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It’s a great time of year for hockey fans to look ahead. The Minnesota Wild selected five players in this year’s draft, offering an opportunity to learn more about the newest additions to the organization. The team selected two defensemen and three forwards, and I’ll spend some time examining each one in detail in the coming weeks. Previously, I detailed what Wild fans might expect from Theodor Hallquisth and Justin Kipkie, the two defensemen. Now, it’s on to the forwards, starting with Lirim Amidovski, whom the Wild picked with the second of their three fourth-round selections. Amidovski is a hard-working winger who director of amateur scouting Judd Brackett has described as a “heat-seeking missile.” I spent some time watching film on Amidovski, and here’s what I learned about him as a player. Lirim Amidovski 4th round, pick No. 121 (W) Hometown: Alliston, Ontario 6-foot-1, 181 pounds Shoots: Right 2024-25 statistics: 19 goals, 13 assists in 67 games played for North Bay Battalion (OHL) I had a blast watching Amidovski’s play. He has an extremely high work rate and plays with a dogged determination, never taking a shift off. As a skater, Amidovski possesses a strong stride and the ability to accelerate quickly. When he gets his large frame moving, he can surprise opponents with his speed. Amidovski has a solid center of gravity and doesn’t get clunky with direction changes, unlike many younger players of his size who tend to do so as they build strength. One of the first things I noticed about Amidovski is that he is always ready on faceoffs and at the start of shifts. When the puck is dropped, he erupts, winning seemingly every battle or race to a spot. If he doesn't get there first, he fights like hell to establish space or win the next battle. When Amidovski has the puck, he charges straight ahead and puts defenders on their heels. If a teammate has the puck, Amidovski will go straight to the net more often than not. When the other team has the puck, he backchecks furiously. He pressures the puck with direct attacks whenever he gets the chance, maintaining responsible off-puck positioning. North Bay was not a great team this past season, finishing 15th in a 20-team league while averaging only 2.85 goals per game, the second-lowest mark in the league. Needless to say, the team was short on playmakers. Amidovski isn’t a playmaker either, which is reflected in his lower offensive output. However, as the season went on, he had clearly earned the coaching staff’s trust and found himself playing on a dangerous third line that gave opponents fits on the forecheck and in transition. He also started getting significant power-play time towards the end and was called upon in late-game situations, whether his team was ahead or behind by a goal. In North Bay’s playoff series against a much stronger Brantford team, Amidovski was one of the most noticeable players on the ice for either team. He finished the season third on the team in shots on goal. Amidovski doesn’t possess dynamic puck skills and sometimes struggles with his first touch when receiving passes that are on his backhand or aren’t delivered tape-to-tape. Still, he has decent hands and maneuverability in tight spaces. North Bay players had a lot of freedom on the rush offensively, and Amidovski was not afraid to try to break down defenders with penetration and stickhandling. He was often successful at recognizing opportunities to put defenders on their heels and exploit bad gaps. When Amidovski can get in on their hands, he can maneuver through or around them to get into space and put a shot on. While his shot isn’t overly dangerous, it’s heavy. Amidovski possesses a quick release that allows him to let go from multiple angles, which surprises goaltenders and often leads to rebounds, or occasionally beats them clean. In the offensive zone, Amidovski’s instincts are to go hard to the front of the net when his teammates have the puck. When he is the second or third forward in, he watches the play like a hawk, ready to swoop in at the opportune moment. Amidovski constantly works to establish position for tips or rebounds, and remains at the ready to chase pucks down or hound defenders in the corners. Note the last clip below, where he pounces on a loose puck in the slot and turns to bury a quick shot. Defensively, Amidovski is responsible and doesn't cheat for offense. When he has to collapse down low for coverage, he remains there until he has support before moving back to higher coverage. When the puck is sent to the point or contested on the wall, he pounces to apply pressure and forces opposing players to make quick decisions, often leading to loose pucks or turnovers. He’s also a solid penalty killer who can pressure opponents with his tenacity, and hounds loose pucks with an eye toward counter-attacking. He tallied two short-handed goals and was one of the reasons that North Bay’s penalty kill was sixth best in the OHL. Outlook As a right-handed wing that is comfortable playing on either side, Amidovski’s ceiling is that of an effective bottom-six forward who can be a versatile depth piece on an NHL roster. To get there, he’ll have to play the same hard-working, fast-charging style that he has so far in major junior. His high motor and strong compete level, combined with his speed and ability to pressure opposing players in all three zones, is similar to what Wild fans were used to seeing from Brandon Duhaime. The more I watched Amidovski, the more I was reminded of how Duhaime looked during his time playing college hockey at Providence. He’ll also need to work on his puck skills and puck movement and become more precise with passes and first touches. Since North Bay was lacking in offensive talent, there weren’t many opportunities for Amidovski to engage in playmaking and creativity. The AHL will be a good place for him to work on that as he moves into professional hockey. It will be interesting to see how he meshes with better teammates at higher levels. I also think there’s room for growth in his stride that can help him become a faster skater, even as he adds muscle to his frame. Amidovski’s strong center of gravity will allow him to withstand physical play and push through contact as he advances to higher levels. Amidovski is not a dangerous goal-scoring threat, and it’s unlikely he will become one in professional hockey. However, his style of play is conducive to strong possession numbers and tiring out the opposition with determined shifts, which enables offensive zone starts and advantageous matchups for his top lines. It would not surprise me if coaches try putting him at center at some point. His responsible two-way game and ability to cover a lot of ice may make him a good fit for that position. However, he also possesses a significant amount of utility as a hard-skating winger. Amidovski’s defensively responsible tendencies might be partly due to adhering to a structured system. Still, an 18-year-old forward who rarely deviates from expected positioning is indicative of a mature player who won't need extensive coaching in terms of understanding and sticking to roles and responsibilities. That leads me to believe that he will be an effective penalty killer at the professional level. I would not be surprised if Amidovski joins the wave of Canadian junior players that are moving on to the NCAA after the recent rule changes regarding eligibility for such players. If he doesn’t do so before next season, I could see the Wild signing him after next season and starting him off in Iowa for the 2026-27 season.

In the endless, three-year-long debate about Marco Rossi's value, the biggest argument of his critics is simple: He's another Mikael Granlund. It's not a particularly fair critique for either player. Rossi has been more productive than Granlund at a similar age while sticking at center. Meanwhile, Granlund has played 902 NHL games and has five 60-point seasons under his belt. That's a hell of a player. Still, the parallels between the two players make it easy for Wild fans to put them in the same box. Granlund and Rossi were drafted in the exact same spot (ninth overall), ten years apart. Minnesota drafted both of them as undersized centers with a lot of hype. They each had false starts in the NHL before adjusting and coming into their own with the Wild. Granlund played 461 games with the Wild, racking up 317 points, which still puts him in the top-10 in franchise history. Since leaving Minnesota in the Kevin Fiala trade, Granlund has pivoted back to center, spending stints with the Nashville Predators and San Jose Sharks before catching on with the Dallas Stars for their playoff run. Once in Dallas, he apparently impressed the organization enough that the Stars wanted to keep him around, even though he ultimately signed with the Anaheim Ducks. Granlund signed a three-year, $21 million deal with Anaheim. The $7 million AAV is a match to what Rossi is believed to be asking for in his RFA negotiations with the Wild. So while it's easy to argue otherwise, let's accept the premise: Rossi is the next Mikael Granlund. OK, then. The debate's over. We know how much that's worth, and the price tag is $7 million AAV. A seven-year deal would take Rossi through his age 24 to 30 seasons, using Hockey-Reference's cutoffs. During that same age range, Granlund averaged 18 goals and 57 points per 82 games. If that's Rossi's exact career trajectory, then we should be able to expect him to be around a 60-point center over that time. That was the case for Granlund over his last contract (four years, $5M AAV); he averaged 61 points per 82 games during that time. He got $7 million. The market spoke! Sure, they're different circumstances. Granlund was a UFA, while Rossi's rights are restricted. He can sign with another team, but the Wild have the right of first refusal for the contract and have vowed to match any offer sheet. Teams could get into a bidding war for Granlund's services, while they have to be much more strategic if they wish to pursue Rossi. Still, even so, we have another Granlund contract that helps us spitball his value -- his three-year RFA deal signed in 2017. At age 24, Granlund broke out after a shift from center to wing. He blew past his career highs of 13 goals and 44 points en route to a 26-goal, 69-point season. Again, you can draw the parallels between the two players if you like. Granlund increased his career-high by 25 points in a contract year, while Rossi moved his up by 20 last season. Like Guerin has with Rossi today, Chuck Fletcher seemed to have his doubts about going long-term with Granlund after his breakout season. While Fletcher handed out five- and six-year deals for Nino Niederreiter, Charlie Coyle, and Jonas Brodin, he opted for a shorter-term contract with Granlund, signing a three-year, $5.85 million AAV deal. It was a "prove-it" deal of sorts, giving Granlund the ability to show he could play at a high level before hitting UFA status. It also came in at a hefty rate, accounting for 7.67% of the salary cap when it took effect. A 60-point season from a young player was highly valued then, and it remains highly valued now, even if the player doesn't have a long history of achieving that mark. Applying that same percentage to Rossi's cap hit for the upcoming season gives us something in the $7.3 million range. Again, if Rossi is simply the next Granlund... that's what Granlund was worth at a similar stage in their career and trajectory. The Wild have their line with Rossi, but it doesn't appear to be one that's aligned with the market or reality. The highest reported AAV from Minnesota in a contract offer is $5 million, which matches what Ryan McLeod signed as an RFA this offseason, who put up fewer goals and points than Rossi despite being two years older. Come on. It's obvious where this writer stands RE: Rossi's value. A full-time center with strong two-way numbers and 60 points at 23 is a much better asset than Granlund was at any stage of his career. But fine, if you want to insist that they're the same player -- skilled, undersized forwards whose slighter frame puts a ceiling on them -- then, once again, we know what that's worth today. If Rossi is indeed the next Mikael Granlund, then pay him Granlund money. This shouldn't be that difficult!

The offseason is a strange time for a hockey blog. In less than one week, the draft and free agency created enough news to fill an encyclopedia. Days later, the news cycle dries up and leaves us hyper-focused on Day 2 draft selections and obscure language in the CBA. Most well-adjusted hockey fans (not you, dear reader) can usually unplug from the NHL until at least September. That leaves a unique audience for writers to delve into any topic they choose. To that end, I’ll be going deep on the Marco Rossi contract negotiation. What is an RFA? What is an offer sheet, and why would Rossi’s agent shop for one? Most importantly, which side has the leverage, and how does that affect the Wild’s salary cap? First, let’s look at Rossi’s options. As a Restricted Free Agent (RFA), he can technically sign with any team in the NHL; however, if another team signs Rossi, they must send draft picks to the Minnesota Wild based on amounts outlined in the NHL rules. Rossi’s AAV will likely come in around $7 million, so the only teams eligible to sign him are pictured in the bottom right. That depresses Rossi’s value for two reasons. First, supply and demand. Instead of 32 eligible teams, only 19 teams are eligible to sign Rossi at an AAV between $5 million and $7 million. Second, and more importantly, the draft pick compensation depresses Rossi’s market value. For all other teams, Rossi’s contract value is a basic math problem: the value of his on-ice production, minus the value of those draft picks. NHL teams have two currencies for acquiring players: draft picks and salary cap dollars. If Rossi costs a 1st- and 3rd-round pick, his value for all other teams is reduced. Hence, the lower cap-dollar cost for RFA contracts. According to NHL rules, if Rossi decided to sign with another team at that depressed value, the Wild would only need to match that salary number. Therefore, his total market value for any team is reduced. According to my estimates, league rules will reduce his contract value by about $11 million, about $2.5 million per year on a four-year deal. That $11 million number is fluid because different teams may value draft picks differently. For example, the Los Angeles Kings may consider themselves contenders, which would mean they would likely select later in the draft. Furthermore, the players they take may not reach the NHL by the time LA wants to compete. Still, that $2 million figure is sufficient for an estimate. In most RFA negotiations, that makes it easy for the team with that player’s rights (in this case, the Wild) to re-sign that player at a cheap AAV. In many cases, the player’s agent won’t even seek a competing offer. Instead, they’ll create an estimate of the player’s RFA value, meet with the player’s home club, and get something done. However, Rossi’s deal is different. Several factors are at play here that aren’t directly related to the negotiation. One is Rossi’s size and play style, and another is his demotion to the fourth line during the playoffs. The Athletic’s Michael Russo has reported that Rossi was unhappy with his playoff usage. Russo has also highlighted on his podcast that it created a lack of trust, which may make Rossi wary of a long-term deal in Minnesota. Unrelated to that dynamic, however, is the amount of pressure on Bill Guerin to ice a winner in October. The team has publicly acknowledged that they want to win a championship -- now. While Bill Guerin may debate how much of a role Rossi could play in that goal, everyone knows that a 1st- and 3rd-round pick would do nothing to contribute to that goal. All other options to replace Rossi have been exhausted. Minnesota examined the trade market for Rossi’s rights, striking out on JJ Peterka and any other options. They were unable to sign a top-six center in free agency. Marco Rossi is all that’s left. While league rules may have depressed Rossi’s RFA value, he has some leverage over the Wild. On the other hand, Rossi only has leverage over one team. He can’t use that to leverage a better deal, because that team happens to control his signing rights. That’s likely led to this game of chicken. So far, nobody is diving off the tractor. And why should they? Guerin needs to preserve as much cap space as possible for injury emergencies and future player acquisitions. After heart-related COVID complications, Rossi knows better than most 23-year-olds. That’s why Rossi’s agent is shopping for an offer sheet. Essentially, that offer sheet is the best deal Rossi can find with another team. Guerin will have a week to match that contract, or allow him to sign with that team in exchange for the draft picks attached to whatever AAV Rossi’s agent can bid up. Whether or not Rossi wants to play for the Wild next year has nothing to do with it. It’s the only mechanic left that can force the two sides to come together on a contract. So why all this back and forth? Why don’t RFA agents do this immediately every July 1? There are several reasons that would make home clubs their own RFAs, rather than match an offer sheet, which would theoretically inflate his value to the Wild. For example, if Rossi signs an offer sheet, Minnesota can only match the contract as it is signed with another team; they won’t be able to adjust the contract structure or term to meet their own preferences. Another reason Minnesota should prefer to sign Rossi on their own is that league rules prohibit teams from trading a player on a matched offer sheet until a calendar year after their home club matches the contract. In other words, if the Wild match a Rossi offer sheet on August 1, they can’t trade him until August 1, 2026. Both the contract term and Rossi’s trade eligibility are crucial points in Minnesota’s roster flexibility at the 2025-26 trade deadline and next offseason. Matching an offer sheet takes away that flexibility. That all means that Rossi and Guerin are likely to end up on the same side by the end of this. The only way Rossi could become expendable is if the Wild replace him with Danila Yurov or via trade. That trade can’t happen unless they find a contract together, and Yurov hasn’t played a game on an NHL ice sheet yet. In other words, Guerin needs Rossi on this Wild team. Maybe Guerin hates the idea of Rossi as a top-six center. If he does, it doesn’t matter. There’s no other option on the market. Maybe Rossi’s feelings are irreparably damaged by his demotion to the fourth line. Even if that’s the case, there is one final failsafe: A few million dollars can smooth over a lot of hurt feelings.

Standing at only 5'8”, you’d think Adam Benak would be a long shot to play in the NHL. However, that’s not the case for Minnesota Wild’s fourth-round selection out of Czechia. The Wild took Benak with the 102nd pick in last year’s draft. He may only be 5’8”, 163 lbs. Still, when you look at how he puts the puck in the net, his vision on the ice, his 200-foot game, and his motor, you’d never be able to guess that his size was holding him back. Benak played in the USHL with the Youngstown Phantoms last year, where he was the leading scorer with 59 points in 56 games. Benak has dominated wherever he has played, whether it’s internationally or in the Czech leagues. He has been a point-per-game player or better at almost every single level of hockey he’s played. Before dominating the USHL, Benak set the record for most points scored at the Hilinka-Gtetzky international tournament. His 17 points in seven games broke the record of 15 points set years ago. He has 21 points in 10 career games. Although Benak spent last season in the USHL, the Brantford Bulldogs took him second overall in the CHL import draft. Benak hasn’t indicated whether he’ll play in Brantford or continue with the Phantoms. There is something about Benak’s game that scouts in Minnesota love. “Just wait until he hits puberty. He’s still a boy,” Youngstown coach Ryan Ward said about Benák’s size. “People that look at his size should think twice. He’s a special player. Just give him some time,” Ward continued. “He’s an extraordinary hockey player. So competitive, so smart, unbelievable passer.” “He’s the kid that everybody tells me that if he were six-foot, he’d be a first-round pick, even a top-five pick. That’s how good this kid is,” The Athletic beat reporter Michael Russo said on his podcast with Wild play-by-play broadcaster Anthony LaPanta. “Played at Youngstown last year. From Czechia. English is fantastic. Buddies with Spacek. Buddies with both Jiricek brothers. … You look at his YouTube stuff. He is special.” On draft night, David Jiricek found Benak in the stands and gave him a ton of Wild gear. The connections to Minnesota’s current players are already strong. And as a smaller player, Benak can use Marco Rossi and Mats Zuccarello as examples of two other smaller players who have found success in Minnesota. Benak shares many similar attributes to Rossi. “He gives us speed, he gives us finesse, he sees the game,” said Jaroslav Nedved, Czechia’s assistant coach. “He’s a big part of our group. For us, he’s the biggest impact on our game. With his speed and hockey IQ, he sees the game one step ahead of everybody else. “He can skate one way to bring the defenceman in, and then he can pass it or delay it and put it to the second wave. And he knows what’s going to happen before everybody else knows. If he goes to the right or left side of the rink with the puck, it’s for a reason. “How do you say it in music? He’s the conductor, or the orchestrator. He orchestrates his teammates.” Remind you of anyone? “I think my work ethic is the biggest difference,” said Benak. “I know I’m smaller, but you don’t have to be the biggest guy if you’re the hardest worker. So that’s what I’m trying to do, and show people that size doesn’t matter for me.” Benak sees his size as an advantage and can’t wait to prove the doubters wrong. All stats and data via HockeyDB, Elite Prospects, and CapWages unless otherwise noted.

The Minnesota Wild’s Christmas extravaganza came up short this summer. After emerging from the bulk of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter’s contract buyouts, the Wild looked around and realized it was worth overpaying for a player that wouldn’t move the needle and settled on a trade for Vladimir Tarasenko and added Nico Sturm in free agency. Ultimately, this could be the most effective approach for general manager Bill Guerin. But the pressure is mounting. The Wild haven’t been out of the first round of the playoffs since the 2014-15 season. A large chunk of the returning core has been responsible for three straight 2-1 leads that were choked away in recent playoff series. These are signs that remaining status quo isn’t good enough to make a run in the Western Conference, and the best way to break the cycle is to create some diamonds. For those of you who aren’t gemologists, diamonds are formed from carbon atoms that bond under immense pressure and heat deep within the Earth’s mantle. While Grand Casino Arena isn’t likely to reach the 2000-degree temperature required to make this happen, Minnesota’s playoff failures have turned up the heat. Usually, the general manager would be the first figurehead to feel the heat. But Guerin has survived thanks to Minnesota’s elite farm system. Wild fans know the names. Zeev Buium made his NHL debut during last year’s playoff series against the Vegas Golden Knights. Jesper Wallstedt has been considered the Wild’s goalie of the future. Danila Yurov is making his trek from Russia, and they traded a big enough haul for David Jiricek that would make Jason Pominville blush. While Minnesota’s farm system was ranked second by The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler last February, it has yet to make a significant impact in St. Paul. Guerin and Judd Brackett's first-round picks, only Marco Rossi has emerged from Iowa to secure a major role. The Wild drafted Matt Boldy only months before hiring Guerin in 2019. Part of the reason is that the Wild have had a competitive team through most of that time. Guerin likes the team that he’s constructed, and he’s rewarded players with lucrative contract extensions. While Mats Zuccarello, Marcus Foligno, and Ryan Hartman have contributed to Minnesota’s success, their extensions have blocked the path of younger talent, making it more difficult for them to break into the NHL. Even Rossi had a difficult path to NHL minutes. The ninth-overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft rode up and down I-35 until he stuck in the NHL. Although he posted a 60-point season last winter, he was demoted to the fourth line in the playoffs and has been the subject of trade rumors. Other players have followed Rossi’s path. They acquired Jiricek in a massive trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets, but he spent most of last season either in Iowa or a press box. Liam Ohgren was the 19th overall pick of the 2022 draft but was mothballed behind Marcus Johansson. 2023 first-round pick Charlie Stramel is hoping to build off a solid first season at Michigan State, and the Wild are hopeful Buium can make an immediate impact next year after they scratched him in favor of Jon Merrill in the playoffs. The labor has yet to produce fruits, but it’s not like the Wild haven’t mined impact talent. Boldy overcame a midseason slump to become a franchise-building block for Minnesota last season. Brock Faber has become an elite defenseman after coming over in the Kevin Fiala trade. Even a modest trade, like the 2022 deal for Jacob Middleton, gave Minnesota a top-four player on the blue line, and it’s helped the Wild make the playoffs despite their cap situation. Still, the Wild need more. Part of this falls on the players who need to take a step forward. Buium could be a key piece in Minnesota’s search for offense after 54 points in 65 collegiate games at Denver. Yurov could also be an intriguing addition if he can make the jump from the KHL and adapt to his move to center. Jiricek and Ohgren could also be breakout candidates, but they’ll need some help to see the ice. That's why John Hynes bears a lot of responsibility next year. Hynes knows he needs to win this season and may not have patience with mistakes from young players. But we’ve already seen the ceiling of the current roster. While it may be tempting to throw Johansson out there, it could be at the expense of Ohgren, who could be approaching “go-time” at age 21. The other players may not inspire a full-fledged youth movement, but could help the Wild get over their playoff drought or become pieces that they could ship for a bigger move at next year’s trade deadline. No matter what they do, Minnesota needs to unearth its talent to relieve some of the pressure it’s facing this season.

Minnesota sports fans have a very strong sense of fairness. It’s a sentiment common among middle children and others who feel passed over, likely a result of some simple math. In the 26 seasons of the North Stars plus the 25 seasons of the Wild, you’d expect one or two Stanley Cups in Minnesota just based on the number of opponents among whom to distribute those championships. Then, watch from afar as the Dallas Stars hoist Lord Stanley in just their sixth season (in a city that never even freezes!), and that sense of fairness calcifies into jealousy. So, when the team owner promises Christmas morning on July 1, 2025, who can blame those fans for a bitter reaction? I’d cry too if I opened my presents, hoping for a new set of golf clubs (bona fide top-six help) and instead found a $10 Amazon water brush (a 4th-line penalty-killing center, Nico Sturm) and a $50 gift card to Second Swing (a past-his-prime Vladimir Tarasenko). It falls on deaf ears to point out that the free agent class was unimpressive. I’ve been of the same opinion: You’ve got all this cap space, now get creative! Find a way to use it! But in the case of the Tarasenko trade, how much more creative does it get? The beauty of the Tarasenko deal is in the one-year term remaining on his contract. That’s nice for any team, but specifically for Minnesota. The reason? Kirill Kaprizov’s contract extension. The Wild need to do all they can to maximize their 2025-26 cap space without putting Kaprizov’s extension at risk. Tarasenko doesn’t just offer a viable floor at the second-line right wing (something that a 35-year-old Marcus Johansson doesn’t). He also keeps the 2026-27 cap sheet clean and flexible to reload again in the next offseason. At the time of this writing, there are very few questions about the 2026-27 roster that can’t be answered by Marco Rossi’s contract situation. Assuming the Wild re-signs him or replaces him with a player of similar value, they have about $45 million of cap space to address the following needs in the 2026 offseason: Extend Kaprizov ($14-17 million AAV) Replace Tarasenko and Mats Zuccarello with second-line forwards (typically valued around $6-7 million AAV each) Replace 7th defenseman Zach Bogosian ($1-2 million AAV) Extend or replace RFA David Jiricek Extend or replace UFA Filip Gustavsson Extend or replace Marco Rossi That leaves between $12 and $18 million to extend or replace Jiricek, Gustavsson, and Rossi. $12 million would be tight, but at least the plan is clear. $18 million would be incredibly flexible, unless one or both of Jiricek and Gustavsson perform far above expectations. Still, that would be a good problem to have, especially in Jiricek’s case. Tarasenko’s contract provides the Wild with better roster flexibility than either of Brock Boeser’s or Mikael Granlund’s multi-year deals. So, he’s cheap and won’t scare off Kirill. Now, the retort: Is he a second-line winger? It’s complicated. In each of Tarasenko's past three stops (Ottawa 2023-24, Florida at the 2024 trade deadline, and Detroit 2025-26), the answer has been no. His results on Ottawa’s second line looked more like a middle-six scorer than a true second-line winger. When he was traded to Florida at the deadline, Tarasenko mainly played on the third line with rookies Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen. In those minutes, he performed with an on-ice impact more fitting of a second-line player, but deployed as a third-liner. Tarasenko’s time in Detroit looked a lot like his time in Ottawa. Flashes of the old skill, but more of a middle-six forward than a top-six talent. So why should it be any different in Minnesota, with Tarasenko a whole year older? Three reasons: rest, linemates, and Kirill Kaprizov. Consider the difference in Tarasenko’s 2024 offseason versus 2025. After he hoisted the Cup with Florida on June 24, 2024, Tarasenko had three months and 16 days of rest. This year, his final game was on April 17. That’s more than two months of offseason rest and training for Tarasenko’s Minnesota season compared to his Detroit season. That’s about a 50% increase in rest this season compared to last. Add training camp and preseason to that, and the difference becomes even larger. You can roll your eyes at the inevitable September report that The Russian Veteran is in the best shape of his life. The fact is that the extra rest can make a difference, especially for a player who turns 34 in December. Barring a total failure to extend or replace Marco Rossi, Tarasenko’s linemates in Minnesota will be better than they were in Ottawa and Detroit. That could have been the reason for Tarasenko’s improved on-ice results in Florida, when he looked like a true second-liner rather than a middle-six tweener. Compare the ‘24-25 on-ice impacts of J.T. Compher and Jonatan Berggren to the ‘23-24 impacts from Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen. Now, which group looks more similar to Rossi and Zuccarello? The answer is Florida’s Lundell and Luostarinen. Furthermore, Rossi and Zuccarello appear to offer better support than Tarasenko’s Floridian linemates. If Minnesota can get the Florida version of Tarasenko instead of the Detroit version, even two years older, it would be a boon. That’s not even mentioning Kaprizov’s impact. No, I’m not saying that Kirill’s Russian Magic will cause supernatural improvement for Tarasenko, his countryman. But that Russian Magic should give Tarasenko better matchups via the gravity that a Hart Trophy candidate carries. Compare Kaprizov’s matchup-dictating presence to the star power in Tarasenko’s past three stops. Ottawa’s best players (Brady Tkachuck, Jake Sanderson, and Tim Stutzle) and Detroit’s top-end talent (Moritz Seider, Lucas Raymond, Dylan Larkin, and Alex DeBrincat) don’t strike fear into opponents' hearts the way that Kaprizov does. Conversely, the ‘23-24 Panthers (Tarasenko’s must successful stop) sported multiple dominant talents including Sam Reinhart, Aleksander Barkov, Gustav Forsling, and Matthew Tkachuk. While the Wild can’t match that level of depth, Kaprizov’s offensive dominance will provide similar shelter for Tarasenko’s matchups. There’s one factor that could negate all of this, which is obvious: Tarasenko is getting older. However, it’s entirely possible for players who were elite in their prime to maintain middle-of-the-lineup value into their early 30s. Based on Tarasenko’s past three NHL stops, Minnesota seems like a likely location for him to perform better on the second line than any other winger on the team. Nothing is ever guaranteed in the NHL, and Tarasenko’s floor could fall out at any moment. And it’s true: Tarasenko is nowhere near the slam-dunk “Christmas Morning”-type talent that fans were promised. Unfortunately, none of those types of players made it to free agency. Ultimately, the only certainty of this move is perhaps the most important: no matter how poorly this turns out, it’s only for one year. The Tarasenko trade can’t overspend Kaprizov’s money, and it can’t sap his hope in the team. If the 2025-26 roster underperforms, there’s plenty of ‘26-27 cap space to pitch to Kaprizov. That’s not just an empty promise, either -- it’s on PuckPedia.com right now. Without a hint of optimism, this move makes something out of the nothing that was the 2025 free agent class. It’s a zero-price, zero-downside move that makes use of this season’s cap space rather than leaving it burning a hole in Bill Guerin’s pocket. Forget the “Christmas Morning” quote and all the noise of expectations. Put yourself in the GM’s shoes, imagine yourself sitting behind that desk on the phone on July 1. This is managerial creativity. It’s not Christmas morning, but this is the closest realistic move to it.

The Minnesota Wild promised fans that July 1, 2025, would be “like Christmas.” It would be a holiday where the Wild would go out and spend all the money they have, because the league will have largely minimized the cap penalties for buying out Zach Parise and Ryan Suter. With the cap going up and a bevy of cap space available to them to spend, the team was in a position to spend some cash on some sweet new additions to push the Wild over the top and finally break through that first-round curse. However, Christmas morning has felt more like Presidents Day for the Wild. They’ve only inked one contract with one established NHL player, center Nico Sturm. While it’s nice to see a reunion with an old friend, a fourth-line center isn't exactly what most Wild fans had in mind when owner Craig Leipold promised them a free agency worth celebrating. They traded future considerations for veteran winger Vladimir Tarasenko. So, a scorer who may be past his prime and a fourth-line center? Those are not the Christmas presents Wild fans were hoping to receive. This is outrageous! It’s unfair! I want my GM to make reckless moves for the sake of making them so I can find something else to complain about! The Wild overpromised, but delivered Take a deep breath and realize that Bill is not going full Jim Benning in free agency. It’s a blessing in disguise, even though the Wild promised Christmas years ago. Pressure from ownership can force sports franchises into detrimental short-term thinking, and the Wild don’t want to become the latest example. Nobody is going to feel that Minnesota’s acquisitions will change its fate. Still, the front office made shrewd deals that make a lot of sense for the team’s short- and long-term future. Tarasenko should be more productive in Minnesota Starting with the new additions, Tarasenko sought a change and chose to relocate to Minnesota. The Russian waived his no-trade clause to join the Wild for the opportunity to play with Kaprizov and win a third Stanley Cup before the end of his career. Tarasenko has scored 30 goals or more six times in his NHL career and is only one season removed from scoring 23 goals and recording 55 points. Taresenko played on a Red Wings team that missed the playoffs, where he primarily played third-line minutes alongside J.T. Compher and Jonatan Berggren. Not exactly the kind of guys who are known for being playmakers. Taresenko thrives when he has someone who can pass him the puck, especially from center ice out to the wing. Marco Rossi and Danilla Yurov are ideal centers to complement Taresenko’s scoring ability. The Wild also have an option of playing him with Kaprizov, an adept playmaker who elevates everyone on his line. Sturm is an old friend who fixes new problems Fans remember Sturm as an elite faceoff guy with experience on the penalty kill. He’s a welcome addition to a team that struggled on the dot. None of Minnesota’s other centers were above average in the faceoff circle. Sturm replaces Freddy Gaudreau, after they traded him to the Seattle Kraken. Adding a more defensively sound, faceoff-winning center will be a boon to the Wild’s penalty kill and faceoff percentage. At only $2 million for two seasons, that’s a wonderful little contract for Minnesota. The Wild also get a big win in the hope they’ll retain Rossi after an offseason of trade rumors. Guerin has stated that the Wild will match any offer sheet from another team. While Guerin may not be committed to Rossi long-term, he remains a highly effective playmaking center who appears to be only getting better as he develops his game. The Wild’s free-agent options at center were limited. Pius Suter played for the Vancouver Canucks last year and is the biggest name on the market. That’s not inspiring, nor is it needle-moving for Minnesota, so they’re wise to stick with their homegrown center. Depending on that Rossi deal, which will probably land in the $5 to $7 million range, this leaves the Wild with $10,961,668 in remaining cap space, assuming Zeev Buium, David Jiricek, Liam Ohgren, Danilla Yurov, and Jesper Wallstedt make the opening night roster. By avoiding the addition of numerous veterans and bloated contracts, the Wild maintains cap and roster flexibility, with the youngsters poised to make an impact on the roster. The internal improvements and developments from these young players are an exciting way for the Wild to build a team that wins in the playoffs. Ohgren looks primed to become a scoring threat this year, and Buium flashed his offensive potential on the blueline. Yurov has come over from the KHL and is ready to make an impact. Wallstedt should establish himself in the NHL this year. Many teams overspent in free agency, especially the Los Angeles Kings. Therefore, I’m thrilled with the Wild adding Sturm and the no-risk acquisition of Taresenko. Although the fans and owners clamored for Christmas Day, Guerin wisely preserved the team's financial future without further handicapping the team with bad investments. Sometimes the best free agent deals are the ones you don’t sign. All stats and data via HockeyDB, CapWages, and Natural Stat Trick unless otherwise noted.

When Zeev Buium makes his regular-season debut with the Minnesota Wild in September, he’ll be doing so as the crown jewel of their young core of prospects. The defender will only be 19 when the season starts, but expectations are already high. Buium could play a key role for the Wild immediately, especially with Jonas Brodin missing the beginning of the season with an injury. While fans, the organization, and media alike are excited for the player’s rookie season, perhaps no one has higher expectations for Buium than the young defender himself. In an interview with NHL.com, the Denver University product signaled his intention not just to be a part of the Wild’s lineup, but to be an impact player. "I do think that there is an opportunity for me to step in and be a player on the team," Buium said. "And for me, I don't just want to be a guy who's out there. … [I want to] help this team win. So yeah, I'm going to do whatever I can to do that." While Buium has all the tools to fulfill that goal, he’s a young and inexperienced player. The Wild will have to deploy him wisely to get the most out of his skill set while not drowning the player in responsibility. One of the best ways to maximize Buium’s potential would be to give him the opportunity for significant minutes on the power play unit. Buium is exceptionally suited to quarterback a power play unit given his refined offensive talents. In the Athletic’s recent top 100 drafted NHL prospects ranking, Scott Wheeler outlined some traits of Buium’s game that translate well to the extra-attacker unit. “He’s a plus-level skater and handler who plays an extremely involved game in all three zones,” wrote Wheeler, “whether that’s activating into the rush or off the point, shaking pressure on exits or across/off the blue line.” Buium showed those attributes in spades at Denver. The defender led the nation in scoring for two consecutive years due to his elite skating, ability to distribute to his teammates, taking the attack into his own hands when necessary, and using deception and agility to retain possession of the puck. That bundle of skills should translate well to the NHL, especially on power plays when there’s more room on the ice for Buium to go to work. Buium may face challenges early on as he adjusts to the league. Still, the power play is the perfect place for him to utilize his strengths in a controlled environment and become a key contributor for the Wild. If Buium can transition to the NHL as a power play specialist immediately, it would be a massive boon for Minnesota. The team struggled with the extra man last season, ranking 20th in the league with a 20.9% success rate. One of the key components missing from Minnesota’s power play is a true leader from the blueline on the unit. Brock Faber and Jared Spurgeon were the primary blueliners the Wild used on the power play last season. They’re both serviceable, but neither is a game-breaking distributor or offensive threat. According to Naturalstattrick.com, 80 defenders played more than 50 minutes on the power play last season. Jared Spurgeon ranked 32nd in points per 60 minutes (4.86), while Faber ranked 49th (3.41). Spurgeon and Faber are both high-level blueliners, but they lack the skills to make them lethal weapons with the man-advantage, specifically. Meanwhile, the best man-advantage units in the league are run mainly from the blue line, featuring an elite skating and passing defenseman who is also a scoring threat. Here are the best special teams units from last season: (Source: ESPN) Of the top ten power plays, seven of the clubs employ defenseman who ranked top-15 in points per 60 on the power play. That group of defenders includes elite puck-moving and skating blueliners such as Cale Makar, Shea Theodore, Luke Hughes, and Victor Hedman. Buium shares many attributes with that group of players. He has similar size and possesses a comparable skill set to Makar, Theodore, and Hughes. They’re all puck-movers and the kind of distributors that have gravitational pull. Even if they aren’t finishing plays, the offense runs through them when they’re on the ice. While Hedman is an outlier in terms of size, he has a similar offensive skill set to one of the best passing defensemen in the league. They can also be a scoring threat when given the space. If Buium can use those skills on Minnesota’s power play, it would solve a few issues at once. Buium can fulfill his aspiration to be a massive asset for the Wild. Defenseman prospects generally take a bit longer to develop than their forward counterparts, so it’s conceivable that Buium could experience some growing pains as a 19-year-old. That won’t be as big an issue if he immediately becomes an impact player on the power play, which will take less time for him to be accustomed to due to his skill set. Buium’s ascent on that unit would also free up some of the load for Faber and Spurgeon. While one of the two would likely be the anchor of their second unit, it’s still less time on the ice. Spurgeon is getting older and could use a lighter assignment. While Faber is still young, he has also played a considerable number of minutes in his short career. It might benefit him to ease that load. The team also desperately needs to improve on special teams. Using Buium in that role would foster his development, benefit the team, and be advantageous for the other defenders' usage. How Buium adjusts to the NHL will be one of the most fascinating storylines for the Wild this season. They stand to get the most out of him by making him a focal point of their power play unit.

I'm done. As Mats Zuccarello has pushed later and later into his 30s, I've been wondering when the moment Father Time claims his victory over the seemingly ageless Norwegian wonder. It's gotta happen sometime, right?! Nope. Or at least, not last year. Zuccarello turned 37 last September, and while many of his fellow NHL Old Guys have been bounced from the league entirely by that age, "The Lizard of Oslo" stayed productive. Through 69 games last season, he scored 19 goals (tied for the fourth-most of his career) and 54 points (his seventh-most). Sure, he missed 13 games, but that injury was... let's say "atypical." You can't even credit Kirill Kaprizov for keeping him afloat last year, either. Not really. Zuccarello played only 44% of his power play minutes with Kaprizov, as well as less than a third of his 5-on-5 minutes. During his 40 games played without his usual running mate in the lineup, Zuccarello still mustered 10 goals and 27 points. Is the shoe gonna drop at age-38? I'm tired of forecasting it. Until proven otherwise, I've got to give Zuccarello the benefit of the doubt. Over the past half-decade, he's had as much staying power as almost any Old Guy we've seen during the Post-Lockout Era. Over the last 20 years, we've seen 68 forwards log 300 or more games between ages-33 and 37. Here's how the top-10 stacks up in terms of points per game: Sidney Crosby, 1.15 Daniel Alfredsson, 1.14 Martin St. Louis, 1.10 Alex Ovechkin, 1.06 Patrice Bergeron, 0.92 MATS ZUCCARELLO, 0.91 Ray Whitney, 0.92 Anze Kopitar, 0.86 Joe Thornton, 0.85 Patrik Elias/Jarome Iginla, 0.83 That's an absurd list to be on. Crosby, St. Louis, Ovechkin, Bergeron, Kopitar, Thornton, and Iginla are all either already in the Hall of Fame or locks to get there. Alfredsson and Elias are also borderline Hall guys. And here's Zuccarello, producing much bigger numbers in his mid-30s than he ever had before. There isn't much reason to think he can't do it again, except "Old." Zuccarello may continue to play most of his even-strength minutes without Kaprizov. With Matt Boldy, Vladimir Tarasenko, and even Danila Yurov in the mix next season, the Wild's superstar won't lack for options on the wing. Even so, his spot on Minnesota's top power play unit is almost assured, and his ability to not just distribute, but find Kaprizov, specifically, with space, is likely to help keep his numbers up. His work on the man advantage is a safety net, but let's not forget that he also showed significant chops when it came to driving offense at 5-on-5 last season. Zuccarello was one of just seven Wild forwards to have an on-ice goals-for percentage above 50% (51.3%), and Minnesota scored 2.62 goals per hour with Zuccarello on the ice at 5-on-5 last year. The only players to see better results were Kaprizov (3.18 per hour) and Marco Rossi (2.77). Minnesota's added depth is another reason for optimism. The Wild acquired Tarasenko, which could mean that John Hynes won't feel like he has to load up his top line with Kaprizov, Matt Boldy, and Joel Eriksson Ek. That'd be a perfect scenario for Zuccarello to continue exploiting the chemistry he has with Kaprizov and formed with Rossi at the start of last season. But even if Boldy gets the nod with Kaprizov on the top line, Zuccarello's options down the lineup are much better than in the past. Last season, if Zuccarello wasn't with Kaprizov or Boldy, his next-best alternative was Marcus Johansson. Now, it's Tarasenko. Sure, you can point to Tarasenko's stat line (11 goals, 33 points) being nearly identical to Johansson's (11 goals, 34 points). Still, Tarasenko was much better at creating dangerous scoring chances than Johansson last season. Even an old version of Tarasenko is likely to have retained more scoring talent than Johansson. And if Tarasenko doesn't work out? No sweat, Yurov or Liam Öhgren are there to take a spot on the wing if needed, and both have the talent to be productive goal-scorers. That's three viable options to line up opposite Zuccarello before we have to start considering someone like Johansson in that spot, and that's good news for Zuccarello's quest to keep it going at age-38. Banking on a 38-year-old to remain not just productive, but one of the better point-producers in recent Old Guy memory, is a decent way to look silly down the road. But look, Zuccarello has been spitting in the face of Father Time for this long without a downfall. Until further notice, I can't bet against him keeping a good chunk of his production going for the 2025-26 season.

The Minnesota Wild are buying... but no one's selling. The story of the NHL's offseason is that of an arms race where teams are loading up... with nothing. Teams are flush with cap space, but the product isn't out on the free agent market. The few big-name players were re-signed by their teams as soon as they realized how the summer would play out. This means that "Christmas Morning" didn't arrive for the Wild, who had hoped to land a big-name player via free agency or trade. With the draft and free agency largely in the rearview mirror, the next opportunity for holiday festivities comes at trade deadline season. Teams not named "the Pittsburgh Penguins" aren't selling now because they're hoping that they can move up into the playoff picture this next season. In July, any GM can convince themselves that their team is competitive. By January, the reality checks will have been written out, and teams that were reluctant to sell in the summer will be looking to cash in assets for futures. We assume. Of course, not all selling teams are equal. The Penguins are a great example. Sure, if they were willing to deal Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin, that'd be a different story. But in reality, we're talking about less-than-exciting names like Bryan Rust and Thomas Novak. If the Chicago Blackhawks flop this season, are teams going to be lining up to pilfer their roster? As much as Bill Guerin (and a bunch of other GMs) would covet getting Nick Foligno for a playoff run, there'd be no one available to qualify as a "Christmas Morning"-type add. So, what teams should Wild fans hope fall out of the picture and sell at the deadline? The big dreams from the fan base involve centers with multiple years left on their contracts who may theoretically demand out of their situation if things go wrong. You know their names: Dylan Larkin, Tage Thompson, and Brady Tkachuk. We're going to narrow our scope just a touch. We're looking for teams with either veteran forwards who will become UFA in 2026 or (preferably) 2027, or soon-to-be expensive RFAs in the 24- to 26-year-old age range. Which teams would have the most to offer the Wild if things go south? Buffalo Sabres Even if Thompson doesn't shake loose, Buffalo would make sense for the Wild to examine. There's a lot of potential for some "The Boys Are Back In Town" action with Jordan Greenway and Jason Zucker (UFA 2027), but the obvious fit is Alex Tuch (UFA 2026). Tuch isn't the two-way force he was with the Vegas Golden Knights, but he still fits the bill as a power forward. The 6-foot-4 right-shot winger has banked 36 goals in two of the past three seasons and remains elite at driving offense at even-strength. Even as a pure rental, he'd add a new element to Minnesota. Even if we go a tier below Tuch, there are still some intriguing names that could become available. The most obvious is Jack Quinn (RFA 2027), a 2020 first-round pick and former teammate of Marco Rossi on the Ottawa 67s. He'd be a reclamation project for Minnesota, but a right-shot forward with some goal-scoring chops might be worth looking into. Columbus Blue Jackets The Jackets are included here because we're vultures circling the franchise's historical misery. Columbus has Kirill Marchenko (RFA 2027) on a deal that's so cheap it might as well be free, paying him just $3.85 million against the cap. The soon-to-be 25-year-old racked up 31 goals and 74 points last season while playing at a borderline-MVP level, contributing 5.1 Standings Points Above Replacement, according to Evolving-Hockey. Perhaps it's not ideal to fuel Columbus' paranoia. Still, if there's any indication that Marchenko might follow in the footsteps of Artemiy Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky, the Wild should be all over the situation. It'd probably be the best way to use Kirill Kaprizov's clout in an attempt to create a Russian Superfriends in St. Paul. Other names to monitor might include 22-year-old Kent Johnson (RFA 2027), who found his way under Dean Evason last year, scoring 24 goals and 57 points on the wing. Still, he has been unhappy with the organization before, and if old grudges resurface, that presents an opportunity. Minnesota might also have use for reclamation projects in Yegor Chinakhov and center Cole Sillinger (RFA 2026). Nashville Predators If Nashville can repeat its nightmare season, Ryan O'Reilly (UFA 2027) would be a perfect veteran target for Minnesota. His two-way credentials as a center are undisputed, even if last year was a step back, and you can't knock his playoff pedigree. He's averaged more goals and points in the playoffs (26 and 68, respectively) per 82 games than he has in the regular season (20/59) and has a Conn Smythe Award on his shelf. Even better, O'Reilly would come with an incredibly cheap $4.5 million cap hit. The hope would be that he'd remember his minutes as a Minnesota Wild player fondly and be psyched to return to the team that paid him a small part of his salary in 2023. And as long as we're dreaming about Cup-winning centers, if all Steven Stamkos (UFA 2028) knows in Nashville is two years of losing, what's his motivation to stay in Nashville for the last two years? New York Rangers Panarin (UFA 2026) would be the primary target, and likely the only real one for Minnesota's purposes. Like with Marchenko, this would be a test of how much pull Kaprizov's presence would have on fellow Russian players. If the Rangers stay out of the playoff picture, the Wild can get an early start on free agency in 2026. Seattle Kraken If Seattle becomes a seller next season, they might have the most to offer the Wild of any team. The highlight is Jared McCann (UFA 2027), who is 29 and has 132 goals since the start of the 2020-21 season. That's 46th in the NHL over that time, in line with the likes of Larkin (135), Brad Marchand (134), Elias Pettersson (131), and Brock Boeser (130). For a $5 million cap hit this season and next, the Wild would be getting a lot of bang for their buck. The Kraken also has a ton of veterans who are set to go UFA in 2026. They could corner the rental market with 6-foot-5 Mason Marchment, Jaden Schwartz, Jordan Eberle, and underrated goal-scorer Eeli Tolvanen. Maybe we're veering away from "Christmas Morning" -- if there were those kinds of players, Seattle wouldn't be expected to be an also-ran -- but each of them could help the Wild. The NHL landscape looks stagnant right now, but it won't stay that way forever. As teams fall in and out of contention, new names could easily shake loose, and the Wild need to be ready to strike. Even if Minnesota can't make those deals now, they'll be smart to use the summer to lay the groundwork that leads to them reeling in a big fish.

It’s a great time of year for hockey fans to look ahead. The recently completed NHL draft, in which the Minnesota Wild selected five players, provides an opportunity to learn more about the newest additions to the organization. The team selected two defensemen and three forwards, and I’ll spend some time examining each one in detail in the coming weeks. Yesterday, I shared what I learned about 2nd-round pick, defenseman Theodor Hallquisth. Today, I’m going to do a deep dive into the other defenseman the Wild selected, 5th-round pick Justin Kipkie. I spent some time watching film on Kipkie to see what I could learn. Here’s what I discovered: Justin Kipkie 5th round, pick No. 141 (D) Hometown: Calgary, Alberta 6-foot-4, 193 pounds Shoots: Left This was Kipkie’s second time getting drafted. The Arizona Coyotes (now Utah Mammoth) took him in the 5th round of the 2023 draft, but Utah didn’t sign him before June of this year and therefore lost his rights, making him draft-eligible once again. After watching some of Kipkie’s games from this past season, I’m genuinely shocked that Utah didn’t try to sign him to an entry-level deal. They could have allowed him to continue playing for the Victoria Royals in the WHL, where he has been for the past three seasons, including two as team captain. However, given Kipkie’s recent decision to play college hockey at Arizona State next season, it’s possible that the player chose not to sign. Regardless, Kipkie has a lot of tools that will translate well to professional hockey, and I think the Wild were wise to take a flyer on him. I’ll get to some of those tools in a second, but I must immediately note that Kipkie is a slow skater. He has decent top speed, but it takes him a long time to get there, and he loses a lot of footraces as a result. Unlike David Jiricek, who is still working on quick footwork and balance in small spaces and when changing direction, but has a powerful stride and good speed for a guy his size, Kipkie is flat-out slow in most situations. Kipkie doesn’t have quick feet and can’t rapidly accelerate in any situation. He doesn’t crossover as quickly as you’d like when trying to pick up speed going backwards. Kipkie compensates by shifting his weight to get additional leverage off his foot when gliding between pushes, which, combined with his size and reach, is adequate for staying with most skaters at the junior level. However, it’s something players will exploit at higher levels. If he gets caught out of position or puck watching, he has difficulty recovering. It’s fair to wonder whether he can improve his skating to a level that makes him capable of defending in professional hockey. He will need to develop exceptional discipline in terms of positioning and taking risks when defending if he wants to advance in the AHL and NHL. That said, Kipkie has access to a range of professional-level tools that allow him to become a quality pro if he can develop his skating skills. He reads the game well and uses his size and reach to disrupt plays. He’s not overly physical, but is effective at clearing traffic in front of the net and at gaining body position. He has excellent balance on his edges and a decent turn radius. These tools allow him to keep a good stance in all situations, which is especially beneficial when he has the puck. He has soft hands and pretty good skill for a big defenseman. Kipkie’s hands and stickhandling, combined with his balance, allow him to release quick, accurate passes from a lot of different stick positions; in his feet, out front, or behind his body, and also when reaching out. These attributes enable him to find passing lanes that aren’t always readily apparent, resulting in him delivering pucks to places where his teammates can make something happen. Kipkie has above-average offensive instincts and makes good puck moves to try to shake defenders. If they close on him, though, Kipkie has little escapability due to his slow feet. In pro hockey, he’ll need to make quicker puck decisions at the offensive blue line when opponents pressure him, or he’ll turn it over. However, when Kipkie gets into space, he becomes a threat and can dissect defenses with good vision and deception, complemented by a shot that has to be respected. He has a good release on hard snap shots and wristers. When Kipkie can put his full frame into a slap shot, he can unleash it with great effect. As an all-situations player for Victoria, he produced offense at even strength and on the power play. While he’ll likely never rise to a level where he gets much power play time in the NHL (if he gets there), he can be an effective power play quarterback in the AHL. Outlook There’s a scenario where Kipkie never develops as a skater and tops out as an ECHL or bottom-of-the-lineup AHL player. I’m not sure a coach can fully correct his skating deficiencies. Still, suppose they can, and his skating becomes adequate enough not to be a serious liability. We might see a scenario where Kipkie’s very real pro-level tools and large frame enable him to become an NHL defenseman. I love this pick for Minnesota and am looking forward to watching how the next few years unfold. The Wild have two full seasons to see how he develops before deciding to sign him, and playing college hockey will be a great next step in evaluating how Kipkie grows his game against tougher competition. There’s also a chance that the Wild signs him before that and views the ECHL as a next step. Either way, expect them to take it very slow with him. Jake Middleton didn’t become a full-time NHL player until he was 25 years old. While they’re different players, I’d view that as a best-case scenario for Kipkie and the Wild.

A new era in hockey prospect development began when the NCAA voted to allow Canadian junior hockey players to leave the Canadian Hockey League and join the college ranks. The move has resulted in several top prospects leaving their junior teams and committing to American college programs. One of those prospects is Ryder Ritchie, the Minnesota Wild's 2024 second-round pick. Ritchie recently committed to play at Boston University, a move that should pay significant dividends for his development. People are already hyping Ritchie as a Wild prospect. Hockey Wilderness ranked him as the organization's No. 7 prospect coming into last season, and he only built on that potential in last year's campaign. Ritchie used his explosive offensive tools to tally 61 points (29 goals and 32 assists) in 53 Western Hockey League games for the Medicine Hat Tigers. The forward from Calgary continued his strong form in the playoffs, scoring 18 points in 18 games on the way to a Memorial Cup appearance. While Ritchie has already established himself as an intriguing prospect, Boston University will provide fertile ground for him to develop his game further. BU has a storied history, with five national championships, 25 Frozen Four appearances, and several notable alums who have gone on to make an impact in the NHL. Since 2015, 15 Terriers have been drafted in the first round of the NHL draft, including stars like Jack Eichel, Charlie McAvoy, Jake Oettinger, and Macklin Celebrini. Head coach Jay Pandolfo has led BU to the national tournament in all three of his seasons since they hired him in 2022. Ritchie will be joining a program with winning aspirations, a roster filled with high-level prospects, and a strong track record of preparing players for the NHL. The move to the NCAA is an excellent opportunity for any prospect, but it could be especially impactful for Ritchie, given his specific needs and strengths. One of the primary benefits will be getting Ritchie ready for a more pro-style game. According to EliteProspects, he’s 6-foot-1, 185 pounds. That's more than enough size to play in the junior league, where players are much younger. In the NCAA, Ritchie will be playing against older players who have already filled out their frames. Ritchie has NHL size; he just needs to grow into it. That will happen at BU with a world-class nutrition and strength and conditioning program. Ritchie's physical growth will be significant for strengthening his defensive game. While experts already recognize him for his creativity and offensive flair, Ritchie's two-way play remains an area for improvement. That perceived lack of defensive upside isn't due to a lack of effort, though. Steven Ellis of Daily Faceoff states that "Ritchie can take over shifts with his high energy and workhorse attitude." Meanwhile, DobberProspects notes that the player has "great energy on the forecheck." If Ritchie continues to put in high-energy shifts, his defensive impact could improve significantly as he grows into an NHL body. College hockey's pace and physical demands should help him sharpen that part of his game faster than staying in juniors would. Ritchie's jump to Boston University should help him shore up some areas of weakness. However, BU is also a solid choice due to its track record of working with prospects that match Ritchie's skill set. As his defensive game develops, Ritchie's offensive toolkit, already his most significant asset, should become even more impactful at the college level. Let's take a look at some of Ritchie's best skills. Ritchie is best known for his creativity offensively as a playmaker, puck handler, and scorer. He's a quick and shifty skater who has a "cannon of a shot,” according to DobberProspects. Boston University has experience developing prospects with Ritchie’s unique blend of skills. For example, Trevor Zegras excelled as a Terrier in his lone college season in 2019-20 before making his NHL debut. Scouting reports from Zegras' draft year highlighted similar strengths to Ritchie's: elite playmaking, dynamic skating, and a dangerous shot. Zegras is one of the best playmakers in this class who can make unique plays by using his dynamic passing ability. -Hockeyprospect.com 2019 A slippery and shifty skater, he has exceptional foot mechanics and clean edges that allow him to be evasive. -Future Considerations 2019 Although creating for others is his specialist, he has a hell of a shot, too. -McKeen’s Hockey 2019 (Source: Eliteprospects.com) Zegras is far from the only former Terrier who profiles similarly to Ritchie. Cole Eiserman is a BU forward with an eye-popping shot and developed a high work-rate game in college last year by using his skating and energy to contribute offensively. While Ritchie's shot doesn't quite compare with Eiserman's, having the opportunity to play with that level of scorer should also elevate his game. Boston University is a fantastic fit for Ritchie. The rigors of college hockey should allow the forward to accelerate his progress in areas where he needs improvement. BU will accentuate his strengths, and they’ve demonstrated the ability to prepare prospects with Ritchie's skills for the next level. Ritchie's commitment to Boston University presents an opportunity for the Wild to refine an already promising offensive weapon into a more well-rounded player. There's still a long road to go for the 18-year-old prospect, but he made a wise decision signing with BU.

The Minnesota Frost are back-to-back Walter Cup Champions, but they lost several key players in the 2025 Expansion Draft. The Frost chose Kendall Cooper in the 1st round, 6th overall, to build back their defensive unit and add immediate depth to their roster. Minnesota signed Cooper to a 2-year, standard player agreement. Minnesota initially protected defenseman Lee Stecklein and forwards Kendall Coyne-Schofield and Taylor Heise. During the initial expansion signing window, PWHL Vancouver poached defensemen Claire Thompson and Sophie Jaques. Vancouver came back for seconds during the expansion draft and signed forwards Brooke McQuigge and Denisa Křížová to their team, further hampering the Frost offensively. The Frost opted for a defenseman for their first pick, likely because Thompson and Jaques left a meaningful void in the defensive zone. Thompson scored 31 goals and 56 assists over 129 games at Princeton. She also had 4 goals and 14 assists during the 2024-25 PWHL regular season, as well as 6 assists in the playoffs. Jaques scored 61 goals and 95 assists over 172 games at Ohio State University and helped out Minnesota with 7 goals and 15 assists this past season, along with 2 goals and 5 assists during the playoffs. Cooper has comparable college stats and a rocket of a shot. She played for 5 years at Quinnipiac University, where she scored 33 goals and 83 assists over 158 games. Thompson and Jaques already have multiple professional seasons, and it will take Cooper time to develop. Still, there is ample evidence that she has considerable upside. The Frost will contend for a third championship if she’s still able to pick corners like this in the PWHL: Cooper was the 2024-25 recipient of the Wayne Dean Sportsmanship award and earned a gold and silver medal playing for Team Canada’s U18 team. Canada has also named her one of the top 3 players for the U18 Worlds twice. During a post-draft interview with Cooper, Frost GM Melissa Caruso explained that Minnesota needed to rebuild its core defense and add replacement forwards, and specifically was looking for players with speed, strength, hockey smarts, and physicality. Caruso felt that Cooper had that offensive ability and great hockey IQ they were looking for, and anticipates Cooper to be an “immediate contributor” on the blue line. Her physical speed and quick decisions are evident in her playing style. In this clip, Cooper picks up a pass and makes an evasive move, but holds onto the puck. She decides to make a pass down low because she doesn’t have a good shooting lane, and then supports her teammate, Maddy Samoskevich, by giving her a takeover passing lane and drawing a Union College forward with her. In doing so, she gave Samoskevich space to shoot and score, earning Cooper an assist. The PWHL is one of the few leagues that allow body checking, which makes for a much more physical game and can be a challenging transition for recent college graduates who have not previously played with body checking. Cooper noted in the interview that she had played boys' hockey growing up and had experienced a year of hitting. Up against players as tall as 6’2, she learned to keep her head up and deal with the physicality of the game. Cooper is also 5'8", which will help her hold her own against more seasoned players. Minnesota needs players who can grow with the team and eventually become leaders. While Cooper will be a rookie for the 2025-26 season, she could potentially serve as a role model for younger players in the future. Cooper discussed her captainship for Quinnipiac as a fifth-year player on the Roar podcast and how she helped guide 14 new players on the roster. When asked about her role as captain, Cooper stressed the importance of “setting an example both on and off the ice” and utilizing her assistant captains to help new players adapt. She’s coming from a talented team and a winning program. Quinnipiac went 22-12-4 in the 2024-25 season and made it to the ECAC quarterfinals. Being able to play at a high level for 60 minutes and dig in to make the play in key moments is a skill in itself that players on winning teams develop. Cooper’s experience with 60-minute hockey at Quinnipiac will help her adjust to the Frost and PWHL level. Minnesota finished the 2024-25 season ranked third in power play percentage at 17.9%, trailing the Toronto Sceptres and New York Sirens, which had winning percentages of 25.8% and 18.5%, respectively. The Frost have lost some of the players who helped contribute to their success on the power play, and they have room to improve from last season. Hopefully, Cooper will also be able to play that role. Here are a few more of her top plays at Quinnipiac: The Frost may have lost key defenseman Thompson and Jaques during the PWHL expansion process. However, they capitalized on the regular draft by choosing Cooper as their top pick. Cooper’s strength, speed, and hockey IQ will likely make her an integral part of the team in the 2025-26 season, and potentially a member of their leadership in future seasons.

Minnesota Wild fans are waiting to see what Bill Guerin will do with Marco Rossi, but the Wild GM is focusing on the smaller pieces instead. Guerin recently signed old friend Nico Sturm to a 2-year, $4M contract to fill out their bottom 6 forward lineup. While Minnesota must sign players who drive winning, even small improvements on the lower lines can add up and have a significant impact. Sturm started his NHL career with the Wild in 2018 and stayed there until 2022, when Minnesota traded him to the Colorado Avalanche. He eventually signed with the San Jose Sharks, who traded him to the Florida Panthers in March 2025. He played in 15 regular-season games and 8 playoff games. Still, he was a healthy scratch for Florida’s entire final series. Guerin likely values Sturm’s playoff experience. He also signed 2-time Stanley Cup champion Vladimir Tarasenko this offseason. Sturm is a similar player to Freddy Gaudreau, whom the Wild traded to the Seattle Kraken in June for a 2025 4th-round pick. Gaudreau is on a $2.1M AAV contract and had 37 points in 82 games last season, while Sturm had 14 points over 62 games. Sturm has a worse offense, defense, and net rating. At a glance, Minnesota downgraded and saved negligible cap space. However, as a 3rd or 4th liner, Sturm’s primary role is to prevent goals rather than score them, and he exceeds Gaudreau in those stats. Although Gaudreau has a better overall defensive rating, Sturm outperformed him in goals against and the penalty kill. (Source: Hockey Stat Cards) (Source: Hockey Stat Cards) The slight adjustment could have a meaningful impact because penalty kill and goals against are two key areas the Wild must improve. At the end of the 2024-25 season, Minnesota ranked 30th in the PK with a 72.4% success rate and 15th in goals against, allowing 236 goals. Minnesota also finished the season 7th in shots against, with 2,428, indicating that they have strong goaltending but need to prevent and block more shots on net. Sturm has 3 inches and 25 pounds on Gaudreau, which makes him a little less agile but harder to shoot or skate past. Sturm is better in the faceoff dot than Gaudreau. Sturm has a 56.5% career average and averaged 62.7% for the Sharks and 51.0% for the Panthers in the 2024-25 season. Gaudreau’s career average is 49.3% and only 48.2% in the 2024-25 season. Even if the Wild lose offensive ability in choosing Sturm over Gaudreau, they still have 2 spots and $10,186,835 in cap space to add scoring. Despite his stats, Sturm generated offense on the penalty kill last season. Sharks forward Will Eklund managed a breakaway against the Detroit Red Wings during the PK last season. Sturm hustled back as support, picked up the pass, and scored. In a recent interview with Wild.com, Sturm described how he developed his penalty-killing skills. He mentioned that his four previous teams had employed different kill strategies. Minnesota used a passive box when he first played here, Colorado had a diamond formation, and San Jose played with top-down pressure. Sturm also gained experience with a more aggressive diamond in Florida. Notably, the Panthers ended the playoffs with the best penalty kill at 86.4%. Sturm also said that Florida coach Paul Maurice wanted him specifically for his PK skills. The Wild have tried to improve their penalty kill without discernible success. However, Sturm’s range of expertise should help them figure out the necessary changes and give them an edge next season. Sturm’s history of injuries presents a potential issue for the Wild. While every NHL team must deal with injuries, Minnesota had particularly bad luck with a range of injuries to key players. Most notably, Kirill Kaprizov only dressed for 41 regular-season games. Last season, Sturm sustained 3 upper-body injuries and 2 lower-body injuries. During his 47 games for the Sharks, Sturm averaged 10:08. He only played slightly more with the Panthers, averaging 11:18 over 15 games. He has a considerable number of injuries considering the amount of playing time, which may make him more susceptible than the average player. Teams struggle to keep centers healthy because they are at the highest risk for injury and are 1.4 times more likely to sustain subsequent injuries. While Sturm is only 30, he is more likely to get injured than a younger center. Even though Sturm will likely fit a bottom 6 role and not see extensive ice time, he’s a high risk for injury. Signing Sturm feels like a small move when the Wild needs a top-tier forward, but it’s a necessary improvement. While Gaudreau had better offensive statistics, Sturm has the strength and experience on the penalty kill, which is where Minnesota needs to improve. However, Sturm’s past injuries make him susceptible to new ones, which could add to the Wild’s ongoing difficulty in keeping the roster healthy. It’s a risk they’re willing to take to fix a penalty kill that’s plagued them for years.

Although the Minnesota Wild may still be reeling from their first-round exit, the team has a promising future ahead. Recently, Scott Wheeler put five of Minnesota’s prospects on his top 100 list. The accolades for the Wild’s young core didn’t end there. NHL.com named Matt Boldy as a top-10 NHL forward under the age of 25. It’s easy to see why exports hold Boldy in such high regard. He led the Wild in scoring last season and has been a solid contributor in Minnesota ever since arriving. There’s a lot to like about Boldy, but there are also natural questions about whether he can ascend to become one of the league’s best players. Bill Guerin famously forecasted that Boldy could score 50 goals and notch 50 assists a season during an appearance on the Spittin’ Chiclets Podcast last year. “I think Matt could be a 50/50 guy. I think he could give you 50 goals, 50 assists all day long,” Guerin said. “He’s that talented. He’s a ridiculous athlete. I mean, just a naturally gifted kid.” Boldy had 27 goals and 46 assists last year. He had his best season as a professional (27 goals, 46 assists, 73 points) but only slightly exceeded his previous campaign’s totals (29 goals, 40 assists, 69 points). Boldy’s output has mostly stabilized over the last several seasons. He’s hovered around 30 goals and 60 to 70 points for three years in a row. If the winger is going to explode offensively into a 100-point player, he would be bucking the average aging curve for an NHL player. Boldy will be 24 years old when next season starts, and 25 before the season’s end. According to Matt Desfosses’ analysis on Medium, which tracked players' points per game compared to their previous season, most offensive growth is typically achieved by a player’s age 24 or 25 season. (Source: Medium) On average, the 24/25 season is the last one where a player can expect to improve their point totals compared to the previous year. Offense is stable from age 24 to 29, which is consistent with a player’s prime. If Boldy follows that trend, he is pretty much what he is at this point. He’ll have developed into an excellent player who scores 30 goals a year and falls just short of a point per game. Still, it’s challenging to feel like there isn’t more potential there. Can Boldy buck the trend and go into another gear? He has the tools. There are several ways Boldy can unlock another gear, with the first being playing with more consistency. Unfortunately for the Wild, Kirill Kaprizov missed almost half of last year with an injury. That was detrimental to the team and Boldy’s production. Let’s take a look at some stats. The first table represents the Wild’s top players through December 23 when Kirill Kaprizov got injured. The second table displays the same statistics after Kaprizov's injury. (Source: Natural Stat Trick) Boldy had about the same total points per 60, improving slightly post-Kaprizov injury. That doesn’t tell the whole story, though, because his goals per 60 drastically dropped. The metrics tell a similar story with the line of Kaprizov, Eriksson Ek, and Boldy being the Wild’s best line last year. Johansson-Eriksson Ek-Boldy was also a solid line, but the Wild are at their best when they can pair their stars on the top unit. Boldy’s shooting percentage also contributed to his offensive stagnation last season. The Boston College product has shot over 12% every year of his career, until last season, when he scored on just 10% of his shots. That isn’t a precipitous fall, but a return to his career average of around 12.5% would have resulted in a new career high of 34 goals. Bad luck may have contributed to his reduced shooting percentage, but there are also things he can do to improve his scoring rate. Chief among those areas of improvement is how to be more assertive with his shot selection. Boldy has settled into a perimeter style that has suited him well, but most of his goals still come from close range. Last season, Matt Boldy’s average shot came from 32.3 feet away from the net. His average goal came from 25.1 feet away. The forward’s career high in goals came in the 2022-23 season (31 goals), and that year, his average goal was scored from 16.9 feet out. At 6'2”, 201 lbs, Matt Boldy has all the skills to get closer to the net, where he does his best work. He’s still valuable at range, but his scoring numbers could explode if he gets back to those high-danger areas. A more stable partnership with Kaprizov and a greater commitment to being a net-front presence could both go towards solving what Boldy’s most significant weakness has been in his NHL career. His consistency. In the same podcast appearance where Guerin said Boldy had 50/50 potential, he also admitted the player’s consistency is holding him back. “As a forward, I went through it mainly when I was younger, so I understand,” Guerin said. “I think consistency…it’s probably one of the hardest things to get in the game is [to] become a consistent player or perform at a high level each and every night.” Guerin said that before the 2024-25 season, but it holds true entering next season. Boldy had stretches of the season where he wasn’t compelling enough. He only scored seven points (just two goals) in 14 games during December. The most emblematic stretch of Boldy’s inconsistency came in late January and early February. On January 26, Boldy notched three assists against the Chicago Blackhawks. He was absent on the scoresheet for five games in a row before adding another three-point night on February 8. In a stretch of seven games, the Wild didn’t know whether they were going to get Boldy as a dominating force or whether he wouldn’t show up on the scoresheet at all. If Boldy is more consistent, his numbers will improve significantly. Is it likely that Boldy can ascend to Guerin’s 50 goals and 50 assists? That seems out of reach for reasonable expectations given his age. Still, the forward has some areas where he could pad his stats. Boldy improving would also be a massive boon for the Wild, given that they didn’t build on their roster significantly this offseason. If Minnesota is going to get better, they’re going to need to rely on development from their best young players. Boldy has to find a way to buck the aging curve and make the jump to being a true superstar.

Is the Minnesota Wild's long State-of-Hockey-wide faceoff nightmare over? Since Mikko Koivu and Eric Staal left St. Paul after the 2019-20 season, the team went from being middle-of-the-pack clubs in the NHL to one of the worst. Far from the dominant faceoff force they were when Koivu was at his peak, the Wild have been struggling not to be bottom-five in the league. The results over the last five seasons speak for themselves. Minnesota Wild Faceoff Percentage, by year: 2020-21: 46.5% (28th of 31) 2021-22: 46.7% (27th of 32) 2022-23: 47.7% (26th) 2023-24: 47.3% (26th) 2024-25: 46.7% (27th) You can (and we have) argued that this hasn't mattered in the grand scheme of things. The Wild made the playoffs in four of those five seasons, and while you can shrug that off due to their lack of postseason success, they're 11th in the NHL over that time with a .618 points percentage in the regular season. That's gotta mean something. It is also notable that the teams tied for first in points percentage are the Carolina Hurricanes (third in faceoffs over that time) and the Colorado Avalanche (who are 26th). Still, that hasn't stopped faceoffs from being a point of consternation for Wild fans and media. There are times, especially in the playoffs, when they really bit Minnesota. For example, the Dallas Stars' power play ran roughshod on the penalty kill during the 2023 playoffs. The Stars won a whopping 70% of their draws on the man advantage. That's why Nico Sturm, a fourth-line center, is going to be getting some major attention coming into the season. Sturm was a career 51.3% in the dot during his first stint in Minnesota -- one of just four Wild centers to take 200-plus draws since 2019-20 to be above 50%. However, his faceoff legend really took off in San Jose, where he won an incredible 58.6% of his opportunities over nearly three full seasons. That kind of percentage can pull Minnesota much closer to 50% on the season, as long as centers like Joel Eriksson Ek and Marco Rossi can stay not-too-far below that level. It gives the Wild some faceoff credibility, but how much will that really matter? Now might be a good time to temper our expectations a bit. Sturm shines the brightest in the faceoff dot at even-strength, with a 59.0% mark over 1,800 even-strength attempts in the past three seasons. That's tied with Jake Evans for the highest percentage in the league for anyone with over 1,500 faceoffs. But even-strength is probably when faceoffs matter the least. These aren't situational draws, the have-to-have-it moments. They're at times when possession changes quickly, and if you don't get the puck when it drops, you'll likely have it back soon enough. Especially for a fourth-liner. If Sturm was a top-line center, giving first crack at the puck to Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy at even-strength? Maybe that's a slightly bigger advantage. But Sturm's going to be winning possessions for players like Yakov Trenin and Marcus Johansson. We're not talking about a lot of extra goals coming from that. No, where you'd hope Sturm provides that advantage is on the penalty kill, where the stakes of winning a faceoff are higher. And Sturm's not bad at that. He's above water with a 50.5% win rate in 279 faceoffs. With that said, using 200 shorthanded draws as the cutoff, that only ranks 15th of 67 players. Again, not bad! Pretty good! But maybe not a game-changer. Or maybe even a series changer. The Wild's last three postseasons (all of which came after trading Sturm) have seen them go 40-for-106 in the faceoff dot on the penalty kill. That's 38.3%, almost as bad as it gets. But we're only talking about 35 draws, on average, in a six-game series. What's the difference between going 38.3% over 35 draws and 50.5%? Five faceoffs. 18 instead of 13. And that’s if Sturm took every draw. Moreover, that's if Sturm's regular-season dominance on a last-place team is transferrable to high-stakes playoff games. We haven't seen much to suggest that's the case. Admittedly, we're dealing with small sample sizes, but Sturm has taken 115 faceoffs during the postseason, during stints with the Wild, Colorado Avalanche, and Florida Panthers. What's his record on those? 43 wins, 74 losses. A 37.4% record. Look at the breakdown below. Nico Sturm, Playoff Faceoff%, by team: MIN: 40.0% (6-for-15) COL: 30.8% (12-for-39) FLA: 41.0% (25-for-61) That's pretty significantly worse than the Wild's 46.7% mark in their past three postseasons. The percentage doesn't get better when you account for Sturm being a penalty killer, a role where faceoffs can be much harder (and more crucial) to win. Sturm won just eight of his 24 shorthanded draws with Florida in the postseason last year, and 11 of the 33 he's had in his career. That's a 33.3% win rate that's... yup, worse than the Wild as a team over that time. The good news is, being bad in the faceoff dot didn't stop Sturm from effectively killing penalties. He allowed just two goals in about 22 minutes, which is a 5.56 goals against per hour that is less than half the rate the Wild have given up in their past three playoffs (12.04 goals against per hour). Sturm is a big body who can defend well, which will be an upgrade over the competitive but physically overmatched Freddy Gaudreau. Sturm is going to help, but it might not be exactly as we think. His role as a fourth-liner, combined with his elite stats in San Jose, not following him elsewhere, makes it difficult to believe that he'll solve the Wild's faceoff woes. But just as we're skeptical that Sturm can fix the Wild in the dot, we're skeptical that this is much of an issue to begin with. Remember: the Sharks were one of the worst teams in the NHL when Sturm was winning 60% of his draws, and the Wild have been a consistent playoff team while struggling in the dot. What Sturm can offer with his defense and speed once the play actually begins will be much more important than anything that happens the moment the puck drops.

One tough season isn't going to derail the Minnesota Wild's plans to have Jesper Wallstedt become "The Great Wall of St. Paul." But jeez, what a tough season last year was. After holding his own as a goalie in the AHL, posting a .908 and .910 save percentage during his first two North American pro seasons, things fell apart. Wallstedt had an abysmal .879 save percentage, surrendering five or more goals in seven of his 27 appearances. It was a season that dramatically dropped his stock. He went from being The Athletic's Scott Wheeler's No. 1-ranked goalie last July to No. 12 this year. The Wild are banking on the bounceback next year, partly because they have to. Marc-André Fleury's retirement means that at least 22 starts are now up for grabs. And honestly, there's room to take up even more playing time in St. Paul. Filip Gustavsson took on the sixth-biggest workload in hockey, starting 58 times. That's not crazy for an undisputed No. 1 goalie, but the Wild would surely like the luxury of pushing that number closer to 50. Minnesota doesn't just need 22 to 26 reliable starts, though. They need to know that there's a safe Plan B in case something goes wrong. They had that last year. Fleury showed his age (.899 save%), but he was a credible NHL option who could start for stretches in case of injury. There's no Fleury to act as that buffer this season. Cal Petersen is the Wild's third starter/AHL goalie, and he hasn't had 10 or more NHL starts since the 2021-22 season. If Gustavsson gets hurt, or reverts back to his 2023-24 form, The Great Wall of St. Paul is all that stands between making the playoffs or missing big. Wallstedt is ready for the challenge. "Now, after three seasons in the AHL, the goal is clearly to crack the NHL," he told Uffe Bodin (in Swedish, translated to English) at Daily Faceoff earlier this week. "I believe I’m capable of that when I’m at my best – but I still have to work on some things around my game. That’s definitely where I want to be." But ready or not, it's go-time for the 22-year-old. And it's not just because the Wild are seeking to take the next step in contention now that their buyout-induced cap hell is over. Whether Wallstedt plays 25, 55, or even zero games, this year is going to go a long way to determine Minnesota's future in net. Perhaps thanks to the increase in cap space league-wide, the goalie market is climbing up. Solid-but-unspectacular goalies like Mackenzie Blackwood, Logan Thompson, and Adin Hill are getting inked to five/six-year deals in the $5.25 to $6.25 million cap hit range. The top end of the market -- think Jake Oettinger, Jeremy Swayman, and Linus Ullmark -- is sitting at around $8-8.5 million. This matters a ton because Gustavsson will become a UFA next season. He's had ups and downs in St. Paul, but during his time in Minnesota, he has an overall save percentage of .914. You can give the Wild's defense a ton of the credit, but the fact remains that only Connor Hellebuyck, Ullmark, and Anthony Stolarz have a higher save percentage while facing 3,000-plus shot attempts over that time. Minnesota probably has to start with the assumption that Gustavsson's next contract will begin with a "6." It might even get to an "8" with another strong season, and maybe a "9" with an elite one. How much do the Wild want to foot that bill? Fair or not, that's going to depend entirely on how much confidence Wallstedt builds this year. If Wallstedt can thrive in 30 games and show that he's capable of handling a bigger workload next year, the Wild have options. They might be able to offer Gustavsson a lucrative two-year deal to stay in a good situation, then allow him to cash in later. Minnesota could also just declare Wallstedt their starter, then set about finding a reliable, but cost-effective backup. But if Wallstedt can't inspire that confidence, the Wild don't have the luxury of walking away from a Gustavsson contract that's not to their liking. They're either going to have to pay market-rate for Gustavsson, find another starting-caliber goalie, or roll the dice with a young goalie who struggled two seasons in a row. Neither of the latter two options would be particularly good. Teams like the New Jersey Devils and Colorado Avalanche have tried to go cheaper and cheaper in net, only to bottom out before course-correcting with Blackwood and Jacob Markstrom, respectively. It's already not easy to find solid goaltending, and it's only going to get more difficult. Unless Wallstedt wrests the starting job from Gustavsson entirely next season, there's not going to be a scenario where next year's goalie decision will feel easy. Still, Wallstedt has the power to make the Wild feel reasonably comfortable with however it goes, or make the entire State of Hockey incredibly nervous as Summer 2026 approaches.

The Minnesota Wild have a long history of great defensemen, but with Zeev Buium, they hope they have something a bit different. Blueliners like Jared Spurgeon, Jonas Brodin, and Ryan Suter have been true top-pairing defensemen, dictating play every night, giving them incredible stability over the last decade. However, the Wild didn't target and draft Buium to follow in those footsteps. They landed Buium to be a true gamebreaker. The standard is Quinn Hughes and Cale Makar, who've won three of the past four Norris Trophies. They don't just dictate the play; they also influence it. Hughes and Makar push the pace, are capable of generating offense on any shift, and are dominant on the power play. It's a high bar to live up to, but Buium's points per game at Denver (1.18 over two seasons) exceed what Hughes (0.89 in two seasons) and Makar (0.93) accomplished at the NCAA level, suggesting he has a chance. Hughes and Makar memorably stepped into the NHL during the 2019-20 season, waging a Calder Trophy battle that Makar eked out in the end. A big reason for this was that they were thrust into top-four roles almost instantly. In October of that season, Hughes averaged over 20 minutes per night, while Makar was second among defensemen on the right side with over 18 minutes. Each defender was able to build confidence quickly (with 10 points in their first 12 games) and parlayed that into minute-munching for the rest of the year. That's not typically how the Wild do things. During Bill Guerin's tenure as GM, Minnesota has tended to be cautious with prospects before throwing them into the deep end, with Brock Faber as the major exception. We saw a taste of that in the postseason last year, when Buium played in the playoffs, but for limited minutes on a relatively short leash. Minnesota's depth has a significant impact on that. Brodin is still on the Wild, and his defensive powers are still mighty. The team also has a lot of trust in Jake Middleton, a glue guy who had a career-high 21:52 average time on ice last season. Coach John Hynes can be conservative with the rookie Buium, limiting his minutes for the season. Except at the start of the season. With Brodin needing surgery that will leave him out past the beginning of the 2025-26 campaign, Hynes doesn't have the luxury of slow-playing Buium. Middleton can soak up a bunch of minutes. Still, without Brodin or the recently-traded Declan Chisholm, 20-plus minutes per night on the left side of the defense is open for the taking. That's why October will be more critical for Buium than perhaps any other player on the Wild. Buium is going to get a second chance at a first impression. He wasn't ready to jump straight out of college into a playoff lineup against the Vegas Golden Knights, a Cup contender. There's no shame in that for a 19-year-old. Still, it wasn't a performance like Faber's in the 2023 playoffs, which inspired Minnesota to move on from Matt Dumba and pencil Faber in as a top-pairing defenseman immediately. Under normal circumstances, we'd probably expect Buium to bide his time on the third pairing and work his way up past Middleton, then Brodin. Now, Buium gets to jump the line, and he must ensure to hold onto the spot. Buium is only going to get true top-four minutes if he can thrive at 5-on-5 with either Faber or Spurgeon. If he can't move the puck like he did at Denver or defend reasonably well, it's going to be easy to bump him back behind Brodin and Middleton. It's hard to see him losing a spot on the top power play, unless he struggles mightily, but being a power play specialist isn't going to get Buium a run at a Calder Trophy. To do that and truly become a gamebreaker for Minnesota next season, he must earn Hynes' trust at 5-on-5 and do so immediately. He has to be undeniably ready. Why is this so crucial? Why not have patience with a 19-year-old kid? The Wild have had very few avenues to make meaningful improvements this offseason. Adding Vladimir Tarasenko and Nico Sturm were decent, low-risk adds, but neither raised Minnesota's ceiling significantly. While Buium's not the Wild's only prospect who should be making the team full-time -- Danila Yurov, Liam Öhgren, and David Jiříček should join him -- Buium is probably the one who has the most potential to truly transform the Wild's dynamic. Fortunately, Buium is a mature player who has won virtually everywhere he's gone, and knows the stakes. His offseason goal is to add 10 to 15 pounds (he's currently listed at 185), which would certainly help his chances to impress the Wild coaching staff heading into training camp. If he can do that and parlay his added strength into a fast start, then he has a chance to shine for Minnesota immediately, and never let go of a top-four spot.

There’s an alternate universe where people called South Florida’s hockey team the “Block Busters.” The Florida Panthers’ founding owner, Wayne Huizenga, wanted to name them after his video rental chain. However, aside from their early success, the Panthers mostly languished at the bottom of the league. For years, it felt like Huizenga should have named them after his other companies. AutoNation because they were made up of spare parts, or Waste Management because they were mostly garbage. However, the Panthers started to transform from prey to predators during the quarantine season. They qualified for the bubble playoffs in 2019-20, marking only their fourth playoff appearance since reaching the Stanley Cup Finals in 1996. Five seasons later, they’re back-to-back champions. Nobody was talking about sunshine and tax breaks when Brad Boyes was Florida’s leading scorer in 2013-14. However, unlike many of the NHL’s best teams, the Panthers aren’t homegrown. They picked Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett off the dysfunctional Calgary Flames. Florida also grabbed its leading scorer, Sam Reinhart, from the Buffalo Sabres, who haven’t been to the playoffs since 2010-11. Florida is the kind of team that would capitalize on Minnesota’s longstanding mismanagement of Marco Rossi. The Rossi saga becomes increasingly perplexing the longer Minnesota drags it out. The Wild drafted a nearly NHL-ready player at a position of need. During the quarantine, he suffered from a COVID-related heart condition but returned to playing condition in 2021. Then things got weird. In 2021-22, Rossi had 53 points in 63 AHL games but only played two games with the Wild. A year later, he started the season in St. Paul but only had one point in his first 19 games. The Wild sent him down to Iowa and never recalled him, even though he had 51 points in 53 AHL games. Rossi has produced 100 points in the past two years and played 82 games in each season. He centered the first line when Joel Eriksson Ek was out and had two goals and an assist in the playoffs this year. Still, the Wild haven’t committed to Rossi long-term. A team that needs center depth is turning him into the next Matt Dumba, a skilled player perpetually on the trade block. Bill Guerin was a 6-foot-2, 22o lbs. power forward who played well into his 30s. That’s likely why he tends to prefer large, experienced players; Rossi is a 5-foot-9, 180 lbs., 23-year-old center. The Wild also has team control over Rossi because he’s a restricted free agent. Perhaps there’s tension between Guerin and Rossi’s camp, who can’t be happy with how they’ve managed him, and it’s bled into their negotiations. Regardless, Rossi fits a need for the Wild, and they’ve treated the former ninth-overall pick like a player they took a late-round flyer on. Danila Yurov is one of Minnesota’s first-round selections in 2022 and is coming over from Russia next year. Even if Yurov takes over the No. 2 center spot next year, he’ll likely have an adjustment period. Still, if Yurov takes over the second-line center spot, Rossi is an ideal third center. He can play in the top 6 if Eriksson Ek or Yurov get hurt, or solidify a viable third line. Even if the Wild must play him on the fly during road playoff games, deploying him over the boards during the course of play, they can play matchups at home. Rossi proved that he can score in the postseason, even though he was on the fourth line this year. Imagine what he could do on a line with a goalscoring winger. Guerin has managed the roster well in some capacity. He has Matt Boldy, Brock Faber, and Eriksson Ek on favorable contracts. However, like every general manager, he’ll have to balance offering a competitive contract to players who will want more money with the rising cap, while also considering the players he has under contract whom the Wild signed at a lower average annual value. Rossi also isn’t his top priority this offseason; he must re-sign Kirill Kaprizov. Still, Rossi is part of the formula for breaking out of the Wild’s first-round spell. Good teams are deep at center, and Rossi is the perfect 3C. Still, Guerin appears to be concerned about his size, despite his production. If the Wild don’t commit to Rossi, some other team will come in and scoop him up. If that happens, Minnesota would lose talent because of mismanagement. They would be acting more like Calgary or Buffalo than Florida.

The Minnesota Wild selected five players in last month’s NHL draft, in which they had a second-round pick, three fourth-round selections, and a fifth-rounder. Despite not having a high pick, Judd Brackett and his staff believe they were able to find some value in the draft. The team selected defensemen Theodor Hallquisth and Justin Kipkie in the second and fifth rounds, respectively. They also took forwards Adam Benak, Lirim Amidovski, and Carter Klippenstein in the fourth round. Now that free agency has come and gone and the offseason is hitting full swing, I thought it’d be a good time to do a deep dive on the Wild’s newest crop of prospects. What types of players are these guys, and what exactly should Wild fans expect from them? I spent some time watching film to see what I could learn. Here’s what I discovered, starting with Hallquisth. Theodor Hallquisth (D) 2nd round, pick No. 52 Hometown: Täby, Sweden 6-foot-2, 187 pounds Shoots: Right Hallsquith’s passing is my favorite thing about his game. The pace of his passes is usually correct for the situation, and he excels at finding seams on outlets. Hallquisth also recognizes the time and space to deliver short passes that relieve pressure. He isn’t offensively gifted and his hands aren’t great, but Hallquisth makes a lot of good touches and understands how to use his size and reach to find lanes and fend off attackers. Hallquisth also makes some nice, quick dekes to buy himself time with the puck. His ability to read the play up ice makes me confident he’ll remain a strong puck mover as he moves up levels. He doesn’t have a hard shot, but he could work on leveraging his stick and flex to generate more power. However, he can get accurate shots off quickly. I’m not sold on Hallquisth’s skating, though, and if he doesn’t make the NHL, I think his skating will be the reason. He doesn’t get a lot of power on his first strides, which can be halting and awkward, and I’m skeptical as to whether that’s something that he can develop. For many players, that can just be a matter of natural physical ability. He’s also awkward when crossing over at speed, but that seems fixable with increased strength and some coaching. On a positive note, Hallsquith moves well laterally for a player his size, which suggests that he may have enough natural physical attributes to overcome his skating deficiencies over time and become an adequate skater to defend in the NHL. Hallsquith reads plays well when defending and gets a good push off his backward skating and lateral movement, meaning he can defend against speed, especially when he can take advantage of his long reach. He can surprise players with a well-timed poke check or step into a lane and deny space. His lack of power with first strides means that he can get caught in his own zone when he has to switch quickly or recover on a broken play. However, his ability to use his reach means he often disrupts plays by getting into lanes. Lastly, his physical play is a definite strength, exemplifying how he effectively uses his size. When combined with his strong play reading and lateral movement, he can really step up and pop guys at the blue line. Hallsquith also effectively shuts down forechecks when he gets good body positioning down low. He can be overaggressive sometimes and go for hits at the wrong time, leaving him unable to recover or hanging a teammate out to dry, but that’s common with young players. Good coaching and development can iron out the flaws in his game. Outlook If Hallquisth’s skating improves enough to keep him from being a liability at the NHL level, I think he has a chance to become an NHL regular. He already plays a disciplined, pro-style game, and his puck-moving and recognition of time and space are advanced for his age. It will likely be a couple of years before he’s ready to make the jump to the AHL. Next season, expect to see him spend a good chunk of the year in the top Swedish league, where he plays in Orebro HK’s system. I’d expect him to arrive in Iowa in 2027-28, although a lot can happen between now and then, and the Wild retain his rights until June 2029.

The Minnesota Wild proved this offseason that a team doesn't become a destination just because they can spend a bit of money. Bill Guerin might have coveted hometown players Brock Nelson and Brock Boeser, but they didn't feel the same pull as Zach Parise and Ryan Suter did to return to Minnesota. As for top free agents like Mitch Marner, Sam Bennett, and John Tavares, well, the Wild weren't in any sort of consideration. Historically speaking, the Wild have little sway with free agents who lack roots in the State of Hockey or attended college in Minnesota. Of their major free-agent signings, Martin Havlat, Brian Rolston, and Mats Zuccarello are the only players who don't fit those parameters. The reason why is simple: They don't have a draw. If a free agent's priority is winning, then a team that hasn't won a playoff round in a decade isn't gonna be a destination. The Twin Cities aren't going to compare to living in a city like New York, Chicago, or Vancouver. The Wild don't have the history of the Philadelphia Flyers or Boston Bruins. St. Paul doesn't have the nice weather and no state tax selling point combo that the Dallas Stars, Vegas Golden Knights, Nashville Predators, and the Florida teams have leveraged in recent years. So, as much as it doesn't sound like a big deal, Vladimir Tarasenko waiving his no-trade clause to accept a trade to the Wild is a beacon of hope. While Tarasenko isn't at the height of his powers, that hasn't stopped anyone from spurning the Wild in the past. Just before his age-32 season, Phil Kessel famously rejected a trade to the Wild... in favor of the Arizona Coyotes! And Kessel was a Golden Gopher! Granted, Kessel chose Arizona partly to play under coach Rick Tocchet... but still, that one stings. But, hey, that was under Paul Fenton's notoriously rocky 14-month stint at GM. That's comforting until you realize that even under Guerin's much more stable, successful tenure, the Wild aren't exactly a draw. Patrik Laine, coming off an injury-plagued season with the Columbus Blue Jackets, is also believed to have rejected a trade to Minnesota last season. Maybe Tarasenko was willing to get a fresh start anywhere after a rough season in Detroit, regardless of who was or wasn't in Minnesota. But when asked about what intrigued him about Minnesota, Tarasenko made it clear: Kirill Kaprizov's evangelism. "I heard a lot of good things from Kirill," Tarasenko explained. "Obviously, I talked to him about the team and the group." When we talk about how the Wild haven't had a true superstar before Kaprizov, we tend to focus on the on-ice aspect. And yeah, ultimately, the goals, assists, and brilliant plays are what win games. But this is, as far as we know, the first time Wild fans have seen Kaprizov wield superstar-level influence over a player looking for a change of scenery. The opportunity to play with top players is a legitimate draw for free agents. As cap-strapped as the Edmonton Oilers were last summer, they were able to re-sign Adam Henrique and then add free agents Viktor Arvidsson, Jeff Skinner, and Corey Perry to below-market contracts. The pull to play with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl is that strong. This offseason, Tavares signed a deal with a $4.38 AAV following a 38-goal season to keep playing with Auston Matthews. Marner took below-market value to go play with Jack Eichel in Vegas. Kaprizov doesn't have McDavid, Draisaitl, and Eichel's playoff success, or Matthews' MVP pedigree. Still, he was running away as the consensus Hart Trophy favorite before getting injured. It would not be shocking to see him in the mix in the annual "Best Winger in the NHL" discussions once we get to the most boring part of the offseason. It feels like he's close to that status, and if Tarasenko is any indication, he might already have it with his countrymen. "I've talked to him before a few times [when] we've had the chance to be in the same company," said Tarasenko of his relationship with Kaprizov. "I know him as a very good person, very good to be around, and I'm very happy to be joining a team where he plays." St. Paul might become something of the NHL's Borscht Belt next season. Rookie Danila Yurov and fourth-liner Yakov Trenin will join Kaprizov and Tarasenko. Given that Kaprizov tends to skate opposite Mats Zuccarello and Matt Boldy, it's not likely that Kaprizov, Yurov, and Tarasenko would end up on the same line... but you never know. And if Minnesota starts looking like CSKA Moscow, wouldn't word get out? Could Kaprizov serve as an unofficial recruiter to build a Russian Superfriends? Perhaps, but there are two significant barriers in the short term. Looking at the 2026 UFA class, there are a few high-profile Russians -- maybe you've heard of Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Sergei Bobrovsky, and Artemi Panarin. Among them, though, three of them feel like locks to either retire to the KHL or finish their career with their team. As for Panarin, while he shares an agent with Kaprizov and Tarasenko, it seems likely that the New York Rangers would have to move on for him to leave. The other is that these players don't get to play together the same way that Americans, Canadians, Swedes, Finns, or even, like, the Swiss do. Russia has been barred from international play since 2022. No Olympics, no 4 Nations Faceoff, no World Championships. Kaprizov hasn't played in an international tournament since Worlds 2019, before he stepped foot in the NHL. That's a lot of opportunities to discuss life in Minnesota that just... disappeared. At the very least, we know that Kaprizov had some influence on Tarasenko, and he used it. Will that work out? It almost doesn't matter. Teams with stars that draw in players on below-market deals don't bat 1.000. If they do it enough times, though, it tends to work out (please don't look at the Maple Leafs playoff history). If Kaprizov can consistently bring in players with his superstar gravity, that's a very big step for a Wild team that has lacked a true selling point for free agents.

"You have to be careful, because July 1 can be a day of mistakes," Minnesota Wild general manager Bill Guerin warned back in March. "We will hopefully make good decisions and right ones. But it's going to be a time where organizationally we make a step." The GM was right and wrong. Where he was wrong is obvious: It's July 7, and the Minnesota Wild haven't taken an appreciable step. Their major additions have been trading for Vladimir Tarasenko, a past-his-prime scoring winger, and signing Nico Sturm, a fourth-line, penalty-killing center. Both were decent enough bets in their own right, but Guerin miscalculated what would be available via free agency. In fairness, it feels like everyone did. Top Wild target Brock Nelson signed long before he could taste free agency. Other top centers, such as Matt Duchene, John Tavares, and Sam Bennett, also didn't make it to July 1. The Toronto Maple Leafs traded Mitch Marner to the Vegas Golden Knights, taking the No. 1 free agent target for most teams off the board, as well. Brock Boeser was the only big-name player even remotely connected to the Wild as free agency opened. Then, his name was also gone after he re-upped with the Vancouver Canucks for a seven-year deal. And here's where Guerin was right: July 1 is a day of mistakes. On the most recent "Worst Seats in the House" podcast, Michael Russo revealed the Wild were willing to go for a six-year deal for Boeser. It's a revelation that surprised the reporter, who had previously believed they would pursue the scoring winger to a three- or four-year contract. When signs started pointing against Boeser coming to Minnesota, it was only then the Wild pivoted to Tarasenko. Still, despite knowing that free agency can be a trap, the Wild were willing to step into it and hope for the best. It's easy to dunk on a team for being willing to throw big money around. However, if you're trying to improve your team, and Boeser is what's available? Well, the price is the price. Make no mistake, if the Wild had signed Boeser, there would be good reason to talk ourselves into it. You might be reading that line of thinking and counter with the fact that Boeser is 36th among all NHL players in Goals Above Replacement on the power play over the past three seasons, per Evolving-Hockey. Minnesota was 21st in goals per hour on the power play last year and a middle-of-the-road team (14th) over the last three. Boeser on the power play would have given the Wild a dangerous right-shot weapon for Kirill Kaprizov to set up for one-timers. Boeser also has goal-scoring utility at 5-on-5. His 0.82 goals per hour over the past three seasons is tied for 106th (among 370 forwards with 1,500-plus minutes) in the NHL, along with teammate Elias Pettersson. It's also slightly ahead of star players like Marner (0.81), Mark Stone (0.81), J.T. Miller (0.80), and Kevin Fiala (0.77). That rate would have been second on the team last season, behind only Kaprizov. Goals are the rarest commodity in the game, so it makes sense that Guerin was apparently willing to go for six years on Boeser, who can provide them in spades. Boeser averages 30 goals per 82 games throughout his career. While he has had trouble consistently playing 82 games, he has drawn in at least 70 times in each of the past four seasons. So, why would we think the Canucks did the Wild a favor by biting the bullet on Boeser? Boeser provides a team with goals, but he's a flawed player overall. Do you take that tradeoff when he's on an Entry-Level Contract? Absolutely. Do you take that tradeoff when he's making below $7 million? Yeah, probably. But what about when his price shoots above $7 million, and you're now footing the bill for his early 30s? It gets dubious. At age 28, Boeser still has some peak-ish years left. But the Wild have been burned by his player profile before: Great shot, low speed, and poor defense. Dany Heatley and Thomas Vanek come to mind. Jason Pominville -- though not quite that profile -- saw his last 30-goal season at age-31, then never hit 20 again. Unless you're a freak like Alex Ovechkin or Steven Stamkos, elite shots go away eventually, and you have to have a backup. Granted, Dom Luszczyszyn is bullish on Boeser to replicate Phil Kessel's aging curve. That's clearly the bet Vancouver is making and what Guerin -- who was in the front office while Kessel got his Cup rings with the Pittsburgh Penguins -- would also bank on. But the rest of those top Boeser comparables include Derick Brassard, Adam Henrique, Artem Anisimov, P.A. Parenteau, Milan Michalek, Alex Chiasson, and Michael Ryder. Not exactly an inspiring list. One should also assume that the Canucks got a cap hit discount that wasn't available to Minnesota because league rules allow teams offering an extension to add an extra year. Boeser's getting $50.75 million on his seven-year deal. For Boeser to recoup that money for a six-year pact, the Wild would have had to pay in the range of $8.5 million per year. Vancouver may also have gotten the "hometown discount" despite Boeser being from Minnesota because moving to another team would have uprooted his life. Still, even at $8 million, that's not a bet that was likely to age well. Despite the short-term boost it would have given the Wild's power play, going for Tarasenko as a stopgap while retaining flexibility to pursue a bigger fish at a later date is the smart play. If they had to get an assist from the Canucks to do the right thing, so be it.

Minnesota Wild general manager Bill Guerin has yet to extend an offer to Marco Rossi, and it's approaching offer sheet time. Guerin's ready to match an offer sheet. If another team offer-sheets Rossi, he'll be happy he kept the 23-year-old forward. Liam Ohgren improved his physical frame, knowing he can reduce injury risk and play more physically. Why can't Rossi continue improving his frame to be stronger? The Wild put Rossi on the fourth line and limited his minutes in the playoffs. He played 66 minutes (11 minutes per game), which is tied for 9th on the team, and 179th in the NHL. He scored 2 points and an assist in 6 games in a small but high-leverage sample size. However, Rossi impressed during his short stint, but it wasn't enough for Guerin to award him with $7 million annual average value on a long-term deal. Rossi’s playoff stint was limited, but his scoring rates and defensive metrics suggest untapped potential. Could more opportunities unlock a breakout performance? Let's explore what makes Rossi an interesting candidate to be a potential playoff performer: Team Rankings Goals Per 60 Minutes (G/60): 4th (1.8) Assists Per 60 Minutes (A/60): 8th (0.9) Points Per 60 Minutes (P/60): 4th (2.7) Shots Attempts Per 60 Minutes (CF/60): 7th (9.88) On-Ice Goal Percentage (On-Ice G%): 5th (60%) On-Ice Expected Goals Against Per 60 (xGA/60): 3rd (2.52) Rossi finished as a top-10 forward when it came to producing shots, goals, and defense. His expected goals per 60 minutes (xGA/60) stood out because he finished ahead of Joel Eriksson Ek, Matt Boldy, Marcus Foligno, Ryan Hartman, and Freddy Gaudreau. Head coach John Hynes relied on Eriksson Ek, Foligno, and Gaudreau for defensive assignments. However, he could have used Rossi more, given his production. League Rankings G/60: 13th Ahead of: William Nylander, Mikko Rantanen, Kevin Fiala, Sebastian Aho, and Leon Draisaitl A/60: 102nd Ahead of: Andrei Svechnikov, Nikolaj Ehlers, Boldy, Jason Robertson, and Alex Ovechkin P/60: 47th Ahead of: Tim Stützle, Roope Hintz, Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel, and Nikita Kucherov CF/60: 207th Ahead of: Mark Stone, Mitch Marner, and Robert Thomas G%: T-65th Ahead of: Aleksander Barkov, Connor McDavid, Nikita Kucherov, Rantanen, Nylander, Marner, Kirill Kaprizov, Boldy, and Eichel xGA/60: 157th Ahead of: Draisaitl, Kaprizov, Marner, Matthews, and Brady Tkachuk Rossi finished with a better G/60 than Draisaitl, A/60 than Boldy, P/60 than Kucherov, and G% than McDavid. If Rossi got more ice time with Kaprizov and Boldy, then he would've been more productive. Rossi generated more shot attempts than Marner, a puck wizard. Boldy was a better goal scorer than Rossi, but only by 2 percentage points. That isn't something that happens by accident. Rossi’s a first-round talent whom the organization seems to view as an underachiever, but who is quietly overachieving. The fact that the Wild limited Rossi throughout the playoffs is inexcusable. Hynes could've benefitted more from this lineup against the Vegas Golden Knights: Boldy - Rossi - Kaprizov Mats Zuccarello - Eriksson Ek - Hartman Foligno - Freddy Gaudreau - Marcus Johansson Gustav Nyquist - Yakov Trenin - Justin Brazeau How did Rossi perform compared to Eriksson Ek and Hartman? G/60 Rossi: 1.8 Hartman: 1.15 Eriksson Ek: 0 P/60 Hartman: 3.44 Rossi: 2.7 Eriksson Ek: 1.36 G% Hartman: 61.5% Rossi: 60% Eriksson Ek: 50% Goals Above Expected (GAE) Rossi: 1.6 Hartman: -0.1 Eriksson Ek: -2 Goals Above Shooting Talent (GAST) Rossi: 1.7 Hartman: -0.1 Eriksson Ek: -1.8 Hartman performed better in terms of P/60 and G%. Hartman deserved top-six minutes. However, Hynes could've put him with Eriksson Ek and Zuccarello. They're better linemates than Nyquist, and Hartman’s a natural wing. Rossi produced the best G/60 and GAE. While Hartman was red hot, he still finished with a negative GAE. Rossi still managed to have better goal production despite being with Trenin and Brazeau. Eriksson Ek was the worst producer of the three. However, his defense is elite, and he remained on the top line. He would've still been an elite shutdown center with Zuccarello and Hartman. Was this lineup winning the Stanley Cup? No. However, they'd have a better shot at advancing past the first round to show progression. They would've given Edmonton Oilers’ goalies Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard problems, but we've seen the Wild make goalies look like Vezina trophy winners. The Dallas Stars are an advanced version of the Wild when it comes to scoring depth. What should the lines look like on opening night? Hartman - Rossi - Kaprizov Boldy - Danila Yurov - Vladimir Tarasenko Zuccarello - Eriksson Ek - Ohgren Foligno - Nico Sturm - Trenin Rossi continues to grow with Kaprizov Rossi has shown that he doesn't need Kaprizov to overachieve. While Kaprizov empowers everyone he plays with, Rossi has produced without him. That’s why Rossi deserves more ice time with Kaprizov. Hartman also should play on Kaprizov’s line. Hartman still gets a top-six opportunity Hartman playing on the top line is a controversial move, but here's the thing. Hartman has top-line experience and chemistry with Kaprizov. This time, Hartman will be playing on Kaprizov’s opposite wing, rather than at center, becoming Minnesota’s Brad Marchand lite. Kaprizov and Zuccarello can also have individual success Kaprizov and Zuccarello are like Marco and Polo. However, they rely too much on passing instead of taking shots. Kaprizov will shoot the puck more while playing with Rossi and Hartman. Rossi can set up Kaprizov. While it won't be as flashy as Zuccarello or Boldy's passing, Kaprizov will remain productive. Kaprizov played with Victor Rask and won the Calder Trophy. Rossi is much better than Rask. Zuccarello can focus on helping Ohgren gain more confidence as he adapts to the NHL. Zuccarello continues his old magic Zuccarello continues playing well in his late 30s while mentoring Ohgren. The Wild need Ohgren to grow as an NHL goal scorer, and Zuccarello can help with that. Zuccarello can utilize his high-end creativity to maximize Ohgren’s shot. Eriksson Ek's the perfect net front presence. Eriksson Ek and Ohgren already have a connection other than being Swedish. Ohgren is becoming Mr. September in training thanks to Eriksson Ek setting an example. Thanks to Ohgren’s father, Andreas, as well. He's the real MVP. Andreas is a professional trainer for NHL players, including Gabriel Landeskog, Nicklas Backstrom, and Jesper Boqvist. So, for Andreas to get his son looking like a machine is encouraging for Guerin's future. While Eriksson Ek and Zuccarello mentor Ohgren, Boldy and Tarasenko can mentor Yurov. Boldy can temporarily bring back prime Tarasenko Aside from Kaprizov, Boldy is the best player to maximize Tarasenko. Hartman doesn't have the puck skills like Boldy to maximize Tarasenko. Boldy's contract is turning out to be one of the league’s best bargains, giving Tarasenko better security to mentor Yurov. Yurov gets to establish himself as a top-six center by playing a middle-six role. That relieves pressure from Yurov as the center of focus. The more time Yurov spends with Boldy, the more it will unleash Yurov. Overall, the Wild have a better top-nine with the configuration above. Yurov and Ohgren haven't established themselves in the NHL, where they'll need veteran support to balance the lines. Trenin and Foligno have a big center with speed in Sturm to win faceoffs for them. There's enough support for Rossi to thrive. Rossi may consider a bridge deal, and the Wild should consider offering him one. Rossi needs to view this as an opportunity to secure a better raise in the future. Guerin and Hynes will soon acknowledge his true value. However, it's time for the Wild to maximize him after quietly establishing his presence in the spotlight. Hynes can't continue to put Rossi in a bottom-six role. Rossi has the potential to be a top-line center, but it will take more time and experience to develop. The Wild have something brewing for the 2025-26 season, and Rossi fits that picture. Minnesota should still be happy that Rossi fell to 9th in the 2020 draft. Let's continue supporting his fight from death to getting his name on the Stanley Cup.

Jake Middleton is a fantastic story for the Minnesota Wild. Acquired him in a low-wattage trade with the San Jose Sharks in 2022, Middleton has beaten the odds as a 7th-round pick. Four years later and a fresh four-year, $4.35 million extension later, Middleton remains an enigma. With great results playing next to Jared Spurgeon and not-so-great results elsewhere, Middleton’s game is a bit of a mystery. At 6-foot-3 and 220 lbs., he’s one of the bigger guys on the Wild blueline. Still, he sometimes struggles to use his size to his advantage. Middleton has a career high of 25 points. He’s never had more than 10 goals or 20 assists in a season, but he’ll go on hot streaks where he looks like Bobby Orr for two weeks. He posted another season of a negative GF% with 48.4%, ranking fourth on the team among defenders. Middleton also posted 2.23 GA/60, which is good for fifth-best among Wild players. While these numbers aren’t encouraging, he logged the second-most minutes on a team that was seventh in goals against. Middleton isn’t a plus offensive contributor, nor is he overly physical, but he logs a ton of minutes and can be serviceable in a top-four role. While many fans are perplexed by his contract extension, considering the deals other defenders on the market are receiving, Middleton is on a reasonable contract. To deliver value on his contract, Middleton must win board battles and be responsible with the puck. He also must limit turnovers in a role where he’s not playing against the opponent’s best players every night. Enter Zeev Buium and David Jiricek. Jonas Brodin will miss the start of the 2025-26 season, so there will be pressure on everyone to step up. However, that’s especially true for Middleton, who’s the next in line to be the top pairing left-shot defender. Still, the Wild should let Middleton play a more balanced game when Brodin returns, allowing the D-core to get a more even rotation of minutes. It would be beneficial to everyone, especially Brock Faber, to have more dispersed minutes compared to last season. Spurgeon is about to turn 36, and Brodin is 32. It’s unsustainable to play Faber as often as the Wild did on their top pair last season. However, Buium should mitigate some of the pressure on Faber. If it yields positive results, pair Buium with Faber as the pseudo top pair while Brodin is out. That would allow Middleton to slot back next to Spurgeon in a role where he has excelled the most. The Wild should reduce Middleton and Spurgeon’s minutes and give Jirick and whoever is on the third pair, whether it’s Buium or Brodin, more ice time. Or if you want to play matchups with Middleton and further reduce his minutes, play him with Jirick on the third pair and let those two big bodies be some bash brothers on the bottom pair. I’d take that seven days of the week and twice in the playoffs compared to the Jon Merrill and Zach Bogosian third pair. Middleton has done anything and everything the Wild have asked of him, but his play has steadily suffered due to matchups that are a little bit out of his depth. Given the Wild have NHL-ready young talent and established veterans, it’s in everyone’s best interest to balance out the Wild’s D-core. All stats and data via CapWages, Evolving Hockey, and MoneyPuck.com unless otherwise noted.

You have to look under the hood a bit to notice, but Matt Boldy is coming off his worst NHL season. His 27 goals and 73 points masked a regression in his ability to drive offense and defense, going from elite in both categories to merely fine. At a time when he had half a season to assume the mantle of The Guy on the team with Kirill Kaprizov out, he didn't quite deliver. It's likely to be the worst season we'll see from Boldy in a long time, health permitting. Still, when you look at his hefty $7 million salary? Boldy was a clear bargain. Make it as simple or complicated as you'd like. Boldy produced the 34th-most points among forwards on the 62nd-highest cap hit. We're talking Tage Thompson/Sebastian Aho-type production for the price of Troy Terry. According to The Athletic's Dom Luszczyszyn, he produced $8.6 million in value on his $7 million cap hit. Speaking of Luszczyszyn, he's put Boldy's bargain into the August news cycle with his list of the 10 best contracts in the NHL. Boldy's deal snuck in at ninth place, with Luszczyszyn projecting it to net Minnesota $27 million in surplus value over the next five years. As the years on the deal wind down, it'll likely fall out of the top 10, but the deal itself will only keep getting better for the Wild. Boldy inked his contract during the post-COVID flat cap stagnation, accounting for 8.38% of the $83.5 million salary cap. We already know the salary cap is going to be for the next three years, and over that time, it'll be up around 37.5%. Boldy's contract will be a minuscule slice of Minnesota's overall pie very, very soon. Here's the percentage of cap space Boldy's taking up, as well as the 2023-24 cap equivalent, over the first five years of his contract: 2023-24: 8.38% ($7.00M) 2024-25: 7.95% ($6.64M) 2025-26: 7.33% ($6.12M) 2026-27: 6.73% ($5.62M) 2027-28: 6.17% ($5.15M) In just three years, Boldy's salary is going to be about the same cap percentage as, for instance, Morgan Geekie ($5.5M, 5.8% of a $95.5M cap). That's what? A decent second/third-line tweener on a good team? Boldy's a bona-fide top-line forward, with the potential to ascend into the conversation with the league's best wingers if he takes another step. The value Boldy brings with his contract has already helped the Wild make the playoffs despite some major salary cap hell. Next season, Minnesota will get the peak bang for its buck between his and Kaprizov's salaries. These are the top-10 teams for points-per-game from their top-two scorers over the past two seasons, along with their combined cap percentage in 2025-26: Connor McDavid/Leon Draisaitl, EDM: 3.05 (28.7%) Nikita Kucherov/Brayden Point, TBL: 2.76 (19.9%) Nathan MacKinnon/Martin Necas, COL: 2.47 (20.0%) Artemiy Panarin/J.T. Miller, NYR: 2.41 (20.6%) Mitch Marner/Jack Eichel, VGK: 2.41 (23.0%) Auston Matthews/William Nylander, TOR: 2.36 (25.9%) KIRILL KAPRIZOV/MATT BOLDY, MIN: 2.21 (16.8%) Jack Hughes/Jesper Bratt, NJD: 2.21 (16.6%) Mikko Rantanen/Jason Robertson, DAL: 2.17 (20.7%) Sam Reinhart/Sasha Barkov, FLA: 2.16 (19.5%) That's just ridiculous value for next season, carried in large part by Kaprizov's $9 million salary in the final year of his deal. Going forward, though, Boldy's going to carry a lot more of the weight. Boldy's deal will allow the Wild to pay Kaprizov top dollar without suffering with the salary cap. The upper limit to estimates on Kaprizov's next cap hit is $15 million, which would (currently) make him the league's highest-paid player going into 2026-27. That's a lot of money, and a big chunk of the cap. But with Boldy's salary, that's only $22 million between the two. We don't know the salary cap beyond the next two seasons, but here's what percentage of the cap $22 million would take up in... 2026-27: 21.2% 2027-28: 19.3% The Wild are going to be paying their top two forwards not much more than a fifth of their salary cap, at worst, for the next three years. Beyond that, the number goes down from there. Boldy will have two more years locked in at $7 million per season, and that's going to be excellent news for Minnesota. This crop of young talent that Wild fans have been waiting for is basically all here, starting in September. Within two years, all of these players will need to get paid. Marco Rossi is already looking for his next deal. Jesper Wallstedt and David Jiříček will look for a raise next year, and Zeev Buium, Liam Öhgren, and Danila Yurov are up to get paid two summers from now. If those players are anywhere near what we think they'll be, it'd be tough to keep this core together, especially if the Wild are going to make some sort of splashy move to add a star player. Paying Boldy $7 million instead of $10 or $12 over the next five years could mean the difference between keeping or losing a key piece of Minnesota's puzzle. They still have to be smart in their moves and investments, but being smart with Boldy gives them a hell of a head start.

The Minnesota Wild are still looking for their Christmas miracle on West 7th Street. General manager Bill Guerin should add New York Rangers’ star forward Artemi Panarin to his wishlist. Panarin is more of a trade deadline target, but the Wild could target Panarin sooner than that. Here's why Guerin should keep a close eye on the Rangers: The Rangers aren't in a rush to extend Panarin New York isn’t rushing to extend Panarin. He’s approaching his mid-30s, at which point he's expected to decline. However, Brad Marchand is showing everyone that age is just a number. Panarin is a much better player than Marchand, though. The Rangers may be looking for cap flexibility. They recently extended Igor Shesterkin to an eight-year, $92 million extension ($11.5 million AAV). They traded Chris Kreider to the Anaheim Ducks for cap space. Don't be surprised to see them make more roster changes. If the Rangers start the season with more regression from their top players in Vincent Trocheck, Mika Zibanejad, J.T. Miller, and Alexis Lafreniere, then Panarin would likely be open to a trade. Don't be surprised if the Wild are interested in him, especially Kaprizov. Could Kaprizov convince Panarin to come to Minnesota? Panarin is declining, but still a productive player Panarin, 33, may no longer be a 100-point player, but the Wild don’t need that. They have Kaprizov. Panarin just needs to be a point-per-game player. We’ve seen what Mats Zuccarello is capable of as Kaprizov's 37-year-old sidekick. Panarin undoubtedly can do better than Zuccarello. Panarin finished tied for 13th with 37 goals in all situations, ahead of: Jason Robertson (35) Kevin Fiala (35) Auston Matthews (33) Sidney Crosby (33) Seth Jarvis (32) Mikko Rantanen (32) Nathan MacKinnon (32) Sebastian Aho (29) Brady Tkachuk (29) Jack Eichel (28) Mitch Marner (27) Matt Boldy (27) Panarin was tied for 30th with primary assists with 27 in all situations, ahead of: Sam Reinhart (24) Brayden Point (23) William Nylander (23) Matthew Tkachuk (23) Boldy (23) Kaprizov (22) Robertson (22) Jarvis (22) Panarin was 9th in 11.6 goals above expected in all situations, ahead of: Point (11) Kyle Connor (10.8) Kyrou (10.6) Nikita Kucherov (10) Fiala (6.5) Jake Guentzel (6.3) Kaprizov (4.6) Aho (4.1) Tim Stützle (3.8) MacKinnon (2.5) Reinhart (2.2) Panarin finished 26th in Goals Per 60 Minutes (G/60) with 1.41 goals in all situations, ahead of: Fiala (1.4) M. Tkachuk (1.39) Jarvis (1.36) Kucherov (1.34) Jack Hughes (1.25) Rantanen (1.1) Aho (1.1) Eichel (1.06) Connor McDavid (1.06) Boldy (0.97) Panarin finished 20th in Points Per 60 Minutes (P/60) with 3.39 points in all situations, ahead of: Robertson (3.29) Point (3.28) Hughes (3.24) Nylander (3.15) Aleksander Barkov (3.14) Rantanen (3.03) Reinhart (3) Boldy (2.63) Panarin was tied for 120th in 5-on-4 G/60 goals with 1.55, ahead of: Eichel (1.45) Boldy (1.44) Kucherov (1.3) Mitch Marner (1.3) Hughes (1.27) Kaprizov (0.95) Aho (0.9) Stützle (0.45) Panarin finished 25th in 5-on-4 Assists Per 60 Minutes (A/60) with 4.65 assists, ahead of: Matthews (4.37) Leon Draisaitl (4.28) M.Tkachuk (4.09) Aho (4.05) Nylander (3.78) Point (3.19) Boldy (3.13) Jarvis (3.04) Fiala (2.81) Rantanen (2.79) Robertson (2.17) Panarin and Crosby are the “old” timers on this list, and they're showing that age is only a number. Panarin bested someone like Matthews, who finished one goal shy of 70 goals in 2023-24. MacKinnon is a consistent 100-point scorer, but wasn't able to beat Panarin. Marner became a 100-point scorer for the first time, but it wasn't enough. Eichel finally broke out into a 90-point producer, yet fell short of beating Panarin. Panarin recorded a better G/60 than McDavid, who’s supposedly the best player in the world. Panarin also proved his worth as a better A/60 producer than Draisaitl. McDavid and Draisaitl are the NHL's best present-day duo despite not having a Stanley Cup, showing that Panarin can still hang with the best. Although he’s 33, Panarin will likely remain in his prime for the next three years. When he approaches his late 30s, we'll start to see a real decline. However, I still expect him to remain a top-six/middle-six winger in his 40s. He has become the best undrafted player since Martin St. Louis. Alex Ovechkin passed Wayne Gretzky in goals, but Panarin is on a journey to pass St. Louis in scoring. Now it's Panarin's turn to make history of his own: 163 points away from tying St. Louis (1033) 89 goals away from tying St. Louis (391) 74 assists away from tying St. Louis (642) Panarin should likely pass St. Louis within two years. Will it be with the Rangers, though? How likely is Kaprizov to convince Panarin to waive his NMC? The Wild must ensure that Panarin truly wants to play in Minnesota. How much can Kaprizov convince Panarin to play with him on the top line? The Wild will have to prove to Panarin that they are a legit contender, much like they need to with Kaprizov. For example, the Colorado Avalanche traded Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes, where he and Aho are close friends. Aho was excited due to their history and Finnish connection. However, that wasn't enough to keep Rantanen in Carolina. Rantanen preferred to play with the Dallas Stars rather than the Hurricanes and forced a trade. Guerin should be all-in on Panarin if the Rangers don't sign him. The Wild can excel at a new level with Panarin dominating with Kaprizov. Panarin would also be reuniting with Vladimir Tarasenko, which should be another reason for him to waive the no-trade clause. However, Panarin could still choose a better destination to compete. Panarin is regressing, but at a slow pace. Ovechkin and Marchand have shown to be elite veterans. Panarin is more than capable of being an elite veteran and could help drive winning for the Wild.

Last week, when the Iowa Wild released their schedule for the 2025-26 season, my buddies and I exchanged a series of quick emails, just as we do every summer around this time. “Okay, fellas, here are our weekends to choose from. Which one should we pick?” “I’d be fine with x, y, or z, but would prefer x.” The others quickly chime in, “X sounds great to me!” And just like that, for the 10th season in a row, we put another Iowa Wild road trip on the calendar. As you’d expect with a trip that has become an annual tradition, we have our routines and favorite spots to eat and enjoy a beverage, or several. Des Moines has plenty to offer in both departments (more on that in a bit). With the easy jaunt down I-35 (formerly known as the Zucker Expressway) from the Twin Cities, I can’t recommend it enough if you’re looking for a fun way to burn a few days during hockey season. The Way The key is to go down on a weekend with back-to-back home games. If mid-week is your thing, there are usually a few of those, too. The AHL schedules a good chunk of back-to-backs each season, and they’re usually against the same team, which gives the weekend a college hockey vibe in the sense that what gets started on the ice on Friday usually gets picked right back up on Saturday. For example, I’ve seen one goalie fight in person, which occurred on a Saturday afternoon in Des Moines. At the center of it all, of course, is that we all love hockey, and we are all Minnesota Wild supporters. Iowa might not be known as a hockey hotbed. While there hasn’t been a lot of good AHL hockey played in Des Moines the past few seasons, there’s something special about getting the opportunity to view the organization’s prospects firsthand and evaluate them for yourself. Over the years, we’ve seen players like Marco Rossi, Matt Boldy, Brandon Duhaime, Connor Dewar, and Mason Shaw blossom into NHL-caliber players. We’ve also watched players like Adam Beckman and Calen Addison fail to do so. We’ve seen guys like Gerry Mayhew and Sam Anas absolutely dominate games in the AHL; true legends of Des Moines, even if they were never able to stick in the NHL. We’ve seen how reliable veteran players like Kyle Rau, Cal O’Reilly, or J.T. Brown are capable of stabilizing the game when things get frenzied, and how clearly you can see the difference between players who are true professionals and those who are still learning how to be. The Rink The Casey’s Center is where the Iowa Wild call home. However, until about a week ago, it was known as Wells Fargo Arena. The building itself holds about 17,000, though the upper deck is usually closed off. A weekend game is likely to draw 8,000 to 9,000 fans, while weekday games get a bit less. As far as AHL arenas go, this one is top-notch. It opened in 2005, making it newer than Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul. It also hosts NBA G-League and Indoor Football League games. The sightlines are great, you can hear the sounds from the ice pretty well, and the in-game entertainment is usually on point. And, the bathroom lines are a dream compared to what we’re used to in St. Paul. The Fun Some of you might be reading this and saying, “Yeah, but it’s minor league hockey.” Well, with minor league hockey comes minor league prices; good tickets cost less, and so do the concessions. Friday nights at the Casey’s Center are $2 beer nights, and Saturday has 2-for-1 Confluence beers and cheap cocktails. There are also specials at other times throughout the week. The food concessions aren’t amazing, but they’re not bad, either. There are promotions, from free hats to random swag to the elusive bobblehead. I am the proud owner of both Calen Addison and John Torchetti bobbleheads. (Sadly, I missed out on Justin Kloos, which haunts me to this day.) There’s Chuck-a-Puck every second intermission, and a whole bunch of free stuff throughout the concourse. While AHL hockey might lack the polish and skill fans are used to seeing in the NHL, it more than makes up for it in flair. There are more comebacks, more momentum swings, and loads of animosity. AHL teams play a lot more inter-division games, and so the rivalries are real. You know when you watch an NHL game, and two depth guys start getting into a fierce battle that seemingly pops up out of nowhere? Well, there’s a decent chance those guys have beef dating back to the minors. Players in the AHL care just as much as NHL players, and some care a whole lot more. Young players are trying to make it to the NHL, veterans are trying to return, and everyone is trying to hold onto their spot in the AHL or take someone else’s. Hockey fans eat that stuff up. Every one of us has our favorite unheralded prospect; some dark horse that’s not getting the hype the blue-chippers do, but who we swear is going to turn some heads and make it to The Show. Odds are, that guy is going to be in Iowa at some point. Away From the Rink Fans from out of town have to find ways to occupy their time when they’re not watching the games. Over the years, my buddies and I have become quite adept at being Kings of Des Moines for a weekend. Most of the best places are walkable from downtown, and the ones that aren’t are well worth the trip. If you’re planning to take your own Iowa Wild road trip, here are some spots to consider. Eat/Drink Exile Brewing: One of my favorite breweries anywhere. My buddies and I call it the New Glarus of Iowa, because you can’t get Exile anywhere else. They have a full kitchen and bar, too, and the food is excellent. https://www.exilebrewing.com/ El Bait Shop: One of the best beer selections you’ll find anywhere. Well over a hundred beers on tap, including ciders, seltzers, and even gluten-free beer options. The food is okay, but it’s there if you need it. https://elbaitshop.com/ Lua Brewing: Another solid brewery with a full menu that’s a bit more elevated than you’d expect to find at a brewery. https://luabeer.com/ Fong’s Pizza: A Chinese pizza place (yes, you read that right) that has a bunch of pizza varieties that you’ve heard of, and a bunch more that you haven’t. Plus, it’s open late. https://fongspizza.com/ Mi Patria Ecuadorian Restaurant: This is technically in West Des Moines, but I slipped it in here because it’s some of the best food I’ve ever eaten, period. https://mipatriadsm.com/ Ricochet: A game room/bar with ping pong, pool, darts, and shuffleboard, plus FREE bubble hockey, ski ball, foosball, and cornhole. https://www.ricochetsocial.com/games Court Ave. to Walnut St., between 3rd St. and 4th St.: Listen, some of these places aren’t pretty (my buddies and I call it “Bro Alley”), but if you’re looking for a party bar, you’ll find one here. Late-night taco trucks: Stumble upon one. Purchase tacos. Profit. Honorable mentions: Hessen Haus, High Life Lounge, Olympic Flame Restaurant Know of any spots I missed? Throw them in the comments. Coffee/Breakfast Daisy Chain Coffee: Small place, great coffee. https://www.daisychaincoffee.com/ Northern Vessel: Excellent coffee, accompanied by donuts and pastries, but you have to arrive early to snag them (which can be challenging if you visit some of the establishments I listed above). https://www.northernvessel.com/ Gateway Market: Great restaurant with counter ordering for breakfast and lunch, plus a solid grocery store that also has a top-notch beer selection for when you want to bring some Iowa beer home. https://www.gatewaymarket.com/ Gifts/Shopping East Village: Need something to bring home to your kids, or to smooth things over with your significant other after you abandoned them for a weekend of tomfoolery and minor league hockey? Head across the river from downtown to the East Village to hit up some of the great shops there. There are also plenty of good food and beverage options that way, and it’s a short walk to the Iowa State Capitol. Raygun: This is one of the better gift shops you’ll find, and all of our wives are proud owners of numerous items purchased here. Raygun offers a wide range of merchandise that's sure to appeal to all tastes. It’s worth walking through and getting a few good laughs from some of the creative content they have. https://www.raygunsite.com/collections/city-des-moines Allspice Culinarium: Des Moines’ answer to Penzey’s has every spice you can think of, plus tons of hot sauces and other items. https://allspiceonline.com/ Kin: My wife likes the things I’ve bought for her from here. Enough said. https://www.kindsm.com/collections Other Stuff to Do Because you can’t spend all your time eating and drinking. Well, you probably shouldn’t, anyway. Pappajohn Sculpture Park: Some pretty cool stuff, and some pretty weird stuff. It’s near Exile, too, so, you know. https://desmoinesartcenter.org/visit/pappajohn-sculpture-park/ Des Moines Art Center: This is a legitimately solid art museum with a cool layout. https://desmoinesartcenter.org/ World Food Prize Hall of Laureates: A cool historic building not far from the arena that you can walk around in for free, or pay for a guided tour. Tons of cool stuff to look at. https://www.halloflaureates.org/ --------------- So, want to see which prospects take a big step this season, or which of the new depth additions looks to be first in line for a callup? Get your friends together, peruse the Iowa Wild schedule, and put something on the calendar. It might not be a tropical beach somewhere, but it’s not a bad way to spend a weekend during the season. Not bad at all.

Senior season. Top line. First round pick. Huge expectations. East Lansing’s lonely Spartan. Charlie Stramel. The former 21st overall selection in the 2022 draft enters a critical moment in his hockey career with the news that Isaac Howard, his Hobey Baker award-winning teammate, is leaving the NCAA to chase his Stanley Cup dream with the Edmonton Oilers. That leaves Stramel without his electric, goal-scoring winger. Still, Stramel doesn’t need Howard to make plays like this: Stramel has really hit his stride since transferring to Michigan State to play for Adam Nightengale, his former coach on the US National Development Team. After producing only 20 points total in 67 games as a freshman and sophomore at Wisconsin, he had 27 points in 37 games as his junior at MSU. Stramel’s stock is back on the rise, and he’s been solid on the dot with a 52% win rate this past season. He's also fantastic at using his body. Stramel uses almost all of his 6’3”, nearly 220 lb. frame well when it comes to creating space for himself and his teammates in and near the net. In all of these clips, Stramel uses his body and reach to control the zone below the dots and make plays for his teammates. Howard may be gone, but Stramel will have talented teammates at MSU. Trey Augustine, their elite goaltender, will return for his junior season. He played a huge role in Michigan State’s success last year, stabilizing the team with his play in net. There are rumors that Porter Martone, the recent sixth overall selection of the Philadelphia Flyers, could make his way to East Lansing. The scoring winger would be a force playing with Stramel in the top six for MSU. While Martone wouldn’t fully replace Howard, Martone is a highly skilled player that any center would want on their wing. Stramel may never be a high-scoring player in the NHL. He projects as a bottom-six forward in the NHL at his ceiling, but with the tools he’s shown and the confidence he’s gained, this season should just be another step of success for Stramel on his NHL journey. While the Stramel pick is still open for criticism, he’s doing all he can to prove that he’s on the right track to be a meaningful player for the Minnesota Wild organization. All stats and data via HockeyDB, Elite Prospects, and CapWages unless otherwise noted.

The Minnesota Wild almost have their roster set. We can look forward to what the season may hold by December. This summer, general manager Bill Guerin and the fanbase didn't get their Christmas. Everyone was looking forward to free agency and even expected the team to make a big trade. That didn't happen as fans feel unfulfilled. The Wild can bring Christmas to fans, who need a miracle on West 7th Street. That will be a welcome recovery from a lackluster free agency. They need to establish a wishlist that will help them become a better team by April. Here's the wishlist that Guerin and fans should want for Christmas. Key players stay healthy The Wild must stay healthy to contend. In December last year, they were one of the league’s best teams. However, injuries took a toll on them. The Wild must monitor Joel Eriksson Ek's usage against elite competition. Kirill Kaprizov will need more scoring support. Jonas Brodin is projected to miss the start of the regular season due to surgery. Jared Spurgeon must be protected. The Wild need Kaprizov to be back at a 100-point pace. Eriksson Ek will need to rebound offensively, and Brodin and Spurgeon need to stay durable to be effective. Matt Boldy becomes a point-per-game producer Boldy was exceptionally productive in the playoffs. Boldy scored 7 points in 6 games for the Wild against the Vegas Golden Knights. In his previous 12 playoff games, he only registered 4 points. Has Boldy finally hit his next stride? Boldy reached 70 points (73) for the first time in his career this season. He's already a two-time 40-assist scorer and is also an established 30-goal scorer. Can Boldy reach 50 assists? He finished this season with 46, so he’s close. If Boldy has a 30-goal season with 50 assists, then he'll reach his next goal in his young career! Filip Gustavsson must be consistent Gustavsson averaged 2.57 goals against (GAA) in 142 regular-season games. He has a 91.4% save percentage (SV%) and 4 shutouts (SO). In 11 playoff games, he's averaged a 2.52 GAA and a 91.8 SV%. His GAA was 2.56 last year, which ranked him 13th among goalies. His expected GAA (xGAA) was 2.83, which ranked him 25th. That means that Gustavsson’s GAA was 27% better than expected, which ranked him 21st. It's good that Gustavsson is performing better than expected. However, Gustavsson is capable of hitting another level. Gustavsson’s unblocked SV% was 5th with 96%. He was tied for 4th with an expected SV% (xSV%) on unblocked shots with 95.5%. Unblocked shots are attempts that either hit or miss the net. Gustavsson has been exceptional. Zeev Buium finding a rhythm Buium gets the opportunity to make a name for himself in the NHL. He's headlining the Wild’s prospect pool. The Wild traded Declan Chisholm, allowing them to give Buium an extended look. With Brodin out at the beginning of the season, Buium gets to prove himself. He should find his rhythm next to Spurgeon. Marco Rossi must have a true breakout season Rossi deserves to receive $7 million in his next contract. Rossi was tied for 74th in the NHL in 5-on-5 points with 35 this season. Here are notable forwards he finished ahead of: Aleksander Barkov (33) Dylan Larkin (33) Lucas Raymond (33) Dylan Cozens (33) Kaprizov (31) Seth Jarvis (31) Kevin Fiala (31) Nikolaj Ehlers (30) Sam Bennett (30) Sebastian Aho (30) Matthew Tkachuk (27) Rossi was tied for 44th in primary 5-on-5 assists with 14. Here's who he finished ahead of: Kaprizov (13) Anze Kopitar (13) Tim Stützle (13) Jack Eichel (13) Jordan Kyrou (13) Mark Stone (13) Filip Forsberg (13) William Nylander (13) Macklin Celebrini (13) Brayden Point (13) Boldy (13) JJ Peterka (13) Jarvis (11) Fiala (11) Raymond (11) We've seen what Rossi is capable of at his worst. Now Rossi will be able to have a real breakout season. Will he become a point-per-game center? Ryan Hartman must stay disciplined Hartman has seen what he's capable of doing when it comes to producing depth scoring. The more he stays in the penalty box and gets suspended, the more the Wild suffer. However, it’s one reason why Hartman is a streaky player. He was never a headlining player in his career. However, when he's at his best, he's capable of providing valuable secondary scoring. Vladimir Tarasenko must be a good fit Tarasenko is going to be a good fit on this team, but only if he can demonstrate good chemistry both on and off the ice. He's expected to start on the second line. Can he eventually find himself next to Kaprizov, who convinced him to waive his NTC? Tarasenko is open to mentoring Danila Yurov, who broke his KHL record. Jesper Wallstedt has to find another gear Guerin has signed Samuel Hlavaj and Riley Mercer in the last 2 years. He's also signed Cal Petersen, veteran insurance who can start in the minors. Still, none of these goaltenders has Wallstedt's potential. However, Wallstedt’s future could be in jeopardy if he doesn't improve. Gustavsson is in a contract year, and Wallstedt has yet to become an NHL-caliber goalie. Liam Ohgren must establish a role It's time for the Wild to create a role for Ohgren. Ohgren has the potential to become the team's new Mr. September, currently held by Joel Eriksson Ek. Ohgren will be eager to make his case for a spot in the middle-six. The question is, who would be the best linemates for him to play that role? Danila Yurov’s game must translate to the NHL Guerin and head coach John Hynes can see what they have in Yurov once training camp starts. He's expected to start at center. However, don't be surprised to see Yurov as a winger if he struggles early. The Wild hope to continue building center depth from within. It's been challenging for Guerin to make a splash via trade. Yurov will be given the chance to start in the middle-six. Kaprizov and Tarasenko can help him adapt. David Jiricek must become an NHL regular Jiricek is going to start on the third pairing, which is fine at this point for the Wild. Jiricek can establish himself as a great relief pitcher for the Wild. He'll be watching both Brock Faber and Spurgeon be great starters. Jiricek can be Brandon Carlo or Erik Cernak, but with the power play presence they don't possess. The Wild are heading into the 2025-26 season with a better roster on paper despite Brodin being injured. Buium gets the opportunity to show fans what's in store for the near future. Could Carson Lambos be ready to play the third pair until Brodin returns? Does Guerin get his Kellogg Boulevard Christmas miracle by standing pat? His goal is to have a fully healthy championship-caliber team by April. However, by December, we'd love to see this team on top of the standings.

Marco Rossi isn't the only RFA center without a contract this offseason. Rossi also isn't the only RFA with a complicated negotiation process. Anaheim Ducks center Mason McTavish is also unsigned and looking for a new deal, whether it’s in Orange County or elsewhere. Given how things have progressed with Rossi and McTavish, should the Minnesota Wild and Ducks swap their young RFA centers? Bill Guerin has a history of making trades with Ducks GM Pat Verbeek, which may make it more likely that they will pull off a trade. However, there are no reports of smoke around the two young centers. The Wild have never felt committed to Rossi, despite his production. They haven’t extended him after a breakout season in which he set his career highs in goals, assists, and points. Rossi had 60 goals last year, setting a standard before his age-24 season. With the cap rising, it seems like common sense to give a homegrown center a long-term extension. That doesn’t paint the whole picture, though. The Wild put Rossi on the fourth line in the playoffs. While he was effective in that role, he was understandably frustrated with his deployment. The Wild appear to believe Rossi is too small to be a top-6 center. At 5-foot-9, they don’t seem to think that he has the frame and grit to make an impact in the playoffs. While there are many small impact players in the league, the Wild remain steadfast in not signing Rossi to the dollar amount he wants. The two sides continue to negotiate, but recent reporting suggests that the Wild don’t want to go over $5 million on a new deal for Rossi. McTavish had 52 points in 76 games last season, similar to Rossi’s production. Both players have offensive potential and playmaking ability. Rossi plays a 200-foot game and is a little more responsible defensively. However, McTavish is a year and a half younger and is 6-foot-1, 220 lbs. So, the Wild and Ducks must account for offer sheets, and Rossi and McTavish are at a standstill with their teams. Do these two teams want to swap their young centers? Based on Rossi’s deployment and the way the Wild have used him in the past, the Wild probably would be willing to swap players without additional compensation, a classic hockey trade. The Ducks need help now, and a more established and prolific scorer in Rossi could entice them to move the younger and larger McTavish. The Ducks emphasized size in this year’s draft, taking 6-foot-5 Roger McQueen 10th overall. Leo Carlsson is 6-foot-1 and their top-line center. Therefore, having a smaller center in Rossi wouldn’t hurt them in the long term. I think the Wild would be happy to move on from Rossi if it meant acquiring a player like McTavish. He could fill their second-line center spot and potentially play on their top line alongside Kirill Kaprizov. The Wild also added some bulk this offseason with Vladimir Tarasenko and Nico Sturm, who are 6-foot-1 and 6-foot-3, respectively. It’s clear the Wild are making size a priority, and Rossi doesn’t fit that mold. There have been no reported talks between the two teams. Still, a swap could make sense for both sides, and Bill Guerin would likely be eager to make it happen. All stats and data via HockeyDB and Cap Wages unless otherwise noted.

Minnesota Wild general manager Bill Guerin is ready to match a potential Marco Rossi offer sheet. That means NHL teams that want to trade for Rossi shouldn’t offer-sheet him because it makes it less likely Guerin will want to do business with them. However, it will force teams to be more creative in pursuing Rossi, where they can still trade for him if Guerin chooses not to match. Sebastian Aho, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Dylan Holloway, and Philip Broberg are the most recent players who received offer sheets within the last decade. We’ll look into each case, except for Broberg, who’s a defenseman and not relevant to the Rossi situation. Many teams, including the Vancouver Canucks, Buffalo Sabres, Chicago Blackhawks, Philadelphia Flyers, and Montreal Canadiens are interested in pursuing Rossi. They are trying to transition from wild-card and lottery teams to Stanley Cup contenders. Therefore, they're willing to offer-sheet a contract that Guerin doesn’t want to match. What kind of contract would they offer Rossi? And what can we learn from recent offer sheets? Let's look into the last three forwards who got an offer sheet: Sebastian Aho (August, 2019) 5-year, $42.3 million ($8.46 million AAV) The Montreal Canadiens caught Aho by surprise when they offered him a five-year contract worth $8.46 million AAV. He signed it so that he could be ready for training camp rather than being left unsigned. However, he was pumped when he learned that the Carolina Hurricanes were going to match. Carolina sent the Canadiens a 2022 first-round pick and a 2022 third-round pick to complete the deal. Jesperi Kotkaniemi (August, 2021) 1-year, $6.1 million AAV Carolina offered Kotkaniemi a one-year contract worth $6.1 million. The Hurricanes were well aware that the Canadiens didn't have the cap space to match it. The Habs didn't match it, and Carolina sent them a 2022 first-round pick and a 2022 third-round pick. Dylan Holloway (August, 2024) 2-year, $4.58 million ($2.29 million AAV) The Blues were looking to upgrade their forward group and took advantage of the Edmonton Oilers’ cap issues. St. Louis offered Holloway a two-year, $4.58 million contract ($2.29 million AAV) and Broberg a two-year, $9.16 million contract ($4.58 million AAV). The Oilers weren't able to match, and they sent the Blues a 2025 third-round pick for Holloway and a 2025 second-round pick for Broberg. Which type of offer sheet does Rossi sign? It's reasonable for Rossi to sign an offer sheet that provides him with long-term security and financial stability. However, Aho was an established point-per-game player by the time he signed his offer sheet. So don't count on Rossi getting paid more than $8.5 million on a long-term deal. Guerin didn't want to commit to Rossi for seven years at $7 million AAV. However, it's possible for either the Canucks, Blackhawks, or Canadiens to offer him a contract that's $7 million or more, with the seven-year term Rossi wants. However, what if Rossi settles for a short-term deal where a team is willing to overpay for him, so Guerin doesn't match? Carolina offered Kotkaniemi $6.1 million, and the Canadiens had no choice but to trade him. After Kotkaniemi's contract expired, he accepted an eight-year extension for $4.82 million AAV. Could there be a deal where Rossi is offered $8.5 million to $9 million for a year, so that he accepts? If that's the case, then the Wild would be getting a first-round pick, a second-round pick, and a third-round pick as compensation. Once he accepts, he'll become an RFA once again, where he will get more term on his next deal, but with less AAV. Will Guerin match, knowing he doesn't want to pay Rossi more than $5 million? Personally, I'd match if I'm Guerin. Rossi could accept a two-year deal that's also on the expensive side. The Blackhawks have nearly $20.5 million in cap space, which they can easily overpay for Rossi on a short-term deal, as he will again become an RFA. The last thing that Guerin should allow is for a division rival like the Blackhawks to steal Rossi from him. Don't be surprised to see the Blackhawks make a bold move. The Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks have at least $6 million more in cap space than the Blackhawks. They could make a surprise appearance. Did these teams keep their compensation picks? The Canadiens took their second first-round pick and dealt it to the Arizona Coyotes (now the Utah Mammoth) for Christian Dvorak to replace Kotkaniemi. The Oilers kept their third-round pick for Holloway to select Tommy Lafreniere at 83rd overall in the 2025 draft. Later, they traded their second-round pick to the Boston Bruins to move up in the 2025 draft to select William Moore at 51st overall. Is it possible that Guerin uses his compensation picks for a bigger target, such as the 2026 trade deadline, if he does get compensated? Yes. Much like how the Canadiens were able to replace Kotkaniemi with Dvorak, Guerin might have something up his sleeve to make a future splash if he chooses not to go further with Rossi in addressing his top-six. The Wild should sign Rossi to avoid an offer sheet. They can't let Rossi go for compensation picks and end up with a hole at center to start the season. Aho, Kotkaniemi, and Holloway signed their offer sheets in August. Guerin has less than a month to take action on extending Rossi; otherwise, a team will offer him a qualifying offer sheet by the beginning of August. Guerin is prepared for the unexpected, but is he willing to pay the price? Count on Guerin to sign Rossi to a contract that will still be manageable for the team before the August deadline. Guerin has the chance of keeping Rossi, who fits into their young core moving forward.

The Minnesota Wild has made multiple moves since the NHL’s free agency period opened on Tuesday. In recent weeks, they have acquired two new forwards, Vladimir Tarasenko and Nico Sturm, traded Freddy Gaudreau away, and placed Jonas Brodin on injured reserve. All of these moves leave Minnesota with $10,961,835 of cap space and 3 active roster spots to fill. They now need a top-tier defenseman, a goalie, and another forward. They needed to bolster their forward lineup, especially right-handed wingers. Marc-Andre Fleury’s retirement also created a need for another goaltender, which means Minnesota must promote Jesper Wallstedt or find a new goalie to fill the void. Minnesota opened an additional center spot after it traded Gaudreau to the Seattle Kraken for draft compensation on June 26. Brodin’s lingering upper-body recovery is a major development. Guerin believes Brodin will miss the start of next season and has placed him on IR. Both of these changes also created additional cap space. The Wild acted quickly during free agency, trading for Tarasenko and signing Sturm on Tuesday. Sturm signed a 2 year, $4 million contract with the Wild. He scored 7 goals and had 7 assists in 62 games last season, 47 of which he played with the San Jose Sharks before they traded him to the Florida Panthers. Sturm will recognize several familiar faces from his original tenure with the Wild, which began in the 2018-19 season. He played in Minnesota until the 2021-22 season, when the Wild traded him to the Colorado Avalanche mid-season. Sturm will likely fill a fourth-line role. Tarasenko began his career in Russia before joining the St. Louis Blues in 2012. He had a career-high 75 points for St. Louis in the 2016-17 season. However, the 33-year-old forward’s production dropped off after 11 seasons with the Blues, and he had 33 points in 80 games last season for the Detroit Red Wings. Still, Tarasenko has won the Stanley Cup twice during his career, which is one reason the Wild wanted him. Tarasenko is also a right wing, which will help balance out the lines. While wingers can switch sides, it helps to have players who are accustomed to that side of the ice and can move accordingly. Unfortunately, Tarasenko is left-handed, so he does not entirely fulfill that need. Louis-Antoine Denault If the Wild could put a literal wall in the net, they would. However, they can choose the next closest thing: Denault is 6’8”, 205 lbs. The 18-year-old goaltender went undrafted and hasn’t signed with anyone. However, he had a .902 save percentage in 41 QMJHL games for the Quebec Remparts last season. Despite his size, Denault is quick to leave the crease to make a play, as he does in the clip below. His height also makes it difficult for opposing players to screen him. However, he needs to work on rebound control and hone his technical skills. Denault would not be an immediate replacement for Fleury, but he would be a great investment. The Wild could sign him to a two-way contract and let him develop his skills in Iowa before bringing him to Minnesota in later seasons. Brent Burns Brodin took up $6 million in cap space and had 20 points in the 2024-25 season. Brent Burns could be the Wild’s solution. Burns put up 29 points last season for the Carolina Hurricanes and will bring size to Minnesota at 6’5”, 228 lbs. Like Sturm, Burns started his career in Minnesota. He played for the Wild from 2003 to 2011, when they traded him to the San Jose Sharks. Burns has also played 925 consecutive games, not missing a single one for 11 seasons. The Wild need players with Burns’ durability to make it through the playoffs. However, Burns’ previous cap hit was $8 million AAV, which may be out of the Wild’s price range if they wanted to sign a goalie and a forward. Burns is 40 years old and is likely willing to take a slightly lower, short-term deal to return to Minnesota. However, even if the Wild can swing it financially now, it’ll be hard to fit Brodin back in when he recovers. Nicholas Robertson Robertson is another free agent they should consider. The left winger had 22 points over 69 games for the Toronto Maple Leafs last season and is only 23 years old. His previous cap hit is $875,000, making him a low-risk signing. He also has a great shot and knack for finding the back of the net: Robertson has speed and makes good reads on the ice, which helps him pull off plays like this: While he only had 22 points last year, Minnesota can take advantage of his great shot by putting him with the right linemates who can get the puck to him. The Wild have undergone multiple major changes in the past couple of weeks, including the signings of Sturm and Tarasenko. They’ve made an effort to bolster their forward lineup, but need to replace Brodin in the short term and find another top goalie in the long term. Denault, Burns, and Robertson could all be potential answers to the open roles in Minnesota.

While some would disagree, it is no sure thing that Liam Ohgren has a spot on the Minnesota Wild's roster to start this season. A good training camp is needed for the 21-year-old winger to really solidify and carve out his own spot. And Ohgren seems to know it -- the young forward has taken his offseason lifting extremely seriously and in a new photo, he looked big as heck. Ohgren is getting so massive and ripped that the NHL's official Twitter account is posting about it. He's played 26 total NHL games and he's getting this attention. Ohgren scored 19 goals and 37 points in 41 games for the Iowa Wild last season. Nico Sturm is coming back to Minnesota to replace Frederick Gaudreau and he is a much cheaper and potentially even better option. [Hockey Wilderness] Can Matt Boldy buck the aging curve and still become an NHL superstar? [Hockey Wilderness] Off the trail... NHL free agency is dragging on. While the top players have either re-signed with their teams or almost immediately signed their contracts to their new teams, there are still some free agents available. Who's the best of the rest? [ESPN] Jason Robertson might be traded if the Dallas Stars don't want to pay the very good winger. Here are seven possible landing spots for Robertson. [Sportsnet] The concern-o-meter is here to determine some red flags for teams this summer. From the Bruins' current direction, to the Penguins' lacking rebuild -- there are some things to be concerned about if you are a fan of these teams. [The Athletic]

With the draft and the early stages of free agency in the rearview mirror, most teams have done their most pressing business of the offseason. However, the Minnesota Wild still must resolve the Marco Rossi situation. Otherwise, they'll enter the season primarily as currently constructed. When most teams are fairly solidified, it’s time for the “too early predictions” part of the summer, where we speculate wildly about how teams will do in the upcoming campaign. The Athletic recently got in on that fun when they posted their way-too-early predictions for the 2025-26 NHL season. One of the categories the staff forecasted included dark horse Cup contenders, defined as a projected middle-of-the-pack team with a chance to make a run. Minnesota garnered significant interest in that category, ranking as the second-most popular pick. (Source: The Athletic) Jesse Granger, a staff writer who covers the Vegas Golden Knights, justified that pick. “They looked like one of the better teams in the West before the injuries last season, and gave the Golden Knights a good run in the first round despite just getting guys back into the lineup,” he wrote. “With several key players in contract years, I feel like this could be the best Wild team we’ve seen in some time.” It’s exciting to think of the Wild as a team with the potential to challenge for a Stanley Cup, but how realistic is that outlook? Minnesota has some intriguing pieces, but there are also numerous questions throughout the lineup. Overall, the Wild appear to be an organization willing to take calculated risks in crucial roster decisions. All of those gambles must pay off to fulfill that cup-contending potential. Can the Wild replicate their hot start from last season? First, let’s examine what got them off to their hot start last season. The team played great defense and got contributions from throughout the lineup. Still, Filip Gustavsson and Kirill Kaprizov were the two most crucial contributors. The pair was in early contention for the Vezina Trophy and MVP, respectively. Any team that has an MVP-level skater and one of the best goaltenders in the league is going to win a lot of games. Kirill Kaprizov is a superstar, and Minnesota can expect him to put in similar contributions if he stays healthy. Gustavsson is a solid goaltender, but it’s unrealistic to expect him to be as good as he was through the middle of December last season. When the Wild were leading the league in the standings, Gustavsson was in the top five in the NHL in goals saved above expected, save percentage, and goals against average. (Source: Moneypuck) Gustavsson’s goals saved above expected per 60 was the highest of his career and far exceeded his average season (.261 goals saved above expected per 60) since joining Minnesota. Gustavsson has to be that good again if the team is to return to contention. Beyond Gustavsson, Minnesota’s depth in net hinges on Jesper Wallstedt. Wallstedt is a highly touted prospect, but he struggled last year, with a .879 save percentage in Iowa. The Swedish goaltender has all the tools to bounce back, but having him as their primary backup is another gamble the Wild will take this season. Adding Tarasenko and Sturm must pan out The team will also hope some of their wagers work out in their forward group. Most notably, the acquisitions of Vladimir Tarasenko and Nico Sturm will be vital to Minnesota’s season. Minnesota struck out on bringing in a true difference-maker in free agency or via trade this offseason and settled for some minor roster upgrades. They brought in Tarasenko to address depth scoring, but there’s some concern about whether he can still provide that. Tarasenko had his worst professional season last year, producing 33 points last year for the Detroit Red Wings. That result continued a general trend of his career, where his numbers have continued to fall from his all-star height in St. Louis. The Wild will likely slot him into their top-six group, and he’ll have to produce much more than 33 points to stay there. While Tarasenko signed on to bolster the offense, the Wild brought back Nico Sturm to shore up the team’s defense. The faceoff specialist (56.5 career win percentage) should help Minnesota’s cause in the dot and play a crucial role on the penalty kill. However, the penalty kill requires significant improvement. The Wild must kill penalties Minnesota killed penalties at a 72.4% rate last year, the third-worst in the league. Minnesota doesn’t have to vault itself into the upper echelon of penalty-kill units, but they have to be better than that. The 2016-17 Pittsburgh Penguins are the last team to win the Stanley Cup with a bottom-10 PK unit. Being at least serviceable on special teams is a necessity, and the Wild must hope that Nico Sturm can galvanize that. Minnesota also requires key contributions this year from relatively unproven players. As mentioned, Wallstedt has to blossom into a competent NHL goaltender this season. The Wild also needs development from some key prospects. Zeev Buium, Danila Yurov, David Jiricek, and Liam Ohgren should all see some action this year in Minnesota with varying degrees of workload. They’re all talented players and Scott Wheeler recently included them in his top 100 drafted prospects list, but they’re also inexperienced. Michael Russo projects all four of those players to have roster spots. The quartet possesses a combined 40 NHL games to their name. It’s exciting that some of the Wild’s best prospects will finally get a chance to see the ice in St. Paul, but what if they aren’t ready immediately? The Wild’s defense needs to be stable, given that they’ll start the season with Jonas Brodin injured. The Wild will be going out on a limb that both Jiricek and Buium will adjust to the NHL quickly. The stars must align for the Wild to contend All of those issues could be acceptable on their own. Every team in the NHL has areas of the roster where they need some bounces to go their way. However, the Wild has uncertainty across the organization. If everything goes their way, could they contend? Absolutely, but let’s recap. Kirill Kaprizov and Filip Gustavsson must be at the top of the league again. Vladimir Tarasenko needs to turn around his downward points-scoring trend and be a contributing top-six forward. At the same time, Nico Sturm has to play a significant role in improving a dismal penalty kill unit. Four prospects with relatively little NHL experience must adjust to the NHL and make an immediate impact. All that has to go right while the Wild stay healthy, which has proven difficult over the last several years, especially for key players like Jared Spurgeon, Joel Eriksson Ek, and Jonas Brodin. Minnesota's potential path to contention is clear but treacherous. There will be a lot of dice-rolling for Bill Guerin and Co. in 2025-26.

The Minnesota Wild acquired Vladimir Tarasenko from the Detroit Red Wings for future considerations on June 30. The Wild will pay the full amount of Tarasenko’s remaining contract (one year, $4.75 million). Vladdy had 11 goals and 22 assists last year. However, he had a career-high 82 points in 75 games with the St. Louis Blues in the 2021-22 season. If Tarasenko, 33, is past his prime, the Wild will have bet on the wrong player. However, if he returns to form in Minnesota, they’ll have used that cap space effectively. The money remaining on Tarasenko’s contract feels steep. Mats Zuccarello, 37, has a $4.125M AAV and put up 54 points in 69 games last season. However, there’s always minimal risk with a one-year deal. Bill Guerin spoke about his motivations for the trade, citing Tarasenko’s track record of winning, his larger body, and experience as the primary reasons. Guerin stated that Tarasenko will “hopefully get back to the form that he’s had in past years,” so he expects the forward will produce more than 33 points next season. Tarasenko said Kirill Kaprizov influenced his decision to waive a no-trade clause and move to Minnesota. Guerin has been vocal that re-signing Kaprizov is his No. 1 priority. However, he said that he didn’t sign Tarasenko to influence negotiations with Kaprizov. The Wild have also had success with former KHL players. The Blues picked Tarasenko 16th overall in 2010, and he made his NHL debut in the 2012-13 season. St. Louis traded him to the New York Rangers in February 2023. The Rangers later traded him to the Ottawa Senators, then to the Florida Panthers, before he landed in Detroit. While his TOI average hasn’t dropped below 14:47 since he debuted with St. Louis, Tarasenko has mainly been a third-liner and has been on a team that has struggled to score. Detroit finished the 2024-25 season ranked 22nd in goals for with 235, and didn’t make the playoffs. Still, the Red Wings have talented players like Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond, and they didn’t trust Tarasenko in a top-6 role, where he would play with players who can capitalize on the opportunities he creates. Tarasenko is also bringing playoff experience to Minnesota. He won the Cup with St. Louis in 2019 and Florida in 2024. During his playoff run with the Panthers, Tarasenko had 5 goals, 4 assists, and averaged 13:22 TOI over 24 games. The Wild have not advanced past the first round of the playoffs since 2015 and need players with postseason experience. Vladdy may not have produced the expected amount of points last season, but he generates scoring opportunities. He has great on-ice awareness and can pass through tight lanes, as he does here. He’s able to pick up the puck and make that immediate decision, a tape-to-tape pass through otherwise busy lanes. Below is another example of his quick reflexes. That was a risky pass because Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner was inches from getting a stick on the puck and going for a breakaway. Still, Tarasenko’s clean pass makes it through, and Detroit’s defenseman Justin Holl gets a shot on net. That’s the kind of precision the Wild need to make it past 4 rounds of the playoffs. While Tarasenko’s former Red Wings linemates didn’t capitalize on these scoring opportunities, Marco Rossi and Kaprizov will. Tarasenko also displays a great hockey sense and confidence. Typically, you’re not going to have 3 forwards below the other team’s goal line, but Tarasenko reads that there are 4 Toronto players low in this play. He shows the confidence of a veteran player by going in as the 3rd forward low, and it pays because he can pick up the loose puck and get a shot on net. He also has strength under pressure. In this clip, Tarasenko is battling it out with Philippe Myers and manages to maintain control of the puck. While still facing the boards, he manages to backhand the puck tape-to-tape onto Tyler Motte’s stick, who’s able to take a one-timer on net. Tarasenko might not be putting up 80 points a season. However, the timing, precision, and grit on this play reveal the level of talent teams pay up to acquire. He also has a wicked one-timer that the Wild could use on the power play. The Wild took a risk with Tarasenko. While he has produced at a level worth the $4.75M cap hit, he has not done so in several seasons. However, his playing style may be a perfect fit in Minnesota, and a boost to the Wild’s second line may bring out his talent and pay off in a meaningful way.

In October of last year, Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold said he had asked Bill Guerin to develop a five-year plan to win the Stanley Cup. The Wild were still in the throes of cap hell, but they were a year away from relief. Mr. Leipold wanted Guerin to show him Minnesota’s pathway out of first-round exits and into bona fide contention. The Wild fan base is passionate and hasn’t seen the team reach the second round since the 2014-15 season. They have been patient while the team navigates the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts, but expectations will change once they have the same cap space as every other team. “We think about our fans all the time,” Mr. Leipold told The Athletic’s Joe Smith and Michael Russo. “We don’t want to overpromise and underdeliver.” Mr. Leipold said there was “zero heat” on Guerin as he entered his sixth season as general manager, but there were five key elements of the plan: The team must re-sign superstar Kirill Kaprizov, who is eligible for an extension after this season. Nobody, Leipold says, will offer more money than the Wild, but it’s imperative that they convince him he can win in Minnesota. The team’s current core and rising stars, such as Matt Boldy and Brock Faber, must thrive. The team’s top prospects, like Jesper Wallstedt and Danila Yurov, must arrive and be impactful. And next summer, when the Wild have some cap space, they need to hit on a few difference-making free agents. It’s not a lot of space, but Leipold says they have already identified one or two players they want to sign, and that next July 1 will feel like “Christmas.” Mr. Leipold and Guerin informed Smith and Russo that last season marked the second year of the plan. We’re still two years away from knowing whether it worked, but it looks like they’ve already overpromised and underdelivered. Will Kaprizov re-sign? Kaprizov probably isn’t going anywhere, but he will be expensive. Experts project the NHL’s salary cap to increase from $88 million to $113.5 million, meaning he may be worth $17 million per season. Kaprizov is in the final year of a five-year contract that pays him $9 million annually. The Wild will gladly pay him what he’s worth. “Am I convinced that we can (persuade him to stay)? No,” Leipold said last year. “Am I convinced that we will have a better offer than anybody else can do in the league? The answer is yes. “I told you that this five-year plan is not a straight line. He’s the most important piece of our five-year plan. I think I can say that.” Kaprizov is in blank-check territory, given what he means to the franchise. The Wild let Marian Gaborik, their only other superstar, walk for free after he turned down an eight-year, $80 million extension and got hurt the following season. Minnesota can’t afford to allow Kaprizov to do the same. Still, with money comes pressure. At $17 million annually, Kaprizov would go from making less than Darnell Nurse and Seth Jones to making more than Auston Matthews, Nathan MacKinnon, and Connor McDavid. That’s a product of when Kaprizov will sign his extension. Still, people will hold him to a different standard. The Wild would also likely extend him through age 35 because he entered the league at age 23. That shouldn’t be a major concern, given Parise and Suter would have played out their 13-year contracts had Guerin not bought them out. Great players tend to be productive into their 30s. Still, Kaprizov’s mounting injuries are concerning. He played in only 41 games last year, yet still managed to produce 56 points. The Wild will offer Kaprizov the largest contract. Their only concern is whether Kaprizov believes he can win here, and if another team closer to winning makes a competitive offer. Still, few contending teams have ample cap room, even with the rising cap. Minnesota’s bigger issue is that while Mr. Leipold has bought into Guerin’s plan, Kaprizov may not. Most owners have confirmation bias when it comes to their general managers, unless their GM gives them reason to believe they’re mismanaging the team, because the owner hired them. Meanwhile, Kaprizov will compare Guerin’s plan to the plans other teams present to him. Can the Wild build a thriving core around Kaprizov? Here’s where things get tricky. Next season will be Year 3 of Guerin’s plan, meaning Mr. Leipold will want to win the Stanley Cup by 2027-28, maybe 2028-29 if he feels the Wild are close. To win a title, Minnesota will need a productive top-six, two reliable defensive pairs, and two goalies they can ride throughout the year. Because we’re looking two to three years into the future, we’ll examine their young core. Therefore, I won’t include players well into their 30s, like Jared Spurgeon, Mats Zuccarello, and Marcus Foligno. Top six forwards First line: Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek, and Danila Yurov Second line: Matt Boldy, Marco Rossi, and Liam Ohgren Top four defensemen First pair: Brock Faber and Jonas Brodin Second pair: Zeev Buium and David Jiricek Goaltenders Jesper Wallstedt and Filip Gustavsson I’m including Brodin but not Spurgeon here because Brodin, 31, will still be under contract in 2027-28. Spurgeon will not, and will be 37 when his contract ends in 2026-27. If you believe the Wild extend Spurgeon, and he’s a top-four defenseman at 38, pencil him in. Regardless, the Wild are deep on defense, assuming Buium and Jiricek pan out. That’s why Guerin recently said they’re set on defense at the end of the season. Their forward situation is less clear, though. I formulated this list assuming that many of Minnesota’s top prospects pan out, using Scott Wheeler’s rankings as a guide. The defensive pairings assume Brodin plays well into his 30s, and Buium and Jiricek pan out, which are hardly guarantees. However, the forward group requires multiple assumptions to work out. Kaprizov must re-sign in Minnesota. Yurov and Ohgren become productive top-six forwards in the NHL. The Wild extends Rossi. The Wild must re-sign Kaprizov to contend in the next three years. However, it feels more likely that they’ll retain Kaprizov than Rossi. Ultimately, that’s a good thing. Kaprizov is a franchise player, while Rossi is a complementary star. However, Guerin seems like he’s out on Rossi. If Rossi becomes the next Matt Dumba, a talented player who’s perpetually on the trade block, it complicates Minnesota’s plans. It’s turning a jigsaw puzzle into a Rube Goldberg machine. To assemble a viable top-six without overpaying for aging veterans, which the Wild are wont to do, they’ll have to operate on a separate set of assumptions. Yurov will immediately take over as a second-line center. Ohgren will become a top-six forward. And they’ll find another top-six forward to round out the group. That’s not that far-fetched, but it operates on less likely outcomes. The Wild would be asking Yurov to adjust to living in the United States, which was challenging for Kaprizov and Marat Khusnutdinov while playing second-line center at the game’s highest level. I’ve always felt the Wild should have extended Rossi. Then, they’d have the option to keep him long term or trade him if they prefer Yurov or Charlie Stramel, who’s further down the prospect list. Instead, they’re banking on Yurov transitioning or Stramel’s slow development process accelerating. Have they developed their top prospects correctly? I’ve never been a fan of how the Wild have handled Rossi. If they manage top prospects like Buium, Yurov, and Wallstedt in the way they did Rossi, Guerin’s plan won’t yield results. Kaprizov is Minnesota’s cornerstone player, and established stars like Boldy and Faber will drive winning. Still, the Wild need to develop a championship team around them. As we’ve learned, there was no “Christmas morning.” Brock Nelson or Brock Boeser wasn’t going to save them. The Wild have the league’s No. 2 farm system. They must maximize it to build a contender. They can’t rely on players like Nelson or Boeser taking a hometown discount to join a team stuck in the league’s middle class. Instead, they must build a foundation of developmental success stories like Faber to elevate the team. Tanking likely wasn’t an option because Mr. Leipold didn’t want to, and Guerin has bought himself time by keeping the Wild in the postseason. “If we’re almost there, maybe it takes us a sixth year,” Leipold said last October. “I’m OK with that. … But we have to start with a plan and feel good about where we’re going. We have to get out of this. I don’t like not making the playoffs. It’s embarrassing.” To build a championship roster without bottoming out, Guerin had to rely on director of amateur scouting Judd Brackett to grab players who fell in the draft. That’s a viable strategy, but it requires that Guerin is satisfied with fallers, who have a flaw that keeps them from being a top pick. If Guerin wanted large, skilled players, he had to tank to take players higher in the draft. The Wild made a conscious choice not to do that, and they can’t rely on free agency to build a contender. Free agents are often inefficient acquisitions, and star players may choose to join a team that is closer to contending for a championship. Whether Guerin drafted viable players during Minnesota’s cap-strapped years will be the difference between his five-year plan being a pathway to a championship or if he just bought himself more time on the job.

Nico Sturm is back in St. Paul, and the 6-foot-3 center has gained some considerable bulk since he left in 2022. He's two Stanley Cup rings heavier this time around. After hopping aboard the Colorado Avalanche during their Cup run, Sturm had a stop in San Jose before catching on with the Florida Panthers at the trade deadline. Now, he's signed with the Minnesota Wild for two years and a $2 million cap hit. Sturm brings more to the table -- we'll get to that in a bit -- but this signing is about one thing, and one thing only. The penalty kill. Teams have killed the Wild while shorthanded, almost from the moment Sturm left. Below is their PK Success rate by year. 2022-23: 82.0% (10th in the NHL) 2023-24: 74.5% (30th) 2024-25: 72.4% (30th) Honestly, it's surprising that they had one good year. It's felt like the Wild's penalty kill has been a significant shortcoming for much longer than two years, but that highlights how much having a bad unit warps time and space. If two minutes is an eternity, what does that make two years of awful shorthanded results? While the Wild survived their awful PK last year, their shorthanded game arguably sank them in every playoff series since Sturm left. In three trips, the Wild have allowed 21 goals on 66 opportunities (a measly 68.2% success rate), getting lit up in each series. Even against the Vegas Golden Knights, in a series where Jack Eichel and Mark Stone couldn't buy a goal, they still went 5-for-18 on their power play chances. That was the Wild's BEST showing over that time, mind you. Minnesota already attempted to fix the penalty kill last season, signing Yakov Trenin to a four-year, $3.5M AAV deal. Trenin started the season as John Hynes' go-to killer, leading the team in shorthanded minutes through December 31. However, the forechecking forward lost Hynes' confidence after that, at least somewhat. From January 1 on, he was just fourth in shorthanded ice time. By the playoffs, Trenin was out of the rotation entirely. So, take two. Sturm's not just going to be counted on to shore up the penalty kill for the regular season, but to be the piece that makes the unit playoff-worthy. Is he up for the task? Looking at his track record of killing penalties in San Jose, you don't see all that much to get excited about. While the Sharks fared slightly better than the Wild shorthanded, they were still 27th in PK Success rate (74.2%) last season, and 28th (75.2%) the year prior. Sturm wasn't an insignificant part of that unit, logging 175 shorthanded minutes for the Sharks (201 total) over that time, third behind only Wild Legends Luke Kunin and Mikael Granlund. Yet among 187 forwards with 100-plus PK minutes in the past two years, Sturm is 137th in goals against per hour (8.62) and 166th in expected goals against per hour (10.21). It must be said that both numbers are an improvement over Joel Eriksson Ek during that span... but jeez, not by much. Of course, the Sharks aren't exactly what you'd call a "structured" team, but Sturm still lagged behind some of his teammates in San Jose. Barclay Goodrow and William Eklund had a better time of limiting goals, while those two and Kunin all performed better at limiting scoring chances. You might expect to see Sturm's numbers suffer in San Jose, but you'd at least hope he could outshine his teammates. But, hey, let's give him a pass for being on the Sharks, whose goalies have been 32nd in 5-on-5 save percentage during those three seasons. What about when he's played in the playoffs on good teams? Sturm has only played 47 4-on-5 minutes on three playoff runs. That's not a big sample, but almost no one has a big sample of shorthanded playoff minutes. There are just 100 forwards who have 30-plus 4-on-5 minutes since the 2020-21 season. It's not a ton to go on, but it's what we have, and analyze it we must. As it turns out, Sturm has been pretty good at both limiting goals and scoring chances. He's 36th of our 100-forward sample in goals allowed per hour (5.95) and expected goals per hour (7.26). In terms of limiting actual goals, he's ahead of Eriksson Ek (who holds a slight edge in limiting expected goals during the playoffs), but that's not who Sturm is replacing. Sturm's addition will likely bump Eriksson Ek to the second PK unit, which is some needed help for the rugged all-situations center. Still, the real value add is essentially swapping him with Freddy Gaudreau. There were roles where Gaudreau was useful, but killing penalties wasn't one of them. In our 100-forward playoff sample, Gaudreau ranked dead-last in actual goal rate (17.9 per hour) and expected goal rate (13.2 per hour). To say Gaudreau wasn't working on the PK almost undersells it. The verdict here: Sturm might not cure the Wild's penalty kill, but he helps a lot. Luckily for them, he's not a one-note player. He couldn't keep up the top-tier defensive play in San Jose (could anyone have?), but he thrived in Minnesota on both sides of the puck in a fourth-line role. Granted, these numbers are from three years ago, and Sturm is now 30, not 26. He lost a step last year. He's missed parts of the past two seasons, which may have been a factor. Still, Sturm is an above-average skater for a big man. While John Hynes is the coach now, instead of Dean Evason, there is a fair amount of continuity for Sturm to fall back into. The Wild will use him as a heavy forechecker, and if he can get back up to speed, he should be very effective at it. He can also bring a sneaky offensive element to the table. Last season, he averaged 0.72 expected goals per hour at 5-on-5, which puts him at a slight step above a typical fourth-line player. An ability to get some scoring chances on the fourth line might end up being an offensive upgrade from someone like Gaudreau. Watch out for it. If Sturm can help out on the PK, then this is a more-than-reasonable move for the Wild. $2 million on a cap hit is (slightly) less than Gaudreau's outgoing hit, and having him for two years instead of three is a good trade-off. It's not quite Christmas morning, but it's something.

The NHL offseason is young, but several stories are already developing for the Minnesota Wild. Following the draft, everyone’s focus will be on what the team looks like when they take the ice for the preseason in September. One of the more intriguing stories for the Wild is how the defensive corps will shape up. The team recently traded Declan Chisholm and announced that Jonas Brodin could miss the start of the season due to injury. That should leave some opportunities for one of Minnesota’s many defensive prospects to show they belong in the NHL. That opportunity is crucial for one prospect in particular. Former first-round pick Carson Lambos. Lambos entered the Wild organization with a lot of fanfare. DobberProspects described him as a "potential minute-eating two-way defender at the NHL level. An intriguing combination of speed, strength, and skill on the backend with top-pair upside." Unfortunately, that potential has yet to materialize for the Canadian defender. He has played two professional seasons, both in Iowa, and has yet to make his NHL debut. His opportunity to do so could be coming as Bill Guerin singled out Lambos and fellow defensive prospect David Spacek as players who would move up the depth chart due to Chisholm's departure. "They've put in some solid time down there. They've gotten better." Guerin said, "For defensemen, it's usually a little bit of a longer road. But they've shown improvement every year." Lambos has improved, but his career is at a fascinating crossroads. He has fallen into the background as a prospect and has seen his stock decline as a result. When Minnesota drafted him, Lambos debuted in Elite Prospects' Wild prospect rankings at eighth in 2022. Last September, he fell to tenth. However, the Wild have invested a lot of organizational resources into their defense, which may have contributed to his fall. They picked Zeev Buium 12th in last year’s draft and traded for young defender David Jiricek during the season. They invested in their blueline again at this year's draft when they picked Theodor Hallquisth with their highest pick in the draft. Lambos is in a challenging situation because the Wild are deep along the blueline. As DobblerProspects’ scouting report states, Lambos profiles as a contributor at both ends of the ice who can play a significant number of minutes, a role Brock Faber already fills. The Wild drafted Lambos one year after Faber, and they took him higher in the draft. Minnesota drafted Lambos at 26th overall, while the Los Angeles Kings selected Faber with the 45th pick. At one point, Lambos and Faber were comparable prospects, but that's no longer the case. Faber wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon with the monster deal he signed last offseason, so Lambos will need another way to become part of Minnesota’s plans. With so much depth on the blue line, it might be now or never for Lambos to make an impact. He turns 23 next season and can't afford to have the Wild's continually growing pool of young blueliners pass him on the depth chart. Fortunately, the defender did show signs of growth in Iowa last season. The defender upgraded his offense slightly, scoring five goals and 14 assists for 19 points compared to four goals and 10 assists in his previous season. He won’t force his way to St. Paul with those numbers, but they’re notable given he saw almost no power-play time with only one point with an extra attacker. Lambos' scoring numbers are encouraging, but the Wild drafted him with the profile of a two-way, minutes-eating defender. His offense is only one aspect of his game. Lambos also showed some promising defensive signs in Iowa that helped boost his stock. The defender improved dramatically, especially after the Wild traded fellow defensive prospect Daemon Hunt. After Hunt's departure, Lambos began playing consistent top-pairing minutes, where he regularly played against opponents' top players. Former Iowa head coach Brett McLean spoke glowingly about Lambos' improvement as a dependable defensive force in the second half of last season. "He's made a really nice step here this year. Now he is getting tougher assignments in games, playing against some of the other team's top players," McLean said, "He has responded well." Plus/minus is a noisy stat, but advanced metrics are less available in the AHL, so it's somewhat noteworthy that Lambos posted a plus-five rating on a team that gave up 251 goals while only scoring 201. Iowa’s -50 goal differential was the third-worst mark in the AHL, but Lambos managed to stay in the positive. The defender also played a much more disciplined game last season. In the defender's first AHL season, he spent 64 minutes in the penalty box. However, he cut that number down to 43 minutes this season. With the Wild's current penalty kill issues (72.4% on the PK in 2024-25), Lambos' newfound ability to limit his time on the box would be an asset. Lambos is showing signs of growth, but we still don’t know if he can translate that to the NHL. He's still young, and defenders do take longer to progress, but he may be running out of time to live up to his first-round pick status. If Lambos doesn't make a strong impression out of camp, it's easy to imagine a situation in which he's further lost in the shuffle and isn't seen as a long-term answer in the NHL. He could hold some value as a trade piece in such a situation, but it would be best for him to become a valuable contributor in Minnesota.

The opening of free agency on Tuesday will represent a Moment of Truth for the Minnesota Wild and Marco Rossi. The two entities are in a staring contest over the 60-point center's second contract. The Wild have previously given Rossi an offer of five years at a $5 million AAV, or a bridge deal for fewer dollars, comparable to deals Anton Lundell and Quinton Byfield signed last season. Rossi is no doubt seeking money comparable to RFA signings this offseason, like Matthew Coronato (six years, $6.5M AAV) or Matthew Knies (seven years, $7.75M AAV). Where does his true market lie? We might find out soon. Perhaps as soon as today. July 1 isn't just the start of unrestricted free agency; it's the start of restricted free agency, as well. Starting today, teams will be able to try to woo young players from other teams and entice them to sign new, shiny deals. With a diluted UFA market -- the top centers, for example, are Mikael Granlund and Pius Suter -- and so many teams looking to improve, this might be the only route for many teams to try getting actual upgrades. Many times, teams don't bother with offer sheets unless it's for a player with a team that's in a bind with the salary cap. Most teams will automatically match an offer sheet, meaning that you just negotiated a contract for another team. Still, if Minnesota hasn't blinked thus far, another team could easily call their bluff. That is, if they have the draft capital to do it. To sign Rossi in the $6.5 to $7 million range -- which goes far past the line Minnesota's drawn in the sand thus far -- a team would have to compensate the Wild with their own first and third-round picks in 2026. Not every team has that to offer. For example, the Vancouver Canucks, who have shown interest in Rossi. However, other teams linked to Rossi, such as the Buffalo Sabres or Calgary Flames, have the ammunition to call Guerin's bluff. But hey, maybe the Sabres or Flames don't think Rossi's worth the asking price, either. That'd give them some downside to offering Rossi a contract in the range he wants. However, there are five teams for whom signing Rossi to a contract would offer absolutely zero downside. The bad news for Minnesota? They're all in the Central Division. As of 6:00 pm on June 30, the Chicago Blackhawks, Nashville Predators, St. Louis Blues, Utah Mammoth, and Winnipeg Jets all have their first and third-round picks in 2026. The Blues ($1.6M under the cap) would have to clear space later this summer to sign the center, but the Predators ($12.1M), Mammoth ($18.4M), Blackhawks ($22.5M), and Jets ($23.5M) all have money to throw around Tuesday. Worse yet, money to throw around, but nowhere to spend it. Teams like the Mammoth were hoping to make a pitch for superstar forward Mitch Marner. That's off the table; he signed with the Vegas Golden Knights. The best remaining free agent forwards are Nikolaj Ehlers and Brock Boeser. After that? Well, hope you're a fan of 36-year-old Patrick Kane. If any of these teams are going to try making a splash this week, why pay a premium for, say, Granlund when you can try scooping up Rossi at a comparable price? Just looking at the Central Division, all five of these teams could easily have a motivation to try to snipe a 23-year-old center. Chicago: Rossi immediately provides more splash to a strong youth movement, while giving them a stable, two-way center on a team that is already considering moving Connor Bedard and/or Frank Nazar to the wing. Nashville: Rossi would provide Nashville with either a third center to pair with Ryan O'Reilly and Steven Stamkos, or the flexibility to move Stamkos to the wing to try squeezing more offense from their splash signing from last summer. O'Reilly (34) is UFA in two years, while Stamkos (35) is UFA in three. St. Louis: Rossi would give the Blues the flexibility to offload the final three seasons of 33-year-old Brayden Schenn's contract, with the possibility to get a massive haul the other way for their captain. After years of drafting big at forward (Jimmy Snuggerud, Dalibor Dvorský, Zach Bolduc), St. Louis may have the size to insulate Rossi in a way the Wild don't feel they can. Utah: $7 million can buy you a strong 1-2-3 punch at center. Barrett Hayton might be outmatched as a second-line option, with Rossi pushing him down. However, as a 3C? Hayton would be in his ideal spot, with Rossi rounding out the Mammoth's top-six behind Logan Cooley. Plus, you know coach André Touringy is going to approve. Winnipeg: The Jets have a miserable time of free agency, being unable to attract any free agent who isn't 1) 37 years old, 2) coming back from two seasons of not playing, and 3) a hometown hero. If you're Kevin Cheveldayoff, this is essentially the only opportunity in your life where you can present a five-year, $35 million offer for a top-six center and make it a compelling pitch. That's just the motivation to do an offer sheet if the Wild don't match. There is almost zero downside for any of these teams to sign Rossi to a contract and have the Wild match. Even if you think Rossi is great value at $7 million, forcing Guerin to match would disrupt a rival's salary structure and require him to spend significantly more money than he wants. A more expensive Rossi theoretically means that the Wild will have a more difficult time trading him for the haul they're seeking for him. It's a no-lose situation for four of these Central Division rivals, and maybe even five. Either they get a young player of a caliber they wouldn't be able to get in free agency, or they sabotage the Wild and make it much harder for them to execute Guerin's five-year plan. There are teams outside the Central who could undoubtedly benefit from offer sheeting Rossi, but for the ones within the division, it's a move that would be particularly devious and brilliant.

In today’s National Hockey League, it’s becoming increasingly apparent that there isn’t really an offseason anymore; there are just periods of time when games are being played, and periods of time when they’re not. With longer seasons immediately followed by ever-present trade rumors, contract negotiations, speculation about offer sheets, buyouts, coaching changes, the draft, free agency, prospect camps, training camps, and the preseason, the media always has something to cover. Fans can continue having civil discourse and sharing their completely unbiased and correct opinions about all topics concerning their favorite hockey team until the day the puck drops to begin next season. There’s plenty to keep Wild fans talking. The 2025 NHL draft takes place this Friday, followed by the start of free agency on July 1, the same date superstar Kirill Kaprizov becomes eligible to sign a contract extension if he feels so inclined. That means it’s the perfect time to check in with our three friends, Optimist Brian, Pessimist Pete, and Rational Randy. You might remember their last meeting, when they discussed the fate of the Wild’s season as they entered the stretch run. Don’t recall? That’s alright. Check any comment section of an article, and you’re likely to see something that looks pretty similar. Depending on your perspective and or philosophy of fandom, the Wild either always have nothing but bright skies ahead, are a constant disaster, or are doing exactly as you’d expect based on the circumstances. This time around, the fellas discuss what is going to happen this summer as the Wild attempt to improve their team. Optimist Brian: I can’t wait to see what the Wild do in the draft! If you don’t count the occasional blunder that every team is bound to make, they tend to draft pretty well. No doubt Judd Brackett and Co. are going to hit another home run this time. I see a future franchise player on the horizon. Pessimist Pete: Again, with this, Brian? With the struggles they’ve had down in Iowa lately, I’m starting to wonder if this team is as scared of a good draft as Al Pacino in Donnie Brasco. And if we’re not counting blunders, somebody call up Gary Anderson and give him his ring. Rational Randy: Well, guys, we have to remember that there are no sure things in the draft, just as in life. It might not be a crapshoot, but it’s pretty close a lot of the time, and even more so when you don’t have a first-round pick. All the scouting team can really do is put in their work and give their best shot. If the hockey gods are willing, things will work out. We just have to go with the flow, my dudes. Optimist Brian: Sure thing, Randy. And I have a feeling that things are going to work out for us real soon here in the State of Hockey. The team is on the rise, Kirill Kaprizov is set to sign long-term, the prospect cupboard is full of high-quality pieces, and the days of salary cap misery are finally behind us. Methinks that Bill Guerin has some tricks up his sleeve this summer, and the hockey gods have his back. Pessimist Pete: Tricks up his sleeve?? What in the name of Colton Gilles are you talking about? This isn’t a magic show; it’s professional hockey. There are no rabbits; there are dollars and sense. You make decisions, and they work, or they don’t. And unless you’re cool with first-round exits, it’s safe to say that what they’ve done so far isn’t working. For all we know, Kirill feels the same way. Why would I think everything will suddenly turn rosy? Rational Randy: Well, guys, I see both of your points. A lot of pundits around the league seem to think that the Wild are poised to take a step, but it’s also fair to say that, results-wise, there hasn’t been tangible progress, either. And sure, the Wild might not have a rabbit, but they do have a lizard. Either way, we’re all just another scale on the skin of life as it is, so let’s just kick back and dig the scenery, bros. Optimist Brian: Yeah, that’s what I’m TALKING about, man! The lizard, The Thrill, Bolds, Brodes, Brock, the boy wonder, and a boatload of cash; next season is going to rock! Between the draft, whatever the Wild get from the free agent market, and the trade that it sounds like the team plans to use to improve their team – everything is coming up Wild! Pessimist Pete: Listen, Brian, whatever you’re smoking, it’s not helping. Let me tell you what’s going to happen this offseason: The Wild are going to use their measly four draft picks to pick up some gritty centers and tiny defensemen that might get called up from Iowa sometime next decade. Then, they’ll go shopping in free agency and get diddly, because the market is short on quality players that would actually sign here. Then, they’ll swap their devalued trade asset for another bottom-six center that they swear is bursting with top-six potential. How are you going to rationalize that, Randy? Rational Randy: Easy, Pete. The universe tends to unfold as it should, and we as hockey fans don’t need to sweat it because we can rest easy, knowing that it’s out of our hands and all we have to do is enjoy the sport that we love. The Wild will do everything they can to make their team better this offseason, and we’ll see what that is. It’s gravy, Petey. Also, what are you smoking, Brian? Asking for a friend. Optimist Brian: I’ll tell you what’s going to be smoking: the opposition, once the lean, mean, Norm Green-hating machine that is Wild Nation roasts them next season. Mark my words, it’s going to happen. Take it to the bank while Kirill and Co. take the rest of the Central Division to the cleaners. I’m predicting great things because everything has been set up for this season and beyond. When the universe unfolds next time, it’s going to reward the Wild and their fans with something special. Pessimist Pete: What in the name of Filip Kuba is going on here? The Central Division is still stacked, the Wild haven’t done anything yet this summer except lock in the mighty Mo-Jo for another season, and if this magical universe of yours knows anything about analytics and depth scoring, then it’s looking like it’s going to unfold just as it always has. We’re headed for another short season next year. Randy, come on, you see it too, right? Rational Randy: Well, my fellow traveler, all I see is the big picture, and as they say, sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes, it eats you. There’s definitely a universe where the Wild do something special this year, and there’s definitely one where they don’t. In a game as random as hockey, all it takes is some fortunate bounces or a bunch of injuries to swing the pendulum one way or another from season to season. The way I figure it, the Wild have a seat at the table and they’ll either win, or they won’t. Not for us to worry too much about, we’re all just grains of sand on the beach of life, fellas. Optimist Brian: The Wild are going to rock the offseason. Let’s go Wild! Pessimist Pete: The Wild will blow it like always. I don’t know why I keep coming back here. You’re insane, Brian. Randy, are we done here? Rational Randy: Whatever’s clever, my dudes. Enjoy the ride.