Article: Could the Wild Create A Contender By 2025-26?

[Kalisha Turnipseed]

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[Luke Sims]

It's all about opportunity.

[vonlonster67]

A lot of people like to bank on Pronman's info, but I would suggest you check out EP Rinkside 2023 NHL Prospect Pool Rankings: No. 7-ranked Minnesota Wild by Cam Robinson,  Director of Film Scouting.

Thanks for the info Kalisha, it feels like Thanksgiving and its a month before Christmas, albeit two years from now.

We're gonna get a hell of a preview this year in IA,  and Univ. of Michigan (Warren), Univ. of North Dakota (Benoit), Univ. of Minnesota (Clark), Univ. of Wisconsin (Stramel), Harvard Univ. (Healey), Univ. of Minnesota-Duluth (Pionk), St. Cloud State University (Peart), Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod (Firstov), Metallurg Magnitogorsk (Yurov), SKA St. Petersburg (Khusnutdinov), Salavat Yulaev Ufa (Guskov), Prince George Cougars (Heidt), Victoria Royals (Parker), Saginaw Spirit (Haight), Owen Sound Attack (Petrovský), Oshawa Generals (Kumpulainen), Färjestad BK (Öhgren).

Edited September 15, 2023 by vonlonster67

[Velgey]

If the team pans out into a roster using the rough comparables above, that looks like a dark horse contender. The Wild would be a tough out and teams without two or more strong scoring lines or outrageous special teams would find it very difficult to score against the Wild.

The dominant offense isn't quite there though for Minnesota to be considered a favorite to win it all. For the Wild to win the Stanley Cup, I would expect that either Kaprizov would have to turn in a dominant scoring performance over the playoffs, or Wallstedt would have to deliver a Conn Smythe-worthy turn in the crease. Both of which are posible! 

[vonlonster67]

33 minutes ago, Velgey said:

If the team pans out into a roster using the rough comparables above, that looks like a dark horse contender. The Wild would be a tough out and teams without two or more strong scoring lines or outrageous special teams would find it very difficult to score against the Wild.

The dominant offense isn't quite there though for Minnesota to be considered a favorite to win it all. For the Wild to win the Stanley Cup, I would expect that either Kaprizov would have to turn in a dominant scoring performance over the playoffs, or Wallstedt would have to deliver a Conn Smythe-worthy turn in the crease. Both of which are posible! 

The dominant offense will come with Boldy, Öhgren, KK, Yurov and Dino and the Cup contention can be health, consistency, goal tender play and a little luck!

[Dango]

The Wild will also have a ton of cash , i imagine Kaprisoz gets a 2-3 million boost ,  everyone else will be either under contract or moving on by then  so theres got to be atleast 1 signifigant FA pickup  to add to the mix  .

[FredJohnson]

A contender...or a favorite?

And I didn't notice that Faby Baby is tiny like Tank. 🤔

[Imyourhuckleberry]

1 hour ago, Dango said:

The Wild will also have a ton of cash , i imagine Kaprisoz gets a 2-3 million boost ,  everyone else will be either under contract or moving on by then  so theres got to be atleast 1 signifigant FA pickup  to add to the mix  .

Yeah, possible that a couple of the prospects could be packaged to get another semi-elite player by then as well.

Guerin has a lot of options to improve the Wild after this season, and he's been doing a solid job keeping an eye on the long-term while keeping them competitive, so hopefully they really elevate their play when the buy-out anchors finally fall off.

[bisopher]

I think Wallstedt's got a pretty simple Wild player equivalent:

Filip Gustavsson-plus-plus

[mnfaninnc]

While I don't necessarily agree with the player comparisons, I do believe in the result: An up and coming contender. 

It would be nice if some of these pieces could arrive before expectation.