they’ve grown beyond their skill level. Overall, despite some losses, I don’t believe the Wild will be too worried about the losses that occurred this off-season and they remain the best team in their division, though not by much seeing as it is the Central division.

Projected Lineup: 

Huberdeau - Aho - Rantanen

Smith - Pettersson - Bratt

Rakell - Coleman - M. Foligno

Sharangovich - Texier - Marchment

-

Rielly - Sanheim

McCabe - Fehervary

Marino - Kulak

-

Gibson

Dostal

Quote from the GM:

I discussed with GM Jake Firestone regarding his expectations for the upcoming season, and he said his expectations were “to be competitive in the ever difficult Central, but ultimately to be disappointed with how my team performs. Defense & goaltending will probably be my downfall, but the cost to upgrade those positions was too high.”

Season Expectations: Cup Favourite

The Wild remain favourites to win the cup. They have arguably one of the best forward groups in the league, so much so that Kotkaniemi and Hoglander project to be healthy scratches assuming they can work the cap space out to move guys from one roster to another. They have a much better defense group than I think even GM Firestone is giving himself credit for. Their real issue is goaltending. Gibson is a great goaltender, but assuming Dostal is the play as backup, it’s not ideal. Especially if something were to happen to Gibson at any point throughout the season, it could be challenging. In any case, the rest of the team is good enough to carry the goaltending in the few games where Gibson won’t be in nets, and despite the competition of the Central division, I can’t see a world where this team isn’t at least top 3 in their division by the end of the season and seeing as we’re only a few years removed from a very dominant cup-winning post-season performance, I see no reason why they wouldn’t be able to run it back this year.

In the next entry, we’ll be covering the Montreal Canadiens. Thank you for reading, and have a wonderful day!

Previous entries:

Anaheim Ducks: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-anaheim-ducks

Arizona Coyotes: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-sesaon-preview-arizona-coyotes

Boston Bruins: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-boston-bruins

Buffalo Sabres: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-buffalo-sabres

Calgary Flames: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-calgary-flames

Carolina Hurricanes: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-carolina-hurricanes

Chicago Blackhawks: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-chicago-blackhawks

Colorado Avalanche: https://dchl.ca/articles/league/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-colorado-avalanche

Columbus Blue Jackets: 

https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-columbus-blue-jackets

Dallas Stars: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-dallas-stars

Detroit Red Wings: https://dchl.ca/articles/league/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-detroit-red-wings

Edmonton Oilers: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-edmonton-oilers

Florida Panthers: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-florida-panthers

Los Angeles Kings: https://dchl.ca/articles/league/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-los-angeles-kings