Article: The Wild’s Newfound Depth May Create Scoring In An Unexpected Way

[Bekki Antonelli]

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[Scalptrash]

Jiricek had a really nice goal, hope to see that a lot this season.

[FredJohnson]

Pegs losing to the IowaWild...

[1Brotherbill]

It's preseason so the results don't really matter for a lot of the players.  That being said Minnesota taking Dallas to OT was interesting being they had so many starters on the ice.  Hopefully Dallas is severely overrated this year.

[Beast]

I put no stock in the game against Dallas.  The starters were in there for a warm up.  To get their legs under them.  They were not even remotely concerned with the score of the game.  They were concerned about getting some live ice time without getting hurt.  The Wild had numerous guys playing their tail off to make the roster or show the the staff they shouldn’t get released.  This does not mean the Wild’s JV squad can even hold a candle to one of the best teams in the NHL.

Im sorry, but this is not a deep team, by any stretch.  We saw that last year.  We have a line and a half of quality forwards, and we have one proven high quality defenseman who can be relied on to stay healthy.  When you have guys like Mojo, Zucc, or Foligno getting top 6 shifts, and Middleton on your top pair for long stretches, it’s a bad team.  Buium, Yurov, and Ohgren aren’t fixing those problems right now (maybe a couple years).  I’m not sure Jiricek will ever be anything more then a shooter, but liability everywhere else, on the bottom 6 getting 12 minutes a night.  Our currently scheduled #2 goalie and once “best goalie prospect on earth” got absolutely shelled in the AHL.  Buium looked like he needed a lot of work in the playoffs (he got yanked).  And Ohgren hasn’t looked like more than a 3rd liner in his opportunities.  Expecting Yuov to be a difference maker after regressing in the KHL last year is aggressive.  I have yet to see evidence that the current regime can develop anyone into a high quality NHLer from scratch, unless they have other worldly talent (Boldy and Faber).

The ceiling for this roster is what we’ve seen historically from the Wild.  Maybe a good record in the regular season if they can avoid injury to few key players. They may even look like world beaters for a month early in the year, before the nagging injuries pile up .  Might make the playoffs.  Sure as heck won’t win a series.  Boldy and Kaprisov both looked like Gretzky last year, and they couldn’t even push the series against a relatively meh Golden Knights team to 7.

Im not trying to convince anyone not to be excited.  I’m excited for hockey.  I just think that is the reality.  And the team is by no means deep.  If they do something I don’t expect this year, it’s because Kaprisov won the Hart, Boldy took another step and found regular season consistency, Ek, Brodin, and Spurge played 80 games, and Gus was so good that Wallstadt didn’t play much.

Edited September 27 by Beast

[M_Nels]

On 9/26/2025 at 9:04 PM, Beast said:

we have one proven high quality defenseman who can be relied on to stay healthy.  When you have guys like Mojo, Zucc, or Foligno getting top 6 shifts, and Middleton on your top pair for long stretches, it’s a bad team.  Buium, Yurov, and Ohgren aren’t fixing those problems right now (maybe a couple years).  I’m not sure Jiricek will ever be anything more then a shooter, but liability everywhere else, on the bottom 6 getting 12 minutes a night.

Guessing the one proven high quality defenseman you're referring to is Brodin? I'd say Faber and Spurgeon are proven also. 

Jiricek has shown he belongs IMO. He's been confident, physical, has created offense for himself and has a wicked shot. He's made some mistakes sure but folks also forget he's only 21, the way he's talked about sometimes you'd think he's a 25 year old veteran with 200+ games.

Starts out 3rd pairing but I could see him being a very solid 2nd pair RHD. Lambos has had a really good preseason so we've got depth LHD also.

[Pewterschmidt]

17 minutes ago, M_Nels said:

Jiricek has shown he belongs IMO. He's been confident, physical, has created offense for himself and has a wicked shot. He's made some mistakes sure but folks also forget he's only 21

I agree on Jiri.  I like the way he's taking chances to make plays.  Thank god he's not another Nick Schulz stay at home D-man.  He's getting burned, yes.  But he's learning along the way.  Same for Z Boo, although I think he's further from an NHL'r than Jiri even with all the HYPE.  Z Boo is also not intimidated by the pro game and is pushing himself out of the safe comfort zone in order to make a play.  Lambos just might break thru as a 7th D this season. 

I cannot say the same for Ogz, Yurov or Haight.

1) Ogz ceiling is now Foligno (w/o the hitting).  Kids got no hands or hockey sense

2) The most common compliment for Yurov so far is that he's 'in position'.  That's an indictment for another first round pick.  Thanks Judd.

3) Last night was the first I've seen Haight stand out a few times.  If you blinked you missed it, but maybe there's something there there.

These three might eventually become legit NHL'rs but it won't be this year.

 

Edited September 29 by Pewterschmidt