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It’s no secret that the Minnesota Wild have struggled to find depth scoring this season, particularly from the fourth line. A quick glance at the organizational depth chart suggests that might not change anytime soon. Minnesota’s fourth line this season has primarily featured: Jakub Lauko (8 career goals in 121 NHL games played) Devin Shore (2 goals in his last 97 NHL games) Marat Khusnutdinov (2 career goals in 63 NHL games played) And Ben Jones (no goals in 26 NHL games played this season) While no team expects their fourth line to fill the back on the net regularly, they hope it can at least control possession so that the top lines can hop on the ice with the puck in the offensive zone as often as possible. However, that’s where the Wild’s fourth-line players have fallen short this season. Take a look at these possession metrics from MoneyPuck: While fourth-line players typically perform below the NHL average, the numbers above demonstrate less-than-ideal output. For context, all Winnipeg Jets forwards who have played significant minutes are above 48% in Corsi and expected goals percentage. In an ideal world, the Wild’s fourth line could produce somewhere in the same vicinity and give the top lines more opportunities to start shifts in the offensive zone each night. On Tuesday, The Athletic reported that Kirill Kaprizov will be out for at least four weeks to undergo surgery for his nagging lower-body injury. Therefore, the Wild’s depth will be tested once again, and it might be time for the Wild to provide other players with opportunities to make positive contributions to the fourth line. They should start with Caedan Bankier. I’ve watched Bankier closely since the Wild took him 86th in the 2021 draft. Most recently, I saw him when I attended the Iowa Wild’s home series against the Rockford Ice Hogs on January 17 and 18. The more I’ve watched Bankier play, the more I’ve become convinced that he’s the Wild’s future third-line center and that he has promise. He’s not ready to fill that role now, but the 6-foot-2, 192-pound center is trending in the right direction. Bankier has earned an opportunity to get a few games with the big squad. It’s been a tough season in Des Moines, where the team has suffered from the fifth-worst save percentage in the AHL. Iowa’s struggles are reflected in the skaters’ counting stats, and Bankier is no exception. He’s posted eight goals and nine assists in 40 games. While that’s unimpressive at first glance, it only tells part of the tale. As he’s developed over the past season and a half in Iowa, Bankier has slowly learned to use his size to influence possession. He has soft hands and makes crisp, accurate passes. These attributes, along with his superior hockey sense and responsible, two-way tendencies, have helped him grow into a player with a mature game that knows how to compete against professional players. He also can win faceoffs from the right side (you’ll have to take my word for it, as the AHL does not publish individual faceoff statistics). Considering that Khusnutdinov has only won 46.1% of draws thus far and has been unable to drive possession, Bankier could represent a clear upgrade, even if only for a few games. At the very least, he looks like a viable call-up option who can provide a different look. Bankier’s pro-level details and quality decision-making make him a reliable player. Consider the below clip from Iowa’s game against Rockford on January 18. None of that stuff is flashy. However, when players do it consistently, it drives winning. When Bankier came off the ice, the Iowa Wild had possession in the offensive zone, and Rockford hadn’t even come close to sniffing an offensive chance. It wasn’t a one-off, either. Bankier has moments like these regularly. Below is an example of him using his size and awareness to maintain possession in the offensive zone from a preseason game against Winnipeg: And lastly, watch him shrug off an attacker as he carries the puck up the wall in the neutral zone: None of this is to say that Bankier is close to a finished product, and there are warts to his game he must correct. He must learn to dictate moments and control pace with the puck on his stick, and he might benefit from a summer training with Andy Ness to add a bit of quickness to his lateral movements. Still, his game is coming along, and Wild fans should be excited. Caedan Bankier has earned the opportunity to play some NHL games, if only so he can be better prepared for when his time arrives. Undoubtedly, he can eventually become a quality third-line center in the NHL. When Wild fans get their first glimpse of him with the big squad, they’ll be able to see why.

Somehow, the biggest lightning rod in the Minnesota Wild's abbreviated playoff run was the player with the team's third-fewest minutes. But that's what fans will focus on when a team takes Marco Rossi, their second-leading scorer in the regular season, and plays him for 11 minutes and 8 seconds per night. For context, that's less than Marat Khusnutdinov, a fourth-line center with seven points in 57 games, got during the regular season. Having seen the Wild's postseason play out, it's clear what happened. John Hynes (and possibly Bill Guerin, judging from some of his radio comments) decided that Rossi couldn't make an impact in a series against the Vegas Golden Knights. He started on the third line with Marcus Foligno and a clearly washed Gustav Nyquist, a role Rossi hadn't been in all season. After struggling in his playoff debut, the Wild demoted him to the fourth line with Yakov Trenin and Justin Brazeau. And that's where he stayed. Scoring goals in back-to-back games didn't get him out of the doghouse. Engaging physically in Game 5, where he registered three hits and three blocked shots, didn't do the trick, either. No style of play, no level of success was getting him off the fourth line. There was nothing he could do. In doing so, the Wild doomed Rossi to their self-fulfilling prophecy. By treating him as if he couldn't make an impact, they put him in a position where he was least capable of making one. Despite the three points in six games -- a 0.50 PPG average that is, mind you, tied for 19th in franchise history, between Kevin Fiala (0.53 PPG) and Mikko Koivu (0.47) -- Minnesota got a result they can point to and back up their suspicions. His detractors (including those in the Wild organization) can point to three flashpoints: Rossi being on the ice for the Game 5 overtime goal. His double minor in Game 6. And his having the worst expected goals percentage at 5-on-5 this series, as noted by The Athletic. Make of the errors what you'd like, I guess. Rossi was part of that Game 5 breakdown -- although there's a pretty good case that Zach Bogosian was more responsible. Even though Brayden McNabb lifted Rossi's stick into his own face in Game 6, Rossi still has to control his stick. But as for his expected goals percentage... what did the Wild expect? Out of 18 forwards with 150-plus minutes at 5-on-5 for the Wild during the regular season, Trenin was 10th in goals for percentage (44.4) and 11th in expected goals for percentage (47.5). Brazeau ranked dead last in both categories. Both players were in the bottom half of generating actual and expected goals per hour. That trio didn't generate offense outside of two nice passes off a Trenin forecheck. The Rossi-Trenin duo combined to get just a 28.5% share of the expected goals in their limited time on the ice. Minnesota generated expected goals at a rate of 0.99 per hour with that tandem, which is abysmal. When apart from Trenin, his expected goals share boosted up to 49.3%, and the Wild generated 2.44 expected goals per hour. If you're looking for a reason why Rossi would have disappointing numbers with Trenin and Brazeau, it's not hard to figure out. There's a reason Hynes doesn't consider playing Matt Boldy or Kirill Kaprizov on the fourth line for an entire playoff series. Maybe you're thinking something like, Look, a player isn't entitled to a spot in the lineup because they scored 60 points in the regular season. This is professional sports. It's not about fairness or being a hard-working kid with a good attitude who does everything the team asks of him. It's about results. And, hey, maybe that's right. So let's take a look at Rossi's results. In 66:47 of all-situations time, Rossi scored three points. Mind you, only 3:30 of that was on the power play, less time than the likes of Nyquist and Marcus Johansson. Despite being a power play afterthought, he put up 2.70 points per hour during his ice time. For fun, here's a list of Wild players who Rossi's career points per hour rate beats out: Zach Parise, 2.66 points per hour Kirill Kaprizov, 2.40 points per hour Marian Gaborik, 2.36 points per hour Ryan Hartman, 2.30 points per hour Jason Pominville, 2.28 points per hour Wes Walz, 2.26 points per hour Brian Rolston, 2.03 points per hour Kevin Fiala, 1.89 points per hour Pavol Demitra, 1.86 points per hour Matt Boldy, 1.86 points per hour Eric Staal, 1.86 points per hour Nino Niederreiter, 1.82 points per hour Small sample size, but damn, that sounds like someone Minnesota should've put on the ice if they wanted not to lose three games by a goal each. Only Hynes didn't do that. It's one thing for a coach to bury his team's second-leading scorer on the fourth line and win the series. They can claim they pushed the right buttons, and scoreboard. Who's gonna argue? But when they lose a series of one-goal games? There are gonna be questions to answer, especially for a coach whose playoff results aren't exactly above reproach. It was a predictable outcome for the Wild, partly because they ensured it, both for Rossi and the series as a whole. Minnesota played Rossi on the fourth line, and now they can claim he played like a fourth liner. That makes sense. The logical conclusion for Hynes turning his third-most-potent scoring threat into a fourth-liner was the one we saw. The Wild offense drying up the second Kaprizov and Boldy started running out of gas. Don't worry -- with the increasingly inevitable Rossi trade coming up, it appears that no lessons will be learned from any of this.

The Minnesota Wild are building the foundations of a solid future. Experts believe Minnesota’s front office drafts well, and several prospects appear ready to make an impact in the NHL. Marat Khusnutdinov, Liam Ohgren, and Jesper Wallstedt have all played games for the Wild this year. Meanwhile, Danila Yurov seems to be on the way soon. The team's farm system is so good that Scott Wheeler recently ranked them second in the NHL in his yearly prospect rankings. Wheeler had them at 11th in the same rankings last year. The heavy lifting of the improved ranking is the new crown jewel of the Wild's prospect pool. Zeev Buium. When the Wild drafted Buium 12th overall in last year's draft, people immediately considered him a steal. We ranked Buium as the Wild's third-best prospect entering the season behind Yurov and Wallstedt, and the pick has only aged better since. Buium is a great defender with a winning pedigree. He had just finished a historic season at Denver University, becoming the first teenager to score 50 points in a season in over 20 years. Buium has built on his breakout year. In his second year at Denver, he turned himself into more than just a good prospect that the Wild got as a draft steal. Instead, the Californian is now a genuine top-defensive prospect in the league. After a draft year as productive as Buium's, imagining how he could improve was difficult. How do you improve historic scoring totals capped off by a national championship and World Juniors Gold Medal? Buium has answered by refining his impressive arsenal of skills. Last year, Buium showed the ability to be a positive player in every phase of the game. He wasn't bad defensively, but his offensive prowess stood out. Buium has been more committed to improving his defensive play and dominating possessions this season. "The harder I play in my own end and take pride in it," Buium told the Star Tribune, "the more likely I'm not going to be playing defense as much." It's an approach that has already resulted in better all-around play and even improved his offense. Buium isn't letting the game come to him. Instead, he's involving himself in every level of play. A player who can make a strong defensive play in his own end, execute a breakout pass, join the rush, and set up in the offensive zone all at the same time? That's a dangerous skill. Denver and Team USA coach David Carle also spoke about this ability. "He knows he needs to crank it up a little bit," Carle said. "So, that's what I think is really impressive about him is he has an ability to interpret what the game needs from him, and he can adapt and give it what it needs." His hockey IQ and high-end skills make him an elite offensive organizer. When Buium is on the ice, Denver's play on both ends flows through him. He's a smooth-skating puck-mover and a breakout quarterback. His mix of instincts, speed, and commitment to defense allow him to overcome his average stature in making plays in his end. When you compare Buium to some of the league's top defenders, he fits the mold of a modern elite NHL defender. He plays college hockey and doesn't have elite size, but he isn't small, either. He can play an extremely well-rounded game, even if explosive offense is his primary weapon. Players like Cale Makar, Quinn Hughes, Adam Fox, and Charlie McAvoy are similar and among the league's most elite blueliners. While Buium's play has been encouraging, it is impossible to look past the eye-popping stat sheet. Early in the season, Buium was producing but not quite at the level he had in his previous year. With no goals and 10 points in his first 10 games, the blueliner had impressive production but not the elite scoring we saw in his 50-point freshman campaign. Part of that decreased production was due to Buium's evolving role at Denver, which includes more responsibility. The team relies on him more defensively and as a play-driver than last season. Buium focused more on the process than the results. His stats indicate that his investment in improving his overall game is paying meaningful dividends. Buium's stat sheet production is catching up with his play. Now, he's scoring at a similar pace to last season while still playing a more well-rounded game. He has 32 points in 26 games, including 13 in his previous 10. That's a rate of 1.23 points per game, better than the 1.19 points he registered as a freshman. His 32 points are the most among college defenders. If Denver makes a deep run, he could have another 50-point season. Since 2009-10, only two defenders, Buium and Brendan Smith, have reached that 50-point mark in college hockey. Now, Buium has an opportunity to do it twice. Buium has myriad elite skills he’s constantly improving. He is also a historic producer. Those two attributes would already be enough to make him a top prospect. However, he also has a track record of being a consummate winner. Even at 19, Buium has already experienced more winning than many great hockey players do in their careers. In his freshman season, he won the national championship with Denver and played a key role in winning a gold medal for the USA at the 2024 World Juniors. He followed up that gold medal this year with another in the 2025 World Juniors, the first time the USA won back-to-back golds at the premiere event for junior-aged players. Buium again played a vital role, providing a beautiful assist on the overtime game-winning goal. The entire team wanted that game badly, but Buium had a burning desire to win hockey games. After the assist, the defender hesitated to join the celebratory scrum, focusing more on winning the game than celebrating. "I just wanted to win that game so bad," Buium recalled. "I wasn't even thinking about a celebration. I just didn't want to lose." Buium's ultra-competitive spirit has been evident at every level of hockey. That intangible quality completes his profile as one of the top prospects in the NHL. The Minnesota Wild are getting an elite talent. Buium affects the game just as much off the scoresheet as he does off it. He’s a defender who profiles as a top-pairing, play-driving defender. Most of all, Minnesota will be welcoming a winner. Time will tell if Buium can carry all of that to the NHL. For now, he's one of the best prospects in the league and is only improving.

By now, all Minnesota Wild fans are aware of the shiny new toy in the State of Hockey: defenseman David Jiricek. The Wild paid a hefty price to acquire the No. 6 overall pick from 2022 (and a fifth-round pick), sending Daemon Hunt and a first, second, third, and fourth-rounder to the Columbus Blue Jackets. For that kind of price, it makes sense that fans would expect something special from Jiricek. Will Minnesota get that kind of player? We could discuss his limited NHL track record, his shining performance in the 2023 World Junior Championships, or his extensive pro experience in Czechia and the AHL. But that does not quite convey the experience of watching him play regularly. Fortunately, Jiricek has been on the radar long before 2022. He debuted in the Czechia Extraliga -- the country's highest pro level -- on January 26, 2020, barely two months after turning 16. Jiricek has had scouts' attention for a while, but how have their opinions developed alongside Jiricek through the years? Let's track it in four phases, starting with... 2021: On the Rise We first see Jiricek's name cropping up, at least on public scouting reports, in the back half of 2021. Early prognosticators of the 2022 Draft seemed to have Jircek as a consensus top-15 pick. NHLEntryDraft.com even had him going to the Columbus Blue Jackets in their early mock draft. Great job! Their report? The Czech rearguard is a two-way presence that skates very well for his size, showing a promising ability to break up plays, control the rush, or turn the puck up the other way. At the end of September 2021, Bob McKenzie of TSN released his 2022 draft list, and Jiricek debuted at No. 10. Jiricek is viewed as a throwback, hard-rock shutdown defensive defenceman, an ultra-aggressive big hitter with a mean streak who is a strong skater. Scouts love all that bite but are still debating his offensive ceiling/limitations. Though released much later to the public, Elite Prospects had been monitoring him in April 2021. David St-Louis wrote of him during the Under-18 Worlds: He kills rushes with backward skating and has some lateral mobility. He is physical. Very. Finishes every check.... He's an interesting player for sure. Just six months later, Jiricek made a much bigger impression on St-Louis. From October 2021 in Extraliga: Jiříček is going high in the draft. His tools clearly project as above-average (he’s a 6-foot-3, mobile, righty), and he cares about the defensive game... he can match shifty attackers with his four-way mobility. He is also physical, able to pin even pro attackers already. Impressive. So, at this time, Jiricek is seen as a big, mobile defender with upside as a shutdown defender. Then the offense starts coming. He scored five goals and 11 points in 29 games at Extraliga. Those don't sound like huge numbers. Still, no one has ever come close, before or since, to that kind of production for a draft-eligible defenseman in the Czech league. A big part of that came from him pushing the tempo as often as humanly possible. Wrote Elite Prospects' Mitchell Brown in an October 2021 scouting report: "I like how he doesn’t just make the simple play once he gets the puck. He beats defenders, looks for teammates cross-ice, and uses space before shooting." EP colleague J.D. Burke agreed at the time, saying, "[He] doesn’t connect on a lot of his plays -- the stretch passes, the activations off of the blue line and the deceptive feeds into the slot, and the pacey efforts to move the puck – but he’s trying them, and that counts for a lot." While noting that Jiricek "could be a pain in the ass on NHL ice" someday, Josh Tessler of SmahtScouting gave a lot of love to the rugged defenseman's surprisingly crafty hands. "Jiříček has excellent timing at cradling the puck and uses his elusive stick-handling ability to maintain possession of the puck for his team to keep the offensive momentum alive." Jiricek's star would only rise from there. 2022: Draft Day For almost every NHL player, draft day is the high-water mark of your potential. No one's seen you play North American pro hockey. You can be anything -- an All-Star or a Hall of Famer. Heck, you can even be an all-time great soccer player. The hype train runs wild, the superlatives fly, and we all lose our minds a bit. And at this point, Jiricek's potential is through the roof. After the Blue Jackets drafted him, his agent pegged him as Shea Weber, and his Czech teammate, former NHL defenseman Jakub Kindl, compared him to Aaron Ekblad, the former No. 1 overall pick and Calder Trophy winner. Scouts weren't rushing to disagree, either. Even the normally conservative Corey Pronman believed he was most similar to three-time All-Star Alex Pietrangelo (No. 4 overall in 2008) as a prospect. There were only two opinions about Jiricek leading up to the draft: You loved him, or you looooooved him. No major outlets had him outside the top-10 of his class, and few had him out of the top-five. Here's the accompanying scouting report from Scott Wheeler, who merely loved Jiricek, ranking him sixth in his final 2022 Draft ranking: [He has] one of — if not the — hardest point shots in the draft. It’s a bomb, and he does a really good job keeping it on target and a few feet off the ice... he’s a confident, active, engaged three-zone player who has all of the tools you look for in a top defender. As he continues to smooth out and polish his game, it’s hard to imagine he doesn’t become, at the very least, a top-four guy. And that's from a comparatively tepid perspective. Sam McGilligan (from scouting publication McKeen's Hockey, whom a young Judd Brackett wrote for) was over the moon for him. For me, Jiricek stands out as such a unique player that you can't find anywhere in the draft. If I go back another year, I still can't find someone like him. He's a bit of a unicorn. The obvious draw to Jiricek's game becomes crystal clear after just a few minutes of watching him -- his unprecedented aggression.... Calculated aggression means constantly applying pressure to the opponent, forcing fast decisions to avoid being smashed by the Czech freight train. And if that seems like a lot, Elite Prospects might have been even higher. The outlet ranked him second overall in his draft class and in the top five of several skills, including: Best Defensive Defenseman (first) Best Neutral Zone Defender (first) Highest Floor (second) Best Offensive Defenseman (third) Hardest Hitter (third) Best Transition Defenseman (fourth) Highest Ceiling (fifth) EP's player comparable was Moritz Seider, who also won the Calder Trophy. Their ultimate conclusion? There’s a durable defensive foundation in place that will carry him to a top-four role at a bare minimum, even if his play with the puck doesn’t come along for the ride... You’re looking at a 6-foot-3, right-shot defenceman who can do just about everything at a low-end top-pairing level through the height of his career. But unlike most players, Jiricek's high-water mark as a prospect wasn't the draft. 2023: Top Of the Worlds Jiricek could go directly to the AHL for his first season after being drafted, a luxury not afforded to many players in the first year after their draft. But already a seasoned pro at age-18, Jiricek could seamlessly handle the transition to North American hockey. He set the record for most AHL points for a defenseman in their Draft+1 season, piling up 38 in 55 games. It was an impressive campaign, topped off by a dominant Under-20 World Junior tournament. The goal above helped Team Czechia to the Gold Medal Game against Canada (where they lost in OT), earning their first medal at the U-20 tournament since 2005. Jiricek was especially dominant, scoring three goals (on 30 shots, ranking sixth-most among all players) and seven points in his seven games. Jiricek had a plus/minus of +10, getting tagged with just one minus on the tournament. He was the obvious pick for Best Defenseman of the 2023 World Juniors. Jiricek faced players already having massive success in the NHL: Connor Bedard, Logan Cooley, Dylan Guenther, Logan Stankoven, Luke Hughes, and more. He not only acquitted himself, but the data shows that Jiricek was an absolute beast in all three zones. Wrote EP's Lassi Alanen after the tournament: He was a commanding factor both offensively and defensively. He had the highest shot volume in the entire tournament, forwards included, and also set up scoring chances at an above-average rate. Defensively, he killed plays both in in-zone setting and while defending against the rush. At The Athletic, Wheeler ranked him as the ninth-best prospect that summer, with Pronman tagging him as the 20th-best Under-23 player/prospect in the NHL. Pronman had him eighth among defensemen behind Rasmus Dahlin, Seider, Owen Power, Noah Dobson, Jake Sanderson, Hughes, and Bowen Byram. "Jiricek has been one of the most impactful teenage defensemen I’ve seen in the AHL in recent years," declared Pronman. "He’s showing a whole other level of offense this season.... Everything, except for his footspeed, points to a big minutes NHL defenseman. EP was still massively high on him, ranking him as their seventh-best NHL prospect, and top defenseman. "When he steps on the ice, the game belongs to him," their profile read. Hard to beat that. There was just one group that wasn't so all-in on Jiricek... 2024: The Struggle (Colum)Bus Jiricek's path to Minnesota started in 2024, though no one knew it then. The top young defenseman made his displeasure known after Columbus sent him down to the AHL in January. “I played good hockey in the NHL," he said. "I’m an NHL player right now. That’s my opinion, that I should be in the NHL right now." Jarmo Kekäläinen (who Jiricek outlasted in Columbus, for what it's worth) might have seen it differently, but plenty of scouts took the player's side. Sportsnet's Jason Bukala went scorched-earth on Columbus' management: The Blue Jackets seem to forget what they have in this prospect. Jiricek can beat goalies at any level with a clapper or snap shot from range. He’s a power play threat waiting to happen. He has always produced offence along every stop in his development. St-Louis re-entered the picture to lend his support: "At the very least, Jiříček looks like an NHL player," he wrote. "His confidence knows no bounds. He plays the same creative and hyper-aggressive game in the NHL as he did in the AHL last season, in the Czech league before that, and in his junior days. That’s a massive positive for his development, as he’s constantly testing his limits and pushing them, becoming more and more skilled as he advances in levels." And that's perhaps where the core of the conflict lay between Jiricek and the Blue Jackets. Maximizing Jiricek means allowing him to play a high-risk style. But when he messes up, it's more dangerous than it might be for other players. St.-Louis explains why: Most daring defencemen usually have the skating ability to repair their mistakes.... Jiříček doesn’t have that kind of safety net, that recovery ability. Either [his daring plays] work spectacularly or they fail in the same fashion. And it’s the same defensively. The failure to launch, it turns out, brutally affected his stock with the Columbus organization. However, it didn't fully take the bloom off the rose outside of it. Pronman downgraded Jiricek on his U-23 rankings before the season from 20th to a still-strong 47th: The long-term projection on Jiricek remains promising given his toolkit. I like his defensive edge and thought he showed he could be a great two-way player at other levels. His feet aren't the best and he struggled adapting to the NHL pace.... With time I think he'll be an all-situations top-four defenseman. But, like with many players, the hype dies down eventually, and the NHL starts to reveal warts in one's game. After a vigorous defense of Jiricek in January, Bukala was a bit more muted in his assessment on November 18: As much as I appreciate what Jiricek can produce offensively he also needs to provide better-than-average defensive detail to find a regular role at the NHL level. St-Louis' scouting report from November 29 also puts his weaknesses into greater focus: A weakness even in his draft year, Jiříček’s skating hasn’t improved over the past few seasons. While he can speed up the ice to catch up to the play... his pivots lack fluidity. His decision-making with the puck and defensive awareness have been equally problematic. Of course, St-Louis points out that there's still a ton to like: Despite his ever-present weaknesses, Jiříček remains one of those rare right-shot defencemen capable of tilting the ice for his team. And, of course, in Minnesota, there's really one scout whose opinion matters most: Brackett. And the Wild's head scout is sold on him. "David Jiricek still has some things to work on, obviously," e told The Athletic's Michael Russo. "[But] he wants the puck.... He has an ability to get into spots where he can utilize it and support the rush. He plays definitive in his D zone." Brackett also provided immediate optimism by going on the record with his belief that his skating won't be the limiting factor as Columbus thought. "He is an average skater, but it’s good enough," he assured Russo. "You’re not going to look at him and go, ‘Oh, jeez!’ It’s good enough." Now that everyone has weighed in, and the Wild put their money where their mouths were, it's time to start seeing if Jiricek can live up to the faith so many have had in him throughout the years.

If you read centuries-old stories, you'll know the worst thing for anyone is to know their fate. In Macbeth, the title character, Corey Macbeth, is told he'll be King of Scotland, and uses that insight as permission to do terrible things. Oedipus Rex learns his future, and his attempt to avoid it only drives him into the arms of his mother. Sisyphus is doomed to roll a boulder up a hill, knowing he will never complete his task. The Minnesota Wild and their fans knew their fate for the past four seasons. Bill Guerin acknowledged this after the 2022-23 season, pointing out his team was "fighting with one hand tied behind their back with these cap constraints." As much as the Wild tried to swim against the tide of a combined $47 million of dead cap space spread out among four years, they couldn't break their usual ceiling: A first-round exit. At first glance, it looks like the Wild might know their fate again. 13 of the 20 players who dressed for Opening Night last season will (likely) dress for tonight. It might have been 15, had it not been for injuries to longtime Wild players Jonas Brodin and Mats Zuccarello. Their biggest offseason addition was Vladimir Tarasenko, who is 33 and a half decade removed from his prime. A trio of analysts at The Athletic have, like Macbeth's witches nearly a thousand years before now, proclaimed the team's fate: "Welcome, as usual to Mid-esota." And yet, despite the continuity, I can honestly say that I have no idea what to expect coming into the 2025-26 Minnesota Wild's season. After years of financially forced stagnation, the ceiling on this team has finally been removed. This season has possibilities that have been absent for much of the decade. While many fans hoped that Minnesota's outlook would change significantly due to a major free agent or trade addition, the reason for optimism comes from The Future finally being here. The Wild's Opening Night lineup is poised to ice first-round rookies in Zeev Buium and Liam Öhgren. And that's just the beginning. Jesper Wallstedt, the team's first-round pick in 2021, will be starting his rookie season as the Wild's backup goalie. 2022 second-rounder Hunter Haight will make his NHL debut. 2022 first-rounder Danila Yurov will be in the press box on Opening Night, but is still on the roster. And despite expending his rookie status with the Columbus Blue Jackets, 2022 first-rounder David Jiříček is just 21 and making his full-time debut with Minnesota after a six-game stint last year. The anticipation for these youngsters -- particularly Buium, Yurov, and Buium -- is high. Elite Prospects ranked these players seventh, 59th, and 66th, respectively, on their preseason Top 100 Prospects list. It's not outlandish to predict that each of these three will score 25 points this year, and we have to take a moment to appreciate how rare that would be. Teams usually don't just let their entire prospect pipeline blast into their roster like a fire hose. Since the 2006-07 season, we've seen just 11 teams have three or more rookies come in and post 25 points. Here's that list: 2016-17 Toronto Maple Leafs (six): Auston Matthews (69), Mitch Marner (61), William Nylander (61), Nikita Zaitsev (36), Connor Brown (36), Zach Hyman (28) 2006-07 San Jose Sharks (four): Matt Carle (42), Ryane Clowe (34), Joe Pavelski (28), Marc-Édouard Vlasic (26) 2010-11 Edmonton Oilers (four): Jordan Eberle (43), Taylor Hall (42), Magnus Pääjärvi (34), Linus Omark (27) 2017-18 New Jersey Devils (four): Nico Hischier (52), Will Butcher (44), Jesper Bratt (35), Blake Coleman (25) 2007-08 Edmonton Oilers (three): Sam Gagner (49), Andrew Cogliano (45), Wild Legend Tom Gilbert (33) 2007-08 Phoenix Coyotes (three): Peter Mueller (54), Wild Legend Martin Hanzal (35), Wild Legend Daniel Winnik (26) 2008-09 Toronto Maple Leafs (three): Mikhail Grabovski (48), Nikolai Kuleman (31), John Mitchell (29) 2009-10 Colorado Avalanche (three): Matt Duchene (55), T.J. Galiardi (39), Ryan O'Reilly (26) 2017-18 Boston Bruins (three): Danton Heinen (47), Jake DeBrusk (43), Charlie McAvoy (32) 2021-22 Nashville Predators (three): Tanner Jeannot (41), Philip Tomasino (32), Alexandre Carrier (30) 2022-23 Buffalo Sabres (three): Jack Quinn (37), Owen Power (35), JJ Peterka (32) There's a common thread that runs through most of these teams: They sucked the year before. To get such an influx of rookies at the same time, a team either has to 1) Draft high-end talent in short bursts, and 2) Have multiple open significant roles with which to insert rookies. Good teams don't tend to have both of those elements. Just three of these 11 teams made the playoffs the previous year: the 2006-07 Sharks, the 2017-18 Bruins, and the 2021-22 Predators. Interestingly, two of those teams advanced past the first round with the injection of young talent. The Sharks powered past the first round for the second season in a row before running into a Detroit Red Wings team loaded with four Hall of Famers, including a red-hot Dominik Hasek. The Bruins went from a first-round exit to pushing through the second round, thanks in part to a two-goal Game 7 effort from DeBrusk. Nashville suffered its second-straight first-round exit, and with a sweep, no less. Still, that was against the Colorado Avalanche on their march to Nathan MacKinnon's Stanley Cup. What are ya gonna do? Two out of these three teams overcoming a hurdle that has vexed the Wild for a decade is an eyebrow-raising trend. It's also worth noting that the bench boss for two of those 11 rookie-heavy teams is currently leading the Wild. That's kinda funny, because Hynes' reputation in New Jersey and Nashville suggests that he may not be overly skilled at developing young players. That could be up for debate -- after all, you can argue both Brock Faber and Marco Rossi came into their own under Hynes -- but what isn't debatable is that Hynes has had success at integrating a lot of rookies onto a team. That's not easy to do, but both times Hynes has had this challenge, he's gotten his teams to the playoffs. In New Jersey, that effort was led by the superhuman performance of an MVP-winning winger in Taylor Hall. In Nashville, the rookie-heavy team helped support a team powered by a dominant power play. Hmmmm... But that's just one piece of the unknown for the Wild. The other part of the equation involves their salary cap situation. Minnesota struck out with free agency this summer, but is slated to have over $16 million of cap space at the deadline. That's more than any playoff team last season, save for the Carolina Hurricanes and Montreal Canadiens. A big move was more or less an impossibility over the past four seasons. Now? It's wide open, and there's no telling who might get moved around by the deadline. Who thought lifelong Boston Bruin Brad Marchand would get traded before last season? Or that the Buffalo Sabres would offload a big, 24-year-old, former 30-goal-scoring center in Dylan Cozens? Or that Mikko Rantanen would get moved not once, but twice? On this, the day of the Wild's season opener, the fans finally have uncertainty. Will Buium, Öhgren, Yurov, Wallstedt, Jiříček, or Haight take flight or flop? No idea. How will their paths affect the trajectory of this team? We'll have to find out. What surprises might be in store? Hard to say! Maybe all of this adds up to Minnesota finishing in the same range as they have in the previous seasons. That could easily happen. However, the scope of possibilities is much, much wider than it has been in recent years. They're not funneled towards a first-round exit. The franchise has the tools to make its own fate, and that alone should be reason enough for Wild fans to get excited.

With no first-round pick and a play-it-safe mentality from the Minnesota Wild at the 2025 Draft, it felt like fans had to look hard for any hype to cling to. Those hopes for a secret star have coalesced around Adam Benák, a fourth-round winger who profiled as shifty, skilled, and smart. Was he intriguing? Sure. But even as he made Hockey Wilderness' recent Top-11 prospects series, it was tough not to harbor some skepticism. Benák weighed into the combine at 5-foot-7.25, 164 pounds, which sent him into the fourth round, but it wasn't just the size. Despite loving his energy and pace of play, Elite Prospects graded his skating at a 4.5 on their 1-to-9 scale, or below-average. His production with the USHL's Youngstown Phantoms (59 points in 56 games) was solid, but not head-turning. It's essential to note that Benák had his fans at the time of the draft, but the odds are also fantastically stacked against a player with his profile. Benák can't make it to the NHL by being merely a good junior player, then a good AHL player. Lots of good junior players and good AHL players at his size simply never get a crack at the NHL. He has to be undeniable. This weekend, Benák looked pretty damn undeniable. Benák took the ice at the Tom Kurvers Prospect Showcase on Friday night while facing a battery of St. Louis Blues first-rounders in Justin Carbonneau, Adam Jiříček, Dalibor Dvorský, and Otto Stenberg. He had Zeev Buium and Danila Yurov on his side, but 60 minutes and three assists later, Benák came away looking like the top player on the ice. Then on Sunday against the Chicago Blackhawks, Benák again stole the show, making a steal on the forecheck to set up Rasmus Kumpulainen's game-winning goal with 61 seconds remaining. "That goal was all [Benák]," Kumpulainen said after the game, marveling at his teammate's game. "He's really shifty out there, his hands are unreal, and he's so small [that] no one can get to him." Benák got the points this weekend, but his weekend was about more than the assists. He was all around the puck for the entirety of Friday, in particular. Once he had the puck, he seemed in complete control of the pace of the game, weaving around players and finding seams to dish to teammates. Not only did Benák thrive against players with a higher pedigree than a fourth-round pick, but he was also facing an age gap between most of his competition. An April 2007 birthdate, Benák was one of the five youngest players in the tournament. Jiříček is a year older, entering his age-19 season. Dvorský and Stenberg are age-20. The Blackhawks drafted prospects Martin Misiak and Nick Lardis three years ago. It's important to keep things in perspective. This was an opening statement for Benák in his career, and a player passed over for three rounds might have come into the weekend with a bigger chip on his shoulder than the top prospects, whose sights are set on making NHL rosters. One prospect tournament doesn't make a career. But this isn't the first time Benák has balled out in a prospect tournament, either. In last year's Hlinka-Gretzky Cup, he led Team Czechia to a Silver Medal, tied for the tournament lead in goals (4) and second in points (11), cementing the all-time lead in points for the tournament. At this spring's U-18 World Championship, Benák registered 2 goals and 7 points in just four games. Put him against his best peers in these showcases, and Benák's money. He'll play this year in the OHL for the Brantford Bulldogs, but you can tell that Greg Cronin -- Benák's bench boss for the weekend -- can't wait to get his hands on him with the Iowa Wild. "He was a dog on a bone, he was fearless, he goes to the net. For me, he was our best forward," the coach praised. "He's a quiet kid, but he listens intently to everything you tell him. He tries to apply it... and that's what coachability is." It's going to be a long climb to the NHL, still. Benák is going to need to keep impressing at the OHL level, where he could spend the next two years. After that, he's going to have to show that he can thrive in the AHL, and that could take two or three years. But Benák can only prove himself with the challenges he's given, and he aced this first test. Doing so against professional players means that it's time to put away skepticism and get excited about his potential as a prospect.

The Marco Rossi Discourse has officially detached itself from reality. We just saw the Florida Panthers build a dynasty on a foundation rehabilitating former top-10 picks that were unhappy, coming off a down year, or both. Sam Reinhart (No. 2 overall in 2014), Seth Jones (No. 4 in 2013), Sam Bennett (No. 4 in 2014), and Matthew Tkachuk (No. 6 in 2016). They made bets -- sometimes massive bets -- on top talent and hoped their organization would figure it out. This is a copycat league, as they say. Yet, as the Minnesota Wild's top-six center is coming off a career-high 60-point season at the age of 23, no one seems to want him particularly badly. Least of all, as much as GM Bill Guerin has tried to downplay it, the historically center-starved Wild, who've been rumored to be looking at trading him for the last two summers. Or three, since he might be on the move this week. Whether trying to low-ball Guerin on a player he doesn't seem particularly committed to, similarly worried about his size, or scared off by the fact that the Wild demoted and kept him on the fourth line in the playoffs, teams aren't biting. The Vancouver Canucks are believed to have only offered the 15th overall pick in tonight's draft for him. Meanwhile, the Buffalo Sabres apparently turned down an offer of Marco Rossi and "another roster player and/or prospects and picks" for JJ Peterka, according to The Athletic's Michael Russo. Instead, Buffalo flipped Peterka for 25-year-old Michael Kesselring and 23-year-old Josh Doan. Combined, the two players have a career 4.9 Standings Points Above Replacement in 218 games, per Evolving-Hockey. That's just barely more than Rossi had over 82 games last season (4.4 SPAR). We don't specifically know what was offered alongside Rossi, of course, and Kesselring being a right-shot defenseman does fill a need. Still... what are we doing here? We're living in Bizarro World when it comes to Rossi. The Athletic's Shayna Goldman, one of the brightest minds in hockey analysis, wrote about the apprehensions teams may have for Rossi: Issue number two revolves around whether Rossi can drive his own line or is just a passenger to Kirill Kaprizov. ... These two do mesh well together. In 407 five-on-five minutes together this year, the Wild earned a 57 percent expected goal rate and outscored opponents 24-16. Rossi was still above break-even in expected and actual goals without Kaprizov, but wasn’t as in control. No one on earth is going to suggest that Kaprizov isn't the primary driving force on any line he's on. Kaprizov carries the puck and can do dynamic things with it as a playmaker or shooter. We've seen Kaprizov elevate Mats Zuccarello, Ryan Hartman, Joel Eriksson Ek, and Matt Boldy. It's ludicrous to say that Rossi isn't benefiting from Kaprizov when the two are on the ice together. Still, that doesn't mean that Rossi can't drive play in his own right. We have a growing amount of evidence that he does drive play. 407 minutes with Kaprizov at 5-on-5 means that Rossi played 815 minutes without Kaprizov. During that time, Rossi still managed to out-score opponents 32-27 (54% goal share) with a 52.8% expected goal share. That includes a long stretch of the season when Kaprizov was injured -- and remember, this was not a good team without Kaprizov. From Christmas until Kaprizov's permanent return on April 9, the Wild were 29th in goal share (43.5%) and 25th in expected goal share (47.5%). During that time, Rossi was above-water in goal share (54.6%) and expected goal share (51.2%). Among Wild forwards, only Ryan Hartman and the heavily sheltered Vinnie Hinostroza could claim to be above water in both categories. Rossi's season wasn't a product of playing with a superstar. He consistently made other players better, almost to a person. When you examine what players did with and without Rossi, it's impossible not to notice a pattern. Minnesota Wild Forwards, 2024-25 With and Without Rossi at 5-on-5 Mats Zuccarello Time On Ice With vs WO: 651 / 407 GF% With vs WO: 56.2 / 41.0 xGF% With vs WO: 52.7 / 44.1 Matt Boldy TOI With vs WO: 559 / 695 GF% With vs WO: 57.2 / 48.4 xGF% With vs WO: 52.0 / 53.7 Kirill Kaprizov TOI With vs WO: 408 / 317 GF% With vs WO: 60.4 / 57.6 xGF% With vs WO: 57.4 / 52.7 Marcus Johansson TOI With vs WO: 191 / 831 GF% With vs WO: 62.4 / 42.6 xGF% With vs WO: 57.5 / 46.6 Marcus Foligno TOI With vs WO: 185 / 755 GF% With vs WO: 57.5 / 53.1 xGF% With vs WO: 63.7 / 54.6 Ryan Hartman TOI With vs WO: 159 / 745 GF% With vs WO: 60.1 / 47.6 xGF% With vs WO: 55.4 / 50.8 That's everyone who played 100-plus 5-on-5 minutes with Rossi last year. The only player who didn't see a bump in both their actual and expected goal share was Boldy, who finished only slightly higher in xGF% without Rossi at center. It's a difficult pattern to deny. It makes sense, then, that Goldman's article included this graphic, which shows just how strong Rossi's game is at both ends of the ice: And again, it feels like we're in Bizarro World. How can the Wild doubt his play and the results to this degree? Why are they stubbornly refusing to pay more than $5 million AAV for a player who's asking for $7 million and whose market value is over $8 million? There's a bargain to be had for seven or eight years! Take it! How is this hard?! Now it seems like Guerin has not only Galaxy Brained himself on this, but the NHL might be, too. Teams may be waiting for July 1 to snipe Rossi with an offer sheet that Minnesota would be unwilling to match. Still, if a team like Buffalo is passing on Rossi and more in a trade, then maybe the lack of trade interest is real. We'll find out in the coming days. Whatever the resolution, though, this has been an incredibly bizarre series of events for Rossi. Any other center at his age -- with his production, work ethic, and character -- would never hit the market. And if they did, teams would be lining up to improve their center depth with a talented, goal-scoring, point-producing center. Here we are, though, with Rossi on the market and teams saying "Pass." It'd be one thing if Rossi hadn't proven he could hang at the position. But he has! Yet, from what we know today, it's done almost nothing for his stock, inside and outside the organization. We're going past this situation being an irrational farce and heading to the point where we completely break with reality. Whoever is first to come to their senses is going to get a hell of a player on a great deal, and the State of Hockey should be hoping it's Guerin.

The NHL's salary cap is on the rise, but the league's economy might be about to grind to a halt. There's a flow to player movement. There are usually a group of teams looking to reset their competitive window, and a team of buyers looking to fuel them with futures for the price of taking the sellers' good players off their hands. But unless a team is interested in the Pittsburgh Penguins and their slightly used Rickard Rakell or Bryan Rust, that might not happen this offseason. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic recently quoted a GM as saying, "Almost everyone is looking to add or get better." That's bad news for the Minnesota Wild, for whom the buyout shackles are finally off their wrist and are ready to make a splash. In a world where the Buffalo Sabres were looking to trade Tage Thompson, the Detroit Red Wings were shopping Dylan Larkin, or Brady Tkachuk was trying to find a way to leave the Ottawa Senators, the Wild might have been able to do that. But in a world where even last-place teams like the Chicago Blackhawks or San Jose Sharks are done trying to bottom out? The road for the Wild to improve gets a lot rockier. Or does it? "I don't want to sit on my hands at all, and I'm kind of tired of doing that," Bill Guerin said in May, In March, he said, "[July is] going to be a time where organizationally, we make a step." However, Minnesota might be in as good a position as anyone to improve without a huge shake-up. The Wild only punched their ticket to the playoffs in the last 20 seconds of the season, when Joel Eriksson Ek scored a game-tying goal against a dreadful Anaheim Ducks team to clinch their spot. While that suggests the Wild are a bubble playoff team, the truth is that with a reasonably healthy year from Kirill Kaprizov and Eriksson Ek, Minnesota would have been an easy playoff team. Yes, even with "one hand tied behind their back," as Guerin occasionally says of their cap situation. The Wild are (currently) set to return most of that team from last season, and are already making three major additions, without spending a dime in free agency. Top prospects Zeev Buium, Danila Yurov, and David Jiříček are all expected to be on the roster next year. You can probably add in a fourth by penciling in Liam Öhgren in the lineup. That's the 12th overall pick from last year's draft, plus three top-25 picks from the 2022 Draft. Playoff teams usually aren't in a position to add four highly-touted first-rounders in a single offseason. That's reserved for young, up-and-coming teams after years of painful rebuilding. However, the Wild are in exactly that spot. Of course, it's important to temper expectations a bit. We don't know which players are ready to step into huge roles and which require more time. But even two of those four being ready for prime time next season would make a significant impact. Even beyond the injuries and the prospects, the Wild still have room to improve next year. Their young core currently includes Matt Boldy (24), Marco Rossi (23), and Brock Faber (22). All three players have room to improve next season. The State of Hockey is still waiting for that elusive Boldy breakout season, even though he is coming off a career-high 73-point campaign. Still, the organization and its fans believe there's more meat on that bone. His final 20 games (including playoffs) suggest that, as he scored 11 goals and 24 points over that time. If his 2025-26 season can resemble the first and last 20 games of last year, and not the middle 48, we could see something truly special. Rossi put together a second-straight 20-goal season while managing to take his playmaking up a notch as the Wild's top-line center. The trade rumors surrounding him have been on full blast this offseason, but a combination of a thin center market and Minnesota's not-so-stellar job of selling him could keep him in Minnesota. If Rossi is back in St. Paul, he'll be motivated to either prove to the Wild he's part of their future or put on a show to audition for another spot. His work ethic to get better next season can't be questioned. Then there's Faber, whose disastrous second half plummeted him to the fourth-worst season in the NHL, per Evolving-Hockey's Standings Points Above Replacement. Faber cost the Wild 3.3 points in the standings last season. Still, no one believes that it represents his true talent level. With a smarter plan to keep his workload in check, Faber should look much better as a top-pairing defenseman. Sure, it might be preferable to see the Wild add a bona-fide No. 1 center, if you're not sold on Rossi. But with reasonable health, a wave of prospects arriving, and their young stars continuing their upward trajectory, they might not need a huge shake-up. Suppose Minnesota can limit itself to adding a top-six winger around the edges. Then, it would complement a promising core without ripping out any of the foundation of what the organization is building. As loath as Guerin is to sit on his hands, it might be the best way to set up the Wild to win in the near term.

One goal short. That's all the Minnesota Wild needed to get this series on lockdown. Finding one more goal -- anywhere -- was the difference between going back to Vegas with the Golden Knights demoralized or with home ice advantage in a de facto best-of-three. You can't get picky about where the goals come from in the playoffs. Or at least, that's got to be the lesson John Hynes learned in Game 4. Because when his team needed a goal the most, he spent all but 7 minutes and 17 seconds with 24 goals sitting on the bench. It's no secret that the Wild have long doubted Marco Rossi's ability to contribute to a playoff effort. At the end of the 2022-23 season, Minnesota refused to play their top center prospect, who had a strong season in the AHL, in a series against the Dallas Stars. This despite losing Joel Eriksson Ek to a broken leg. Those reservations have persisted into this year. Hynes has shown no faith in his 60-point center's season carrying over to the first round. After an admittedly poor showing on the third line during his 12-minute playoff debut, Hynes dropped Rossi to the fourth line and has given him strictly fourth-line minutes. Unlike Ryan Hartman, who was able to play his way off the fourth line in Game 1, that path doesn't seem available to Rossi. He scored on his third shift in Game 3, and Rossi finished with 10:52 of time on ice. Game 4 was even worse. Once again, he scored on his third shift of the game, and his line with Yakov Trenin and Justin Brazeau was easily Minnesota's best forward group. Still, Rossi had 7:17 through regulation, including 1:19 in the second period and 2:37 in the third. How many guys score a goal in back-to-back games while remaining effectively benched? We know how many other 60-point forwards are getting used as little as Rossi is this postseason: zero. Among the other 42 forwards who scored 60 points this season, only 39-year-old Alex Ovechkin (15:28 per night) is averaging under 16 minutes. Lower the bar to 50-point forwards, and no one comes close to Rossi's microscopic ice time. It's clear that Game 1 fed into Hynes' doubts that Rossi could provide an impact in the series, one where the 5-foot-9 center was going against the fifth-heaviest team in the NHL. But now? He's proven that he can hang, and he doesn't even need top-tier linemates or a lot of minutes to do it. His first goal came with bruising, 6-foot-4 Brayden McNabb on the ice, with 6-foot-2, 216-pound Keegan Kolesar closing in on him. In Game 4, 6-foot-6 Nicolas Hague, 6-foot-2 Zach Whitecloud, 6-foot-4 Nicolas Roy, 6-foot-1 Tanner Pearson, and Kolesar couldn't stop Rossi from parking 14 feet from the net, untouched. Not only is Rossi finding space against a much bigger team (only Joel Eriksson Ek has more shots on goal per hour this series), but he's doing something no other Wild draftee has done since Marian Gaborik. Produce in his first playoff series. Rossi has two goals and an assist through his first four career postseason games. No other Wild-drafted player has scored three points in their first four playoff games in Minnesota. He's already matched what Kirill Kaprizov did in his first playoff series against the Golden Knights. Rossi surpassed Boldy's output in his first series by Game 3. Even Gaborik, who ended his first series with four goals and six points, didn't take off until Game 6. Here's where Rossi ranked coming into Sunday's action among 176 forwards with 30-plus all-situations playoff minutes. And remember, this is all with a fourth-line assignment and while being relegated to the second power play: 7th in Goals Per Hour (2.76) 20th in Points Per Hour (4.14) 16th in Shots Per Hour (11.3) Of course, we're talking about a small sample size, but still... there's so much more to indicate that Rossi's a player who can step up in the playoffs, rather than shrink from the moment. But as the Wild grew desperate for an insurance goal, then later a go-ahead goal, Hynes made little effort to find ways to get his second-leading goal-scorer on the ice. Hynes made no commitment after Game 4 to increase Rossi's role, either. "We'll take it game by game," he said when pressed about Rossi's ice time. It's one thing (but still ill-advised, arguably) to be unwilling to commit to Rossi long-term. The Athletic's Michael Russo has reported that the team has only offered Rossi five years and $25 million -- a below-market deal, even when we don't account for the salary cap's pending exponential rise. Oddly, Minnesota is seemingly preparing to move on from a center with a 60-point season before hitting his 24th birthday, but hey, maybe the Wild have a vision for the future. It's much more bizarre to be unwilling to commit to Rossi now. This is the playoffs, and the Wild aren't going to trade for the center of their dreams before their playoff run ends. They don't have top center prospect Danila Yurov ready to step in for Rossi until next year. Minnesota's not nearly so deep that they can afford to play their 24-goal center for just seven minutes in regulation in a must-win game. Hynes has two options: He can maximize the playing time of his best players or continue to let perfection be the enemy of good with one of his two best centers. The coach chose the latter, which may have already bitten him, putting Minnesota's chances of winning their first playoff series in a decade in peril.

The Minnesota Wild can't pretend that they have secondary scoring anymore. They might have been able to claim that when Joel Eriksson Ek was healthy. But over the 1-5-0 streak in their past six games, the evidence is in: They've scored nine goals in that stretch. Seven of them were either scored by Kirill Kaprizov, someone on Kaprizov's line, or the power play, which primarily features... you guessed it, Kaprizov. It's not particularly surprising. The Wild had secondary scoring issues last season, and they still have $15 million nuked off their salary cap from the final year of the Zach Parise/Ryan Suter buyouts. There weren't many scenarios in which Minnesota wouldn't be a team that lives and dies with its top line, power play, and superstar. Even so, this is pretty extreme. Here are the Wild's expected goals totals from the last three games when Kaprizov has been off the ice: December 12 vs Edmonton: 1.45 December 14 vs Philadelphia: 0.77 December 15 vs Vegas: 0.89 December 18 vs Florida: 0.49 December 20 vs Utah: 1.12 December 21 @ Winnipeg: 0.70 Sure, Kaprizov gets the bulk of the power play time, which gives him more offensive opportunities... but the rest of the team should be able to chip in more than 0.90 expected goals per game. It doesn't take a lot to figure out why, either. Without Eriksson Ek in the lineup, the second line is currently Matt Boldy and Marcus Johansson (whose play, generously, can be described as "volatile") and Freddy Gaudreau, who is having a nice bounce-back year but isn't a second-line forward. Now that Mats Zuccarello is back in the lineup, Boldy has had to carry the second line, and he hasn't responded to the role like you'd hope. Instead of elevating his teammates, he has one goal and an assist in his past five games. And folks... that's your second line. Ryan Hartman is your best third-liner, and he's nowhere near 100% healthy. It's hard to blame him for playing through what's ailing him, either, because the Wild are already icing an entire fourth line of AHL call-ups. Enough is enough. This isn't working, and the Wild have a potential solution in Des Moines in Liam Öhgren. The Wild thought enough of Öhgren to put him on the team out of camp. However, after eight games of playing fewer than 10 minutes per night, he got sent to the AHL. The reason why they sent him down is simple: He wasn't making an impact in a fourth-line role, and John Hynes couldn't find room for him in an elevated role. That's not the case anymore. According to Evolving-Hockey's Goals Above Replacement metric, Minnesota has only eight forwards (seven healthy) with a positive offensive impact this season. Hartman's been too hurt to be on the positive side of the ledger, and Johansson's offensive impact is worse than everyone but Marat Khusnutdinov. With all due respect to call-ups Devin Shore and Ben Jones, they're not quite cutting it, either. The Wild have a need for an influx of offense, and that's what Öhgren was supposed to be for them. Why wait? Especially given that Öhgren has responded to his demotion exactly the way teams want their prospects to do. His 10 goals in 16 games lead the team, and his 15 points are second. He's riding a high shooting percentage (22.2%) but also shooting nearly 3.0 times per game, showing he can create his own shot. At this point, how can anyone on the second line or below march into Hynes' office and feel aggrieved at Öhgren taking their spot? Kaprizov (7), Marco Rossi (5), Gaudreau, Boldy, and Yakov Trenin (2 each) are the only forwards with multiple goals in December. If any player is upset at losing playing time, the obvious solution would be to score. That sounds harsh, but the secondary scoring has been absent to the point where it demands a shake-up. There are no veterans walking in through that door. The Wild had zero cap space to begin with, and they're now into LTIR money, which makes them unable to accrue cap space. There is only one card for Guerin to play, and that's to bring in Öhgren to handle second-line and second power play duty. Even considering his slow start in the NHL, there are fewer excuses to pump the brakes with their prospect with every loss.

Marco Rossi has been sidelined by a lower-body injury, according to a report from The Athletic’s Michael Russo. As a result, Russo and I must (separately) write about David Kampf. It would be one thing to write about Kampf joining a team other than the Minnesota Wild. Kampf is a solid role player who delivers middle-six quality forward play from the center position. His defensive impacts are effective, and he can chip in on the penalty kill when needed. His skill in the faceoff dot is also solid. He’s won between 51% and 53% of his faceoffs in each of the past six seasons, something that any beat writer (or me) will have to take a sentence or two to tell you about. I almost wasted another 15 minutes in Excel providing more context on just how many extra possessions this comes out to, until I remembered: I don’t care, and you shouldn’t either. Here is a list of things that David Kampf simply does not do: Drive offense Score goals Assist on goals Skate on the ice at the same time as his teammates have scoring chances Sure, it happens occasionally. But Kampf does none of these things above a fourth-line level. That is to say, below the 25th percentile. That has been true each of the past two years, as confirmed by Dom Luszczyszyn’s analytical model. There are many incorrect responses you could make to these numbers. Analytics are unfair to role players. They don’t know he’s shutting down the top line every night! Luszczyszyn’s model specifically quantifies the offensive and defensive impacts of opponents and teammates for the 2024-25 season. Kampf actually gets deployed against his opponent’s best defenders and worst offensive threats. The net effect was about two goals for and two goals against. I don’t believe in those made-up stats. Kampf’s faceoff percentage is something you can take to the bank. Made-up, like “goals” and “assists?” I’ll concede that “offensive impacts” are more of a black box. However, if you want to get real, offensive impact is mainly made up by shot attempts, the King of Hockey, with context given to the location of those shots. Compare that to faceoffs. While they are always credited to one team or the other as the winner, there’s no context for the quality of a faceoff win. The team that wins the faceoff can turn it over on the next puck touch. It also lacks context for where a faceoff occurs. Most teams give their most valuable faceoffs to their best centers, meaning the quality of competition has a massive impact on faceoff percentage, which raw faceoff win rate doesn't capture. Do you know who this looks like? Do you know which player on the 2024-25 Minnesota Wild looked just like David Kampf, but a little bit better? Freddy Gaudreau. We did it. We recreated Freddy Gaudreau in the aggregate. Let me be clear: I think Gaudreau is a serious NHL player. He could fit on many NHL rosters. But didn’t Minnesota seek a fourth-line center in free agency? If Nico Sturm weren’t a serious upgrade, why else send out Gaudreau? If the Wild wanted both players, they could have kept both! They traded Gaudreau for a reason, and it isn’t that the 2025 fourth-round pick they acquired for him is going to help them win a Stanley Cup. It’s that another role-playing bottom-six forward does not fit on this roster! And, Freddy Gaudreau is better than David Kampf! The only area Kampf has Gaudreau beat is that he will win between three and five more faceoffs out of every 100 faceoffs they see. None of this even begins to drive at the heart of the issue. It’s not that David Kampf should never take an NHL ice sheet again. He just brings nothing to the Wild that they don’t already have, while addressing none of the issues that have Minnesotans questioning this team’s playoff hopes. Examine this Wild lineup without Rossi: Kampf would slot in at 3C. Perhaps Yurov gets to stay on the third line, but it doesn’t really matter when you look at the wingers in that bottom-six. What if, instead, the Wild addressed that problem? Imagine if this team played with the above lineup, waited to accrue cap space, and put it into a second-line winger. Does it really look that different from blowing a quarter of their current cap space on Kampf and handcuffing their options at the trade deadline? (By the way -- when was the last time the Wild acquired a second-line winger? Drafting Matt Boldy in 2019? Trading for Kevin Fiala in 2019? Signing Ryan Hartman in 2021? Don’t you dare count trading for Marcus Johansson at the 2023 trade deadline.) Johansson slides into a third-line role next to Tarasenko and Yurov, replaced by Hartman when Rossi returns. Both versions of that line fit the mold of the line on which Tarasenko excelled in Florida. Some rotation of Foligno, Trenin, and Hinistroza keeps all three fresh and provides flexibility on the fourth line. Most importantly, though, this would address the two glaring weaknesses of the 2025-26 Wild: They don’t have a real second line, so they can’t out-score mistakes from their rookie defensemen. David Kampf could be Mikko Koivu 2.0, and it wouldn’t address that second weakness. No matter how good the other four players defend, there will be open space to the outside of Zach Bogosian. When Zeev Buium or David Jiricek’s brain falls out and he turns the puck over on the breakout, David Kampf’s faceoff win is not coming to the rescue. These things will happen many times over the next five months. It’s what happens when teams develop new defensemen. Without a serious secondary scoring threat, Minnesota will continue to give up leads and be unable to retake them. It’s time for the Wild to address the problem that has plagued this club since Kevin Fiala departed. The problem isn’t the depth forwards, and the solution isn’t another role player. David Kampf isn’t the answer for a team with Stanley Cup aspirations.

Rookie defenseman Zeev Buium has hit the ground running in his first NHL season, displaying the skating, creativity, and playmaking skills that make him one of the best prospects in hockey. The 19-year-old phenom has nine points in his first 16 games, which is tied for third in rookie scoring and 20th among NHL defensemen. Still, there have been some expected growing pains, exacerbated by the fact that the Minnesota Wild coaching staff has had trouble finding a defensive partner who can complement the dynamic, free-wheeling Buium, who occasionally is as much a rover as he is a defenseman. Entering this past week, Buium had played at least 20 five-on-five minutes with Brock Faber (20:30), Zach Bogosian (28:13), David Jiricek (53:19), and Jared Spurgeon (89:57). Buium has experienced mixed results, partly because he must play in tandem with someone who can read off his aggressive, rover-like mentality, something that is easier said than done. However, the search may be over. Over the Wild’s past two games against the Carolina Hurricanes and the New York Islanders, the Wild activated Daemon Hunt. They’ve slotted him next to Buium on the third pair, with the left-handed Hunt playing on his offside, allowing Buium to continue to play on his natural left side. The early returns have been fantastic. Through 22:42 of five-on-five ice time, the two have produced an expected goals percentage of 54.47%, including a dominating 70.77% in just over 15 minutes of ice time against an uninspired Islanders team on Friday. Hunt and Buium appear to have found instant chemistry, and after some early struggles against Carolina that reflected the team’s performance for much of that game, the duo has really begun to pop. Hunt is a talented, intelligent player who makes good reads, decisive puck plays, is sound positionally, and doesn’t hesitate to join the rush when he sees an opportunity. He has good feet and a solid center of gravity, and almost always positions himself so he’s facing the play. While Hunt is not an overly powerful or dynamic skater, he has excellent footwork. He makes efficient turns, weight shifts, and pivots, and because he’s always facing the play, his movements are usually in the right direction for a given situation. That makes Hunt an ideal partner for Buium, because when Buium is at his best, he’s wheeling around all three zones, slicing through lanes and breaking down defenders with deceptive fakes and excellent lateral movement. Basically, he’s all over the place. Hunt seems to understand how Buium wants to play and, more importantly, reacts quickly and gets to the right places. Since Hunt is always facing the play, he reads Buium’s movements and works in tandem with him in all three zones. It’s not uncommon to see them switch back and forth between the right and left sides three or four times in a shift, and the duo has a knack for understanding when to do so. Here's an example of the type of shift these two regularly turned in on Friday. Watch how Buium (No. 8 ) and Hunt (No. 48) work in tandem to cover ice and move creatively in all three zones, and how they create and fill space. Notice also how both of them defend with footwork and positioning: That was basically a perfect shift and exemplifies what makes Buium and Hunt a compatible defensive pair. Hunt is the first to take the initiative offensively, working a give-and-go with Zuccarello and slicing down low, with Buium reading that play and filling in on the right side. Their pass doesn’t connect, but it was a perfect read by each of them. After they retrieve the puck, they interchange in their own zone, and Buium transports the puck into the offensive zone. When it was time to defend, Buium used his skating to stick with his man and keep the puck to the outside, while Hunt used his 6-foot-1, 201-pound frame and strong footwork to out-leverage his man in front. He then beats his man to the puck down low and creates a turnover. This pairing works because Hunt doesn’t just defer to Buium positionally. That’s the key to taking what Buium can do and elevating it to the next level. A defense partner that’s able to read off of him and work in tandem to create a five-man unit moving up ice and pressuring in the zone unlocks Buium’s ability to break down defenses by giving him the options that he needs to be able to attack with the puck freely. Sometimes, he allows himself to get caught on an island with the puck, and that’s when bad turnovers happen. Hunt’s play reading and movement might be able to give Buium another option and ensure he has that safe outlet, and Hunt’s ability to jump into open ice helps create the space that Buium uses to deadly effect. Here are a couple of examples of Buium and Hunt working in tandem to interchange up high, creating space and pressure in the offensive zone: Notice how Hunt reads Buium’s intentions when he decides to walk the blue line, often recognizing immediately that Buium is going to slice across laterally, and skating hard to fill in his place on the left side. That’s an example of the quick chemistry that the two have developed. Hunt also has a strong offensive-zone presence, using his play-reading and understanding of time and space to jump up in the play at opportune times. Here are a couple of examples of him taking the initiative offensively: When Buium played with other defense partners, particularly Spurgeon, it seemed there was a tendency to sit back and watch what Buium was doing, ready to cover for his mistakes. While that is occasionally understandable, it also limits his effectiveness. Hunt’s willingness to play a free-flowing game is exactly what is needed beside Buium. It also works on the defensive end: The first clip above is an example of how Hunt playing on his offside can be an advantage. Buium roams to the right, and Hunt feels natural when shifting to the left; when the Islanders come in on the attack, they’re still on the opposite sides, which allows them to rotate naturally throughout the D-zone. Hunt can use his skating to recover and kill a play. In the second clip, Hunt and Buium switch sides for the O-zone faceoff, which is common practice for defensemen with righty-lefty pairs, so that each is in a good stick position to handle a won faceoff. However, with both being left-handed, this switch was clearly to allow Buium to make a play if the Wild win the faceoff. Instead, they lose it, and the Islanders come down the ice and establish possession. As the Islanders begin their cycle, Hunt and Buium switch coverage to get back to their right and left sides, and both make positive plays with positioning and footwork to help get a zone clear. The fact that Hunt and Buium press the advantage every chance they get makes a pair that can help put the hammer down and give the Wild the upper hand in possession. The thing that separates high-level teams from the pack is their ability to hound opponents relentlessly and ensure there are no easy shifts. Suppose Hunt and Buium can consistently play at a tempo that forces opponents to match it, one that seeks the initiative at every opportunity. In that case, it will make the Wild a much tougher matchup for up-tempo opponents like the Colorado Avalanche, who won’t be able to count on having a dozen shifts against a slow, overmatched third pair, as has sometimes been the case in past iterations of Wild D-pairings. It's early, and David Jiricek and Zach Bogosian are also looking for chances to get playing time. Buium and Hunt are young players who will have some tough nights from time to time. Still, Hunt has brought a dynamic to the Wild’s back end that they didn’t have. If he and Buium can continue to display chemistry and cohesion, the Wild will become a much more well-rounded, dangerous team.

Hockey Wilderness is counting down the Minnesota Wild’s Top-11 Prospects, as voted by our staff. Today, we give you everything you need to know about our No. 5 prospect, David Jiříček. January 20, 2025: Section 330, Row 13 at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado. It was a matinee game for the Minnesota Wild on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and they were visiting their heated rivals in the Mile High City. Row 13 in the upper deck at Ball Arena is way up there, but I was fortunate enough to score a last-minute ticket to go watch the Wild beat up on the Colorado Avalanche in front of a packed house. As I settled into my seat just before puck drop, I was excited to watch Marc-Andre Fleury in person for most likely my final time. But halfway through the first period, my eyes became glued to a young, tall, rangy defenseman in white. It was the Wild’s first power play of the game, and David Jiříček received a one-timer opportunity from the left circle, a spot Alex Ovechkin has made famous over his career. He wound up, his stick nearly tickling the rafters among the litany of retired maroon and white jerseys, and unleashed a slap shot that missed the net entirely but rattled the glass beyond the net with a sound not typically heard in an NHL arena. It was just different. Jiříček played the game of his young career that night, helping lead the Wild to a 3-1 victory over their divisional rival. That sort of game-breaking talent is why the young Czechian defender lands at No. 4 on our Wild prospect rankings this year. It’s also why Jiříček is unquestionably the biggest wild card on Minnesota's roster entering the 2025-26 season. Sure, there are tantalizing other options, such as fellow prospect Danila Yurov’s potential to stick at center in the NHL. Still, nobody’s range of outcomes varies more than Jiříček's this season. Jiříček arrived in Minnesota early last season in a blockbuster deal with the Columbus Blue Jackets. General Manager Bill Guerin traded a first, second, third, and fourth round picks, plus prospect Daemon Hunt, to obtain the 6-foot-4 Jiricek. The response was a mixed bag, with everyone acknowledging his offensive talent, but some tempering their enthusiasm for his potential, mostly due to his poor skating. Due to injuries on the blue line, Jiricek was pressed into action for six games in January. In those six games, he recorded one goal and two assists, but they sent him back to Iowa immediately after his best game in Colorado. We never saw him again in Minnesota. Jiříček lacerated his spleen playing in Iowa in March and missed the rest of the season. You’d think having this highlight as the last memory of you to the fan base would have culminated in palpable buzz heading into this season. For a player the Wild traded so much for, it’s odd how much concern there is about whether he will be a full-time NHLer this year. The offense is obvious, but his skating could be a problem for him to defend consistently at the NHL level. Plus, the emergence of offensive dynamo Zeev Buium on the blue line could make it difficult for Jiricek to play up in the lineup. To all of that, I say, who cares? Ultimately, Bill Guerin and the Wild married themselves to Jiříček for at least the short term. You can’t give up the amount of capital they did and not play the young defender. What that looks like is anyone’s guess. Jiříček is Minnesota's biggest wild card heading into the season because he's so volatile. Let’s first dive into what an excellent season for Jiříček looks like. At his best, the former 6th overall pick creates offense at an elite level and can provide juice on the power play. It's not just his shot. Jiricek has a unique knack for stepping into voids on the power play when needed, something many defenders struggle with. He’s also no slouch defensively when he is playing smartly to his strengths. Jiříček has acknowledged that he needs to improve at his transitional skating so he can establish better gaps through the neutral zone through his own end. But when the 6-foot-4 defenseman can get himself into position to close gaps with his long reach, he’s an underrated defender. Jiříček can step up to oncoming forwards and squeeze them into less desirable spots on the ice. Once there, his size and strength cause issues. He can disrupt plays and get possession of loose pucks. At his worst, Jiricek can be a liability among the blue line group, although I argue it’s not as devastating as others make it out to be. If he can’t create offense, it will undoubtedly magnify those mistakes. When Kirill Kaprizov turns the puck over at the offensive blue line, we all give him a pass because what he brings to the team far outweighs his mistakes. Jiříček cannot afford such leeway if he does not provide offense immediately this season. There lies the flip side of what a great season looks like. If Jiříček can’t provide offense immediately, his spot in the lineup will be in jeopardy. It will be another season of the Wild brass not really knowing what they have in him. It’s why the Wild need to truly embrace the wild card that is Jiricek this season. If their goal is for him to be a well-rounded defenseman this year, then many folks at the Xce-- er, I mean, Grand Casino Center -- will be left disappointed. They can’t look at the assets they traded away and desire him to be a 20-minute-per-night type of player at both ends. Will that come with time? Maybe. But it’s also completely fine for Jiříček to be a special teams ace and provide 10 to 15 goals per season from the blue line. There is still considerable value in that. But they won’t know unless they embrace the current negatives in Jiříček’s game. They have to give him the runway to establish his niche on this team. He doesn’t have to be a top-4 defenseman for the Wild to succeed this year. However, it will be a failure if they don’t at least determine if Jiříček has a future in Minnesota. And from what I’ve seen, it won’t be a failure. Jiříček has a chance to reshape what the Wild’s blue line looks like through their competing window. And I’m betting on that wild card panning out.

The Marco Rossi contract saga of the year 2025 is finally over. The Minnesota Wild have reportedly signed the young centerman to a new contract that will keep him in St. Paul for at least a few more years, potentially. According to PuckPedia, the Wild have re-signed Rossi to a three-year deal that have a salary come in around the $5 million mark. Shortly after this report from PuckPedia, The Athletic's Michael Russo doubled down on his initial report from Thursday that the Wild are very close to putting pen to paper and then reported officially that it will be a three-year, $15-million contract for Rossi, meaning that it is a flat $5 million cap hit for the young centerman through the 2027-28 season. This all comes after months of reports and rumors about a stalemate. Earlier this offseason, it appeared that a trade was most likely to happen. The Wild were not satisfied with Rossi's initial contract demands and thought that instead of nailing him down to a contract similar to this one, they would try to see what his value is like in the trade market. But due to those financial demands and some more traditional general managers questioning his size and whether or not his production was simply because of playing with Kirill Kaprizov, there were no offers good enough for Wild general manager Bill Guerin to accept. Now, Rossi and the Wild have come together to find a somewhat temporary solution. The contract is only three years, which means a whole lot of things. First, Rossi will remain a restricted free agent at the end of this deal, with him just being one year away from unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2029. He will be eligible for arbitration this time around, so there could be a swifter solution if, for some reason, there is still this same player-team dynamic three years from now. With the contract being three years, it is also an opportunity for Rossi to firmly establish himself as that true, top-six center that everyone ultimately hopes he becomes. If his contract demands were truly Matt Boldy's deal of seven years at a $7-million AAV, shaving off $2 million per year to potentially cash in by even more three years from now is not a bad deal for the player. That is, if he becomes a consistent 60–70-point centerman who plays in all situations. The dollars and term feel like the right balance of risk and potential reward for both the Wild and Rossi. On a pure salary basis, it could be a steal for Minnesota, but it is such a short deal that it won't truly feel like a bargain. To put it this way: Rossi is making just $250,000 less per season than Joel Eriksson Ek has been through some dominant two-way seasons. We're just happy this is now over, and we can stop thinking about contract negotiations and put our focus on what can potentially happen on the ice.

Hockey Wilderness is counting down the Minnesota Wild’s Top-11 Prospects, as voted by our staff. Today, we give you everything you need to know about our No. 10 prospect, Adam Benak. Adam Benak is the type of prospect that sports fans love to root for; supremely talented and hard-working, yet undersized and therefore overlooked. So, it’s not surprising that Minnesota Wild fans, and the writers here at Hockey Wilderness, instantly became enamored with Benak after the Wild picked him in the fourth round last month. Our staff voted Benak as the Wild’s tenth-best prospect, and by all accounts, the hype just might be real. I’ll admit that I didn’t have Benak on my ballot, but it’s impossible to ignore his high ceiling as a prospect. He has proven that he can dominate at the junior level. Last season was special for the 5-foot-7 forward from Plzeň, Czech Republic. He started it off last summer by leading Czechia to a silver medal in the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, finishing second in the tournament in scoring with four goals and seven assists in five games. Later, he joined the USHL’s Youngstown Phantoms, where he produced 17 goals and 42 assists in just 56 games. Those numbers led Youngstown in scoring and were good enough for ninth in the entire league. After Youngstown was eliminated from the playoffs, Benak joined Czechia halfway through the U18 World Championship, where he caught a lot of people’s attention with his play and produced a stat line of two goals and five assists despite only playing four games. Benak sees the ice really well and is often steps ahead of the play. His anticipation enables him to make quick passes when he gets the puck, find space at the right time to become available for a pass, win races to loose pucks, and quickly apply pressure when opposing players find themselves in a vulnerable position. He has high-end straight-line speed that he generates with a powerful stride, as well as quick feet that enable him to maneuver in tight and find space and seams to make plays. Benak also has lethal hands that he uses to handle the puck at speed or in traffic, and is a deft, accurate passer. While he spent most of this past season as a center, he’ll more likely be a winger in professional hockey. As you can see, he does a lot of his damage in space and when exploiting lanes from the outside or in transition. Benak is also lethal on the power play. These are skills that translate up levels, but it’s also fair to question if he can become more than a perimeter player and power-play specialist in professional hockey. While the game seems to be trending toward more skilled, faster play, there’s only so much damage a player can do from the perimeter. Over 80% of NHL goals are scored from the slot or net-front, and so the key to consistent success remains finding ways to get the puck to that area. That doesn’t mean a player like Benak can’t find success. His ability to use his skating, vision, hands, and passing will enable him to create lanes and exploit seams no matter what league he plays in. However, perimeter players won’t be able to drive a line by themselves and need to be paired with possession drivers and scorers that can pull defenders to them and create space in the zone. In an era of video coaches and detailed scouting reports that prepare teams for their opponents, Benak will need to be able to effectively find space in the middle enough to keep defenses from keying on his perimeter play. Benak reminds me of former center David Desharnais, a diminutive player (listed at 5-foot-7 on NHL.com) with superb hockey sense and playmaking ability that managed to carve out an NHL career that included 524 regular-season games. To understand how he did so, I watched some film on Desharnais and saw that he and Benak share some comparable traits as players. Desharnais did a lot of his damage with the man advantage and often hung out on the perimeter, but not exclusively. He used his anticipation and play-reading ability to find space on the inside, maneuvering into space as it opened up, but he wasn’t stationary when he was in front of the net. He’d weave in at the right time to receive a pass or get a rebound opportunity, but managed to largely avoid battles with larger defensemen that would likely take him out of the play. While being unable to establish a consistent net-front presence is limiting for smaller players, it doesn’t mean there isn’t a role for them in the right situation. Desharnais weighed more than Benak, but he didn’t have the same skill level and wasn’t nearly as good of a skater. Despite this, he managed to find a niche in the NHL. I envision a development track where Benak puts on some weight and continues to capitalize on his speed, skill, and hockey sense to adapt his game to higher levels and larger, faster opponents. He should be able to slice and dice to execute quick plays to break down defensive structures and exploit mistakes as a pro. Suppose he can learn to use his speed and quick feet to weave through the offensive zone without the puck and get to the middle at the right times. Then, he’ll be able to overcome his smaller stature and become a positive possession player in addition to being a playmaker. There are multiple ways to be tenacious as a forechecker, and consistently forcing defensemen to make quick decisions can be just as effective as physical play. With Benak’s straight-line speed and willingness to pursue the puck in all areas of the ice, Benak has a chance to be an effective player on a line with possession-driving teammates. That’s what the Wild are also banking on, but there are some big “ifs” when it comes to Benak’s development into a professional player. After all, as Jeff Marek often says, “smaller players have to prove that they can play, while big players have to prove that they can’t.” Benak recently signed with the OHL’s Brantford Bulldogs for the 2025-26 season, and could very well head to the NCAA after that. Following the newly available USHL-OHL-NCAA ladder, Benak would have the opportunity to develop physically and learn to play against older players on his way to professional hockey. Although he has limited experience doing so in Czechia, it was on larger ice surfaces and in an environment vastly different from professional hockey in North America. The Wild have until the summer of 2029 to sign him, and I would guess that they’ll wait as long as they can to lengthen his development path and give him the best chance to develop. Regardless, it should be a lot of fun to track Benak’s progress (and highlight reels) over the coming seasons. You can bet there will be a lot of fans rooting for him along the way.

Back in July, the word on the street was that almost every team in the NHL was looking to get better. The Pittsburgh Penguins were the only real sellers this offseason, with the rest of the league's bottom-feeders holding tight. The Buffalo Sabres, Chicago Blackhawks, and San Jose Sharks decided against selling off talent. Meanwhile, the Utah Mammoth and Anaheim Ducks spent big, bringing in players like JJ Peterka and Chris Kreider. This state of affairs leads one to wonder: What's with the lack of teams looking to submit an offer sheet to Marco Rossi? Rossi, a restricted free agent, is stuck in a stalemate with the Minnesota Wild. On last week's "Worst Seats in the House" podcast, Michael Russo reported that the two sides haven't negotiated since before the start of free agency. We can determine from that nugget that the divide between the two sides remains around $2 million per year apart, and perhaps more. If teams are trying to get better, then a top-six center would be a great place to do it. Upgrading at the most important position for the cost of ~$7 million, as well as a first- and third-round pick, is fairly reasonable. There's not a lack of potential suitors, either. 18 teams can put up the draft capital to put an offer sheet on Rossi's table. So why haven't they? GMs tend to dislike stoking bad blood for no reason, and Bill Guerin has vowed to match any offer sheet. Still, at the same time, he insists there's a price point they don't want to go above. Would Guerin be willing to sign, say, a four-year, $26 to $28 million deal that would walk Rossi up to free agency, committing to a hefty cap hit without buying any UFA years? It doesn't seem like there's any downside in calling Minnesota's bluff. This could change at any moment, especially as we inch closer to training camp, but it seems like there's no urgency for these teams that want to improve to actually try to improve. There must be a reason, so let's break down these 18 teams that are able to sign Rossi and try to figure out what the hang-up is. Group 1: Not Enough Cap Space Boston Bruins, Los Angeles Kings, Montreal Canadiens, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, St. Louis Blues, Winnipeg Jets These teams are projected to have fewer than $5 million in cap space once the season starts, making it difficult to move enough around to accommodate a budget of $6.5 to $7 million. Among the teams on the list, that's probably most unfortunate for the Bruins. Boston has one of the league's best players in David Pastrnak and one of the best goaltenders in Jeremy Swayman. Their roster is built to win now, but their top-six centers consist of Elias Lindholm and Morgan Geekie. Rossi showed last year what he can do with an MVP-caliber shooter, and his presence would give the Bruins an Under-25 1-2 punch with James Hagens for the long term. Alas, money's tight. Group 2: Too Bad To Risk It Chicago Blackhawks, Nashville Predators, Pittsburgh Penguins, Philadelphia Flyers Realistically, these teams aren't making the playoffs next year. Even in the case of a team like Nashville, what's the point of potentially giving away a lottery pick unless you know you can get out of the gutter? Dragging an aging, expensive roster into the playoffs doesn't sound that smart. Group 3: No Pressing Need Columbus Blue Jackets, New Jersey Devils It's no surprise to see the Devils here, with Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, and Dawson Mercer able to play down the middle. It's a bit surprising to see the Blue Jackets, but that sounds right. For next season, Sean Monahan and Adam Fantilli don't seem like the best depth, but with top prospect Cayden Lindstrom in the system, the Jackets aren't far from having a young, legit pair of top-six centers. Are they going to want to spend $7 million on what will likely be their third-line center? Group 4: Bigger Fish To Fry Anaheim Ducks The Ducks have Leo Carlsson and Mason McTavish... except that they don't. McTavish, like Rossi, is an RFA and needs a new contract. Could they use an upgrade at center? Why not? Rossi is currently an upgrade over McTavish and would give them a strong top-nine up the middle. But you probably shouldn't throw offer sheets around when you've got a prominent RFA of your own able to take offers from other teams... including the Wild. Group 5: Besties, WTF Are You Doing??? This leaves us four teams that haven't put in an offer sheet to Rossi, or at least, not to our knowledge. And in all four cases, it's very difficult to understand why. The Buffalo Sabres may have three players, Tage Thompson, Joshua Norris, and Ryan McLeod, who can play center. Still, Thompson's defensive abilities and faceoff acumen might suggest a move to wing full-time would be better. It's not like Buffalo doesn't have talented players, but they've never been able to have it coalesce into a real hockey team. A two-way center with skill makes a whole lot of sense, particularly after losing some skill in Peterka this offseason. The Calgary Flames' apparent disinterest in Rossi is probably the most confusing in the NHL. Their top two centers, Nazem Kadri and Mikael Backlund, are 35 and 34, respectively. Connor Zary, another RFA this summer, is the same age as Rossi, but scored just a half-point per game. They have zero top-six caliber center prospects. Calgary has $15 million in cap space and a Wild-like allergy to bottoming out, with just one top-five pick (No. 4, 2014, Sam Bennett) in their 45-year existence. It defies understanding. This is Year 7 of Steve Yzerman with the Detroit Red Wings. He has zero playoff appearances and has drafted one forward who's better than Rossi. They could use a No. 2 center between Dylan Larkin and Marco Kasper. They fell just short of the playoffs last year. Shouldn't he be feeling some pressure to win? To upgrade down the middle? We wrote about this possibility as free agency opened, but our point still stands: Rossi's a good way for the Utah Mammoth to help themselves and hurt the Wild. They've got just enough cap space to make it happen, they can perfectly slot Rossi between Logan Cooley and Barrett Hayton, and the Mammoth have a coach in André Tourigny who loves and believes in Rossi. It's hard to believe Rossi wouldn't sign on the dotted line to play for him. Realistically, there aren't a dozen suitors for Rossi, not at this stage of the offseason. But even now, there are four teams that it feels like a no-brainer to take a flier on Rossi with an offer sheet and see what shakes loose. The Sabres, Flames, Red Wings, and Mammoth should want to take a step next season. So what's the hold-up to getting better? The longer this drags on, the more confusing it gets.

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!

Before diving into Vladimir Tarasenko's game, it must be said up top: There's no such thing as a bad one-year deal. The Minnesota Wild acquired Tarasenko from the Detroit Red Wings on Monday in a cap dump trade where they gave up nothing. In a league where few teams are actually against the salary cap, the "Get a player for nothing" market is rapidly dying. Still, Minnesota managed to do just that for a team that had $15 million of wiggle room heading into free agency. For this, they'll get a former six-time 30-goal scorer for one year, $4.75 million. Granted, the days of Tarasenko being one of the most feared scorers in the NHL are behind him. Still, we're gonna see way dumber contracts dished out once free agency opens tomorrow. It's a nifty bit of work by Bill Guerin and his front office. But making a good-looking move in the summer is one thing. Now Tarasenko has to actually play, and his presence puts Minnesota in a spot where they don't have to make a move to acquire a scoring winger tomorrow... at least on paper. Long term, this is good news for Minnesota. Brock Boeser would be intriguing on a three- or four-year deal. Six or seven years would probably be asking for trouble. The Wild are in a position where they can either let a Boeser deal come to them or turn down an unfavorable deal, knowing Tarasenko sets a certain floor. But, where is that floor? Last year, Tarasenko scored just 11 goals and 33 points for the Red Wings. His skating took a dive last year, and he's always relied on his shot. That's usually not a recipe for aging super well, and given that Tarasenko is 33, that's kind of a red flag. Still, Tarasenko is just one year removed from scoring 23 goals and 55 points for the Ottawa Senators and Florida Panthers. The run in Florida is especially encouraging. He played 43 games (regular season and playoffs), scoring 11 goals and 23 points with bottom-six minutes. That's not bad. Neither is winning a Stanley Cup. The Wild aren't the Panthers, though, and Tarasenko isn't starting the season in the bottom-six. Minnesota seems to have him penciled into the second line, and that's likely going to come with about 16 to 17 minutes per night. The last two teams that had him in that role had an 81-point season (2022-23 St. Louis Blues) and a 78-point season (2023-24 Ottawa). That's got to be a concern. Not that playing Tarasenko under 15 minutes a night helped the 86-point Red Wings too much last season. So, let's look into why Tarasenko flopped in Detroit and how the Wild might be able to avoid a similar fate. At first blush, it seems like Tarasenko had an awkward fit with his linemates, playing about half the season with J.T. Compher and Jonatan Berggren. Both players have some skill, but they didn't complement Tarasenko's abilities at this stage of his career. Neither Compher nor Berggren is a terrific puck-carriers, per Corey Sznajder's All Three Zones tracking project. While Tarasenko used to be strong in the role in his St. Louis days, he's no longer able to be that go-to zone entry guy. No clean zone entries means few attempts on the rush, which has generally been where Tarasenko has been productive throughout the years. When he put up 52 points two seasons ago, he had entry wizard Tim Stützle riding shotgun with him in Ottawa, and Sasha Barkov carrying in pucks in Florida. The bad news is, the only elite puck-carriers the Wild have are Kirill Kaprizov and Marcus Johansson. There's only one Kaprizov, and a big reason the Wild are trading for Tarasenko in the first place is to keep Johansson firmly in the bottom-six. If Tarasenko is on the second line, either Marco Rossi is going to have to embrace a puck-carrying role that he deferred to Kaprizov last season, or Matt Boldy is going to have to get a touch better at entering the zone cleanly. If the Wild can find someone to serve as Tarasenko's caddy and set-up man, he can still do some damage in the offensive zone. Even with the Red Wings last year, All Three Zones had him as above-average in both generating and facilitating scoring chances. That's something the Wild badly need, because they had few dual-threat players last season. The card for Tarasenko partially obscures Ryan Hartman (who was above-average at both, but skewed towards Scoring Chance Assists) and Kaprizov (average at Scoring Chances, elite at Scoring Chance Assists). Besides those two, only Boldy, Rossi, and Vinnie Hinostroza were average or better at both aspects of offense for Minnesota last season. That hints at Tarasenko having use on the second line, but that won't be the ideal outcome for Minnesota. At least, not by the end of the year. Tarasenko hasn't been a stout defender for about a decade, and his defensive game has cratered over the past four years. He might still have some offense left in him, but he'll give some on the back end, particularly if he's out and ready to be exploited for 16 minutes a night. The ideal situation is that Tarasenko eventually settles into the lineup on a scoring third line. Perhaps even a fourth-line that gets sheltered minutes in the offensive zone to maximize opportunities at 5-on-5. So Tarasenko might not be a great addition as a second-line solution, but that's not his value to the Wild. What Tarasenko does is buy Minnesota time. If Öhgren and Yurov aren't ready for a second-line role to begin the season, the Wild don't have to force it. They can get their feet wet on the third line, and hopefully be ready to swap places with Tarasenko by January or so. And if their prospects aren't ready to make that jump, Minnesota can turn to the trade market at the deadline. Unlike now, there will be teams who are resigned to finishing in the basement around March. Even if top-tier players aren't available, the Wild can be in on some pending UFA forward to give them a boost heading into the playoffs. That's a lot better than backing up a Brinks truck for Boeser and hoping he can be their big fish solution for the next seven seasons. Tarasenko might not give the Wild a long-term solution, but he represents a floor that the Wild's second line isn't going beneath, no matter what. Even if he can only thrive in a depth role at his age, Tarasenko is more than worth having around at his price, for his term, and for the low, low cost of nothing via trade.

"Best Available Player" is a phrase that gets thrown around a ton at draft time. There's a beautiful simplicity to the philosophy. Just add talent, and get the best players you can. It's so obvious! Fans thinking, If I were the GM, I'd simply go BPA, is the basis of why, for example, the Minnesota Wild drafting Charlie Stramel in 2023 inspired backlash. It's why fans in 2024 laughed as the Philadelphia Flyers traded down one spot to not draft Zeev Buium, allowing Minnesota to pick up a talented defenseman for a third-round pick and the right to draft lower-ranked center Jett Luchanko. As for me? I'm more inclined to lean towards a "BPA" approach. It's not always that simple, of course. For example, there is rarely a clear-cut "Best Player Available." A team's scouts also might genuinely judge a prospect to have more or less talent than the consensus, muddying those waters further. However, I generally believe the purpose of the draft is to accumulate as much talent as possible, then patching up any organizational holes later. It also appears to be a philosophy that Wild director of scouting Judd Brackett buys into. He's a scout who tends to take fallers -- players with significant talent who slip through the cracks, for one reason or another. By contrast, Chuck Fletcher's regime, led by head scout Brent Flahr, loved late risers: players who were generally off the radar as first-rounders, but made massive strides in the months leading up to the draft. You can see the "fallers" throughout the Wild's recent draft history. Buium partly fell due to a loaded defensive class at the top of the draft. In 2022, Danila Yurov fell because of "The Russia Factor." In 2021, Jesper Wallstedt tumbled down the draft board, despite being widely considered the top goalie of his class. And, of course, in 2020, Marco Rossi fell to No. 9 overall. Statistically, there was an argument to make that Rossi was the best prospect in his class. Hockey Prospecting's model had him as the likeliest player to turn into a star, and the third-likeliest to play 200 NHL games. NHL scouts weren't quite as sold, but among that group, he still had a consensus ranking of seventh in his class. Faced with choosing between Rossi, a skilled winger (Cole Perfetti, who went 10th), a top goalie prospect (Yaroslav Askarov, 11th), and a bigger, lower-upside center (Anton Lundell, 12th), the Wild did what any BPA team would do: Grab the most talent at the most premium position. On paper, it worked brilliantly. This season, Rossi scored the sixth-most goals (24, tied with Tim Stützle) and points (60) of anyone in the 2020 Draft Class. He was sixth among his class in Standings Points Above Replacement (4.4, behind Stützle, Dylan Holloway, Lucas Raymond, Quinton Byfield, and JJ Peterka). He scored massive, clutch goals for a Wild team that made the playoffs by one point. Except, it seems, if you're the Wild's front office. Here, we see the potential pitfalls of Best Player Available. At the moment, Rossi was the best player Minnesota could have drafted. He's arguably still better than anyone chosen after him. But talent isn't everything. Even production isn't everything. The upcoming split between the Wild and Rossi is about more than that. On his "Fellowship of the Rink" podcast, The Athletic's Joe Smith asked his colleague, Michael Russo, where things went wrong in the relationship between team and player. Russo's response was illuminating: "I get the sense, talking to people within the organization, they just always want him to be something that he's incapable of being, because he can't just add a bunch of weight and size to him.... I think that [Bill Guerin] just doesn't feel that, if you add him to this team, that he's somebody that you can win with in the playoffs." You may be familiar with the dissenting argument, but let's take it at face value: What if Rossi isn't, and never was, a good fit for the organization? If they think that, then this is an issue they should have seen coming. Rossi was listed at 5-foot-9, 185 pounds at the 2020 Draft, and he's listed at 5-foot-9, 182 pounds today. It's not like that was a surprise. The Wild were also among the smallest teams in the NHL heading into 2020-21, and that's something that hasn't changed over time, either. How wasn't this a problem in 2020, but is a problem now? Even more frustrating is that the thing Rossi is supposedly incapable of being -- A Mikko Koivu/Joel Eriksson Ek-style power center -- was available to them at that spot! Lundell is 6-foot-1, 196 pounds, and has been a center exactly in that Koivu/JEEK mold: A touch limited offensively, but dominant in his own zone. They could have just done that! Maybe Minnesota wouldn't have made the playoffs with Lundell being thrust into a No. 1 center role instead of Rossi. But they'd at least have the fit they wanted, avoiding this awful situation they're hurtling toward. The Wild have shown their hand on Rossi. Everyone saw his coach bury him on the fourth line during the playoffs. Everyone's heard his name in trade rumors for years. We also know that the Wild don't seem prepared to pay him more than $5 million per season. That last part is perhaps most significant because teams know that if they sign Rossi to an offer sheet in the $6 to $6.8 million range, the Wild will likely take the compensation, which will be first- and third-round picks in 2026. If that route is in their back pocket, and teams know the Wild don't like him, what's the incentive to give up a top center prospect? Or a young player with upside? Or take him as the centerpiece to a blockbuster deal? Why not just get him for two picks they probably won't care much about? I suppose you can give the Wild a bit of credit for fixing this disconnect between organizational and drafting philosophy in 2023 with Stramel. Fans may still be miffed that they didn't get super-skilled winger Gabriel Perreault. However, if Rossi and his 60 points are apparently not good enough for St. Paul's brain trust, it's not likely they'd be high on a small winger with below-average speed. Still, that correction can't make up for the original sin of taking a player the front office never seemed enamored of in the first place. It's been five years since that draft. Five years of development for Rossi, and five years of the organization pouring resources into him, only to be on the verge of selling him at a discount. If that happens, it's hard to conclude anything other than the team wasted the time of everyone involved, including themselves, and the fallout of going BPA might end up setting back their Stanley Cup aspirations.

Marcus Foligno has been in a Minnesota Wild sweater for almost eight years and over 500 games. How many of those have been on the top line? Without an exact count, a rough estimate would be "not many." Foligno has long been the Wild's "identity" player, the example which GM Bill Guerin wants his team to follow. He can chip in a goal occasionally, but he frontloads his game with a tough forechecking style and can get into scraps when needed. But -- surprise! -- Foligno is on the top line for the injured Wild, skating alongside star forwards Matt Boldy and Marco Rossi. That duo hit a skid with Mats Zuccarello during their latest slump, and Gustav Nyquist and Vinnie Hinostroza didn't stop the bleeding. With few other options, John Hynes turned to the guy who, if there's gonna be bleeding, usually is the one who starts it. And it's worked out beautifully. This trio's only spent 57 minutes together at 5-on-5, but holy Moose, what an incredible almost-hour of hockey it's been. They've out-scored opponents 5-3 while probably getting a bit unlucky. Their expected goals against during that time are under 1.00, which speaks to a level of defensive excellence that's typical of Foligno's lines. Ultimately, they're controlling a staggering 81.8% of the expected goal share. That will likely fall as the sample size gets bigger, but even so, these early returns show there's something there. And as surprising as it is to see Foligno pulling top-line duty... maybe we shouldn't be shocked. Foligno has a reputation for being a throwback to an era of NHL tough guys (though opposing fans might use different words), but that never fully gave him credit for what he brings. He lays the body, but it's always in service of lockdown defense. His hands must feel like rocks to the faces they make contact with, but he's averaged 17 goals per 82 games during the 2020s, so it's not like they're made of stone. While his famous line with Joel Eriksson Ek and Jordan Greenway weren't anyone's platonic ideal of a top line, they got results that rivaled the best lines in the league. Foligno's scoring touch hasn't fully rebounded since the Wild broke up that line two years ago. Still, there's nothing that boosts scoring like having linemates that can score. Even with a recent hot streak, Foligno's point totals aren't going to scream "impact player." His 13 goals and 26 points are sixth and tied for eighth, respectively, on a team that can't score. Expand that lens to the rest of the NHL, Foligno isn't in the top 200 of either stat. Still, Foligno isn't just having a career year by some measures. He's been a top-50 player in the NHL and is even making a run for team MVP. Believe it. Foligno has always been a favorite in Evolving-Hockey's Standings Points Above Replacement metric. His combination of elite defense and the ability to drive offense plays very well. But this year, he's taken his defense up a notch from "elite" to "best of the best," and that jump has Foligno sitting with incredible company. Foligno entered Tuesday as being worth 4.3 points in the standings. Only Marco Rossi (4.5 SPAR) is ahead of him on the Wild, and Foligno himself is tied for 39th in SPAR, alongside Jesper Bratt and Sidney Crosby. However, Bratt and Crosby have triple the points Foligno has, and they each have hundreds more minutes of ice time to generate value. That's gonna raise eyebrows. How good can defense be?, you may be asking. Pretty damn good. Foligno allows 1.79 expected goals against per hour at 5-on-5, the third-best rate in hockey among 366 forwards with 500-plus minutes. He's also one of 76 forwards to allow fewer than two actual goals per hour. And on the penalty kill, he's been the Wild's only rock. His 8.94 goals against per hour doesn't look good, but look at the context, and it's a minor miracle. The rest of the team gives up 10.62 goals per hour while shorthanded, which would be the second-worst rate in the NHL. Foligno's even-strength defense is tied with Sam Reinhart for No. 1 in the NHL, and his shorthanded defense is in the top 10. In terms of overall defensive value, Foligno is tops in the NHL with 9.7 Goals Above Replacement (translating to about 3.0 points in the standings). It's not just the best defensive performance this year but one of the best in the Analytics Era. Most Defensive GAR in a season, Forwards, 2007-08 to Present: 1. Pavel Datsyuk, 2009-10: 9.9 2. Marcus Foligno, 2018-19: 9.8 3. MARCUS FOLIGNO, 2024-25: 9.7 4. Logan O'Connor, 2024-25: 9.6 T-5. Pavel Datsyuk, 2007-08: 9.2 T-5. Patrice Bergeron, 2021-22: 9.2 7. Ilya Mikheyev, 2024-25: 9.1 8. Mikko Koivu, 2017-18: 8.7 T-9. Daymond Langkow, 2009-10: 8.1 T-9. Patrice Bergeron, 2016-17: 8.1 That's a crazy list, with Foligno's season only being bested by a three-time Selke Trophy winner and Hall of Famer... and himself. It's also interesting that Foligno now has two better defensive seasons than a six-time Selke winner in Bergeron. Who knows how long the Foligno Top Line Experiment will last? Whenever Kaprizov returns, his line will be the top line, and Zuccarello will almost certainly be his other winger. But the Wild could keep their experiment going by having another center (Eriksson Ek upon return?) play with Kaprizov and keep Foligno with Boldy and Rossi. It'd be worthwhile to try heading into the playoffs. Coaches love not to mess up the things that work, and that line is working right now. Meanwhile, Boldy's looking for his first postseason breakout, and perhaps Foligno's forechecking can create space for the skilled winger to operate. But the biggest reason to have Foligno in a top-six role is simple: If he's one of Minnesota's best players, it makes sense to get him on the ice as often as possible. And this season, Foligno fits that bill.

Let the Danila Yurov era begin. Yurov will officially join the Minnesota Wild this season. While the KHL season extends until the end of May, according to his agent and KHL reporter Daria Tuboltseva, Yurov plans to travel to North America after his season ends in Russia. Reporter Marco D’Amico informed Hockey Wilderness, “We spoke with Danila Yurov's agent, and they confirmed having refused Metallurg's latest contract extension attempts and have informed them that Yurov will seek to sign his ELC at season's end.” That’s wonderful news for Minnesota because Yurov could be a future franchise cornerstone at either center or wing. The Wild took him 22nd overall in the 2022 draft, and while he’s been less productive this year than last, he’s displayed game-changing skills in the KHL. He’s only recorded 20 points in 37 games with Metallurg Magnitogorsk. However, he suffered an injury early in the year that may have slowed him down. However, he looked special last season, recording 49 points in 62 games while leading the team in scoring as a 20-year-old. In his first and second seasons after the Wild drafted him, Yurov scored 27 goals and 58 points in 84 games. That’s the most for a player his age in KHL history, even more than Kirill Kaprizov. Yurov broke Vladamir Taresenko’s KHL record for most points in a season by a 20-year-old player. Yurov could have made his way over to Minnesota after the conclusion of last season but chose to sign a one-year deal to play another season in the KHL. The Wild were comfortable with him staying and developing one more season in Russia. At the 2022 draft, Yurov said his goal was to play in the NHL one day and that he wanted to come to Minnesota. It had taken the Wild five years after drafting Kaprizov in the fifth round of the 2015 draft to get him to America. They wanted Yurov to arrive earlier. However, the Wild may not have the roster slots or cap space to bring Yurov over and have him play NHL games this season. Mettalurg is currently third in their division, putting them in the playoff hunt. Bringing Yurov over will not be like the Marat Khusnutdinov situation because of Yurov’s importance to the team's success and desire to contend in the playoffs. Khusnutdinov previously played for Sochi, who missed the playoffs. Magnitogorsk would have to terminate Yurov’s contract, and it most likely won’t do that with one of their star players. It appears that Yurov will be a full-time member of the Wild in 2025-26, joining fellow Russians Kaprizov and Khusnutdinov. Yurov could take a spot on the wing or play a role up the middle. The Wild believe he has the potential to fill either role. By declining his KHL offer, Yurov is creating genuine hope for Wild fans and the organization, given his unique abilities. Yurov has the tools to be a star in the league, and now it’s time to wait with anticipation, not trepidation, for his arrival. All stats and data via Elite Prospect and Hockey Prospecting unless otherwise noted.

When we wrote about Marco Rossi's game evolving during the season on Friday, we weren't expecting him to add a new wrinkle one day later. But that's the kind of thing that happens when you watch a player take "The Leap," so we've got to write more about it. On Saturday morning, Mats Zuccarello instructed the 23-year-old center in practice: Pass more. With Kirill Kaprizov's 23 goals out of the lineup, it's hard to fathom why you'd tell someone to score fewer goals. However, Rossi took the advice, and it worked like a dream. Rossi was dominant offensively despite having zero shots on goal, getting assists on all four goals in a 4-0 blanking of a 23-14-2 Carolina Hurricanes team. His passes were so smooth and on-point that you'd never know this was only Rossi's fourth multi-assist game in 143 career games. And, like most dominant outings, he had multiple passes that easily could have resulted in more goals. No one's about to turn up their nose at a young center on pace for 30 goals, but this was a coming-out party for the version of Rossi that led the OHL in assists during his draft year. Our Kaprizov-less Rossi point count is up to 11 in six games (these past five, plus November 23). His Kaprizov-like run as the team's offensive catalyst is vaulting him into the conversation of being among the best players in the NHL. Evolving-Hockey has two stats to measure a player's performance: Goals Above Replacement and xGoals Above Replacement. By both models, Rossi is a top-20 player in the league this year, worth 3.4 points in each metric. The only other NHLers in the top 20 in both metrics are Leon Draisaitl, Quinn Hughes, Cale Makar, Tom Wilson, Lucas Raymond, and Brandon Hagel. That's elite company, and it gets better when we look at it through a historical lens. The low-hanging fruit is how good Rossi has been compared to young players throughout Minnesota Wild history. We get it, it's a low bar to clear. Still, Rossi finds himself in elite company when you stack up his first 40 games against every Under-24 player in franchise history. When you're out-pacing Rookie Kaprizov and Matt Boldy on a list... that's nice. That's real nice. Then you look at the all-around value Rossi's provided to the team, and he's got numbers that look an awful lot like the top centers of the last decade and a half. Let's look at the top seasons from an age-22 center since the 2007-08 season (Evolving-Hockey's age cut-off is by draft year, hence why he's 22 here) and see where Rossi stacks up. GAR/60 By An Age-22 Center: Alex Wennberg, 2017-18: 0.964 Jonathan Toews, 2011-12: 0.962 Brayden Point, 2018-19: 0.941 Matt Duchene, 2013-14: 0.916 MARCO ROSSI, 2024-25: 0.901 Auston Matthews, 2020-21: 0.859 Sidney Crosby, 2009-10: 0.848 David Krejčí, 2008-09: 0.842 Nathan MacKinnon, 2017-18: 0.806 Ryan Getzlaf, 2007-08: 0.804 Obviously, Wennberg is the big outlier here (and his drop-off can be explained by a history of concussions), but it's more enlightening to look at the rest of the list. Crosby and Toews are slam-dunk Hall of Famers. Matthews and MacKinnon are Hart Trophy winners. Ryan Getzlaf had over 1,000 points in his career, and Duchene (846 points at age 34) might join him in that group. Brayden Point has almost 600 points before turning 29. Outside of Wennberg, the "worst case" in the top 10 is Krejčí, the No. 2 center behind Patrice Bergeron on a perennially contending Boston Bruins team that won a Stanley Cup. Still, 786 points in 1,032 games is nothing to sneeze at from an offensive standpoint. Rossi is the best asset any team could have right now: A young, productive No. 1 center. He's played every game since last season. He's produced without power play time, he's produced with power play minutes, he's produced with Kaprizov, he's produced more without Kaprizov. Dating back to last season, Rossi and Brock Faber are the only Wild players not to miss a game. There's nothing left to prove, and it's time to pay up. Our last update on Rossi's future with Minnesota came from Michael Russo on December 26's "Worst Seats In the House" podcast -- five games and nine points ago. While Rossi doesn't appear to be on the trade block, the Wild are still in wait-and-see mode on a contract extension, with Kaprizov's final number on his mega-extension being the reason to wait. The Wild's priority No. 1 is undoubtedly ensuring Kaprizov stays in the State of Hockey for years to come. But Rossi is quickly becoming 1A. Assuming we're seeing the Real Rossi -- which feels fairly safe, given his draft pedigree -- it's almost impossible to overpay for what he brings to the table. He's a dynamic, two-way center on pace to score 31 goals and 76 points. The track record of centers who've produced to that degree at such a young age is very, very good. Then add in the defensive excellence he's showing, and we're talking about a player who can help Joel Eriksson Ek tilt the ice in the Wild's favor for years to come. NHL front offices must build around their stars, and they need to build down the middle. Rossi fits both criteria. Heading into the season, Evolving-Hockey projected the AAV of a long-term (seven-year) Rossi extension to be $5.7 million. That's not a realistic price anymore. Looking at his peers from the 2020 Draft, Tim Stützle (40 points in 38 games this year) has an AAV of $8.35, Lucas Raymond (41 points in 39 games) just signed for $8.08 million per year, and Alexis Lafrenière (21 points in 38 games) is making $7.45 million. Rossi's number has to start with an "8." And if you're the Wild, you have to do it while laughing about getting another young star through their prime for a bargain. Minnesota can figure out the rest later. By the time Kaprizov's extension kicks in, the NHL will (presumably) have raised the cap twice, and Mats Zuccarello's money will be off the books. If Minnesota has to trade a lesser player to make the overall picture work, that's the price you have to pay. Remember -- the goal is to keep Kaprizov long-term and to set themselves up to build a Cup winner around him. Kaprizov might score 100 points this season, even with 70 games. Locking down Kaprizov's center from his best-ever season has to sweeten the pot, no? The Wild can go to him and say, We're not just dumping money on you, but we're setting you up with the Nicklas Bäckström to your Alex Ovechkin for the next eight years. Minnesota presumably had a chance to get in on the ground floor and didn't. That was a mistake. They don't have to make it again. The Wild can lock up their No. 1 center through his '20s and ensure that Rossi's rapidly-growing game doesn't lead to a rapidly-growing price tag.

By the time Saturday's Minnesota Wild game starts, the team will have heisted No. 6 overall pick David Jiricek from the Columbus Blue Jackets. Daemon Hunt, the Wild's most NHL-ready defense prospect, will be sent the other way along with a first-round pick in 2025, a third in 2026, a second in 2027, and a pick swap, per Michael Russo. The move doesn't come as a surprise, it's been in the ether for the last week. But now we know it's happening, we know the Wild beat out the other offers, and we know the hit to Minnesota's prospect capital. Having seen it all laid out, this is a decisive win for Bill Guerin and his front office. Should the Wild unlock his potential, they have the final missing piece to their youth movement. The Wild's under-25 movement was strong as hell earlier this week, having nearly everything a good, growing team needs. A star winger? Check, there's Matt Boldy. A potential (current?) No. 1 center? Hello, Marco Rossi. A guaranteed, bedrock top-pair defenseman? There's Brock Faber, right there. High-upside forward prospects? Danila Yurov and Riley Heidt have entered the chat. A bonafide power play quarterback that's nearly NHL-ready? That's what drafting Zeev Buium was for. A goalie of the future? We all know about Jesper Wallstedt The only question -- other than whether the Yurovs, Heidts, and Buiums would pan out -- was their defensive depth beyond Faber and Buium. The Wild had invested heavily in defense prospects at the 2020 and 2022 Drafts, spending top-70 picks on Ryan O'Rourke, Hunt, Carson Lambos, and Jack Peart. Despite the investment, only Hunt trended as NHL-ready in the near future. Beyond that, Minnesota wasn't able to land their Owen Power, Jake Sanderson, or Moritz Seider-type defenseman -- a defenseman with premium size and a top-four-caliber skill set. They'd also struggled to backfill the right side of the defense past Faber, with David Spacek being their only top right-shot defenseman. That's why Minnesota gave up three assets to get Jiricek. At 6-foot-3, 204 pounds, he brings beef, skill, and a right-shot to the next generation of Wild players. As soon as the end of the season, the Wild could theoretically ice a starting lineup that includes: Yurov - Rossi - Boldy Buium - Jiricek Wallstedt That's a tantalizing collection of young talent, even before realizing that the Wild would have Faber in the back. And Faber with those two makes Minnesota a potential defensive powerhouse for years to come. The collection of pure, raw talent on the Wild blueline is now at incredible levels. Before the season, Corey Pronman released his rankings of Under-23 players and prospects. Buium slotted in at No. 16 (sixth among defensemen), Faber at No. 35 (11th among d-men), and Jiricek 47th (17th among d-men). Only the New Jersey Devils -- with Luke Hughes, Anton Silayev, and Simon Nemec -- rival that quantity of high-upside defense talent. But it's even better. Again, Jiricek gives Minnesota more talent and a diversity of skills. Here's the elevator pitch on all three of those top names, per Pronman: Buium: He is an extremely intelligent puck-mover who can run a power play like a top NHL player. He makes high-end plays routinely and can break shifts open with his puckhandling and passes. Faber: His excellent skating, gap work and compete have helped him become a great defender who kills a lot of plays, but the offense he showed this season was a pleasant surprise. Jiricek: He's very skilled, especially for a big man, and combined with a strong point shot, he should provide offense in the NHL. I like his defensive edge and thought he showed he could be a great two-way player at other levels. There's some overlap, but Minnesota now has three defensemen who fill three vital roles. The bloom has fallen ever-so-slightly off the rose with Jiricek, but Pronman's player comparable for him in 2022 was Alex Pietrangelo -- massive praise from the usually conservative draft analyst. Leading up to the 2024 Draft, Pronman tabbed Buium as a young Morgan Rielly. Faber has been a right-shot Jonas Brodin with surprising offensive chops. That sort of well-rounded blueline is hard to find, even among elite NHL clubs. As for the price, it's a big "Who cares?" from Minnesota's perspective. Hunt's future was likely as a third-pairing defenseman who could crack the top-4 in a pinch. The Wild's 2025 first-round pick is trending to be in the 20s, and perhaps the late-20s. Even if Minnesota would hit on that pick, it likely wouldn't have the upside of Jiricek and a much longer timetable to get a return on investment. A third-rounder in 2026 or second in 2027 is downright negligible. More importantly: the Wild got this deal done without sacrificing their forward depth, particularly NHL-ready, middle-six winger Liam Öhgren, who brings skill and physicality to the pool that would be hard for Minnesota to replace. They get a huge boost in near-term upside without sacrificing anything for the 2025 season when the Wild's Cup ambitions truly begin. Minnesota will need to unlock Jiricek's potential in a way that Columbus couldn't do, but the reward in acquiring Jiricek vastly outweighs the risk.

In the age of analytics, player tracking, and data overload, sometimes the good, old-fashioned eye test gets overlooked as fans and media scrutinize players. There’s a reason for that, of course. History has proven that the eye test alone isn’t sufficient for overcoming biased perceptions or imperfect observations that can cloud analyses and lead to poor decision-making. However, there are times when you see a player, and you just know. That’s been the case with rookie Danila Yurov during his rookie season in Minnesota. Beginning with the Tom Kurvers prospect showcase, then in training camp and preseason, and on through the first 15 games of his NHL career, the 21-year-old from Chelyabinsk, Russia, has looked the part of an NHL player. His game at the Kurvers showcase was representative of a player still finding his stride. Still, even then, he clearly was a step above most of the prospects there. It was the first glimpse of the skating, puck pursuit, and remarkably mature two-way game that reflected a player who arrived in North America as a pro-ready prospect. Yurov carried that momentum into training camp, where he steadily progressed as the preseason went on, getting better with each game as he adapted to the smaller ice and faster pace. He displayed skating and hockey sense and diligent two-way play throughout camp. It was clear he was ready to be a valuable contributor and produce quality shifts regularly. Yurov’s game hasn’t been flashy, but it’s been steady. He’s in the right places. He stays above the puck, takes smart angles to win puck races, isn’t afraid to go to the net, and covers a lot of ice with his efficient skating. He just keeps getting better, little by little, and it’s been noticeable. John Hynes and the Wild coaching staff have clearly seen it too, deploying Yurov primarily at center after he began the season at wing. In the team’s most recent game, a 3-2 overtime win over the first-place Vegas Golden Knights team, Yurov played a season high 13:09, including nearly four minutes on the top line with Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello after Ryan Hartman left with an injury. After the recent news that Hartman is week-to-week with a lower-body injury, and with Marco Rossi still on the shelf, The Athletic’s Michael Russo has reported that Yurov is going to get another shot with the Wild’s dynamic duo against the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday. Playing on the top line against the Hurricanes will be Yurov’s stiffest test yet. They have looked like a buzzsaw this season, overwhelming opponents with their depth, aggressive defending, and relentless forechecking. The Wild experienced this first-hand less than two weeks ago, when Carolina thoroughly outplayed them for long stretches during a 4-3 defeat. Yurov was a healthy scratch for the third consecutive game that night in Carolina. It’s not a coincidence that he's been in the lineup every night since. His skating and intelligence would have been an asset. The Wild first activated him the next night against the New York Islanders and made an immediate impact with a first-period goal. Yurov makes small but noticeable contributions almost every shift, and he’s starting to pass more than just the eye test. According to Natural Stat Trick, he has produced an expected goal percentage of 55% or higher in five of his past seven games, and the Wild have outscored their opponents 2-0 during his minutes over that time. Minnesota has also broken even with high-danger scoring chances during his minutes over that stretch. He produces these numbers with intelligent positioning, a surprisingly strong stick that can win puck battles or maintain possession under pressure, and excellent skating. On Yakov Trenin’s first goal of the season against Vegas on Sunday, Yurov made two key plays that led to the goal. The first was out-leveraging Ivan Barbeshev for a loose puck after the Wild entered the offensive zone, and the second was another won stick battle in which he beat Ben Hutton to a loose puck down low and poked it free to Trenin. He did that after he made the correct read to get to the corner and capitalize on a loose puck created by Marcus Foligno. Yurov earned his first career assist on this play, and the way he did it is indicative of how he’s been able to turn in a quietly impressive rookie campaign. Smart reads, timely positioning, and a good stick go a long way in the NHL, where victories often hinge on repeatedly winning the small moments. He’s still a young player who will have some rough nights here and there, and there’s a lot of hockey left to be played this season. Still, there’s no question that Yurov is becoming a valuable contributor to Minnesota’s lineup. Wild fans have long wondered exactly what type of player he’d be once he finally arrived, and they haven’t been disappointed. Because when it comes to this rookie, seeing is believing.

After taking care of Kirill Kaprizov to the tune of eight years and $136 million, the Minnesota Wild decided they weren't quite done with their offseason checklist. Instead of resting on their laurels, they worked quickly to lock down their starting goalie, Filip Gustavsson, with a five-year, $34 million deal. It's perhaps an acknowledgement that if their superstar scores 50 or even 60 goals, it just takes a little instability in net to thwart a team. Look at the 2023-34 New Jersey Devils. They had 112 points the previous season, but their revolving door of Vitek Vanecek, Nico Daws, Akira Schmid, Jake Allen, and Kaapo Kähkönen kept them in seventh place in their division. It didn't matter that they had Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, and Jesper Bratt as part of a loaded roster. Looking at the Wild's steadfast defense, it's fair to say that Gustavsson's .914 save percentage -- sixth in the NHL last year -- isn't entirely reflective of his talent level. Still, he proved last year that he's capable of being a workhorse, starting-caliber goalie. Gustavsson started 58 games, turning in 40 "Quality Starts," which turned out to be the fifth-highest percentage in the league. That's a level of reliability the Wild simply couldn't walk from. Especially when you look at the alternatives. Minnesota drafted Jesper Wallstedt in 2021 to be the team's "Goalie of the Future." Turns out, the future isn't ready yet. The Wild were hoping to get Wallstedt games last season, but a combination of salary cap issues and his AHL struggles meant he only drew in for two starts. With Gustavsson set to become a free agent next summer, the Wild didn't have time to properly evaluate Wallstedt's readiness to take over starting next year. Normally, Wallstedt would be out of time. We've seen two of his highly-touted goalie prospect contemporaries -- Spencer Knight (2020 Draft) and Yaroslav Askarov (2021) -- get squeezed out of their team's future after their teams committed long-term to another goalie. Three days after the Florida Panthers drafted Knight, they signed Sergei Bobrovsky to eight years and $80 million. Askarov asked for a trade from the Nashville Predators after they locked in Juuse Saros to an eight-year extension. That may still be Wallstedt's fate. After all, the Panthers weren't forced to move on from Knight; they traded him as a major piece of the Seth Jones trade, helping them win a Stanley Cup last year. The Wild could choose to leverage Wallstedt in a similar fashion. However, the beauty of Gustavsson's extension is that Minnesota secured long-term stability in net while retaining options. Minnesota can simply have Gustavsson take the reins as the starting goaltender for the foreseeable future, and that's not a bad spot to be in. His career save percentage is .913, putting him even with former Wild players Marc-Andre Fleury and Devan Dubnyk through age 26. Once you adjust to the league average save percentage, as Stathead does with their Goals Allowed Percentage- which sets 100 as league average, Gustavsson fares very well. GA%- through Age-26, Since 2007-08, minimum 90 starts: Igor Shesterkin, 78 Tuukka Rask, 82 Juuse Saros, 90 Jaroslav Halák, 91 Andrei Vasilevskiy, 91 FILIP GUSTAVSSON, 91 Braden Holtby, 92 Jake Oettinger, 92 Logan Thompson, 93 Josh Gibson, 94 Even if you suspect his numbers make him look better than he is, he still is an above-average workhorse. The hockey equivalent of an innings-eating pitcher, if you will. Again, looking at the Devils, this time in 2024-25, that type of "innings-eater" was all they needed to get back into the playoff picture. The five-year term also comes in handy here. Gustavsson's extension will only take him through his age-32 season. Wild fans saw Devan Dubnyk start to fall off a cliff in his age-33 year, and Niklas Bäckström become unusable at age-34. If Gustavsson winds up taking a similar path on the aging curve, Minnesota should be getting out of this deal just in time. The term also means they don't have to hard-commit to Gustavsson at the expense of Wallstedt. Wallstedt's contract takes him through the summer of 2027, at which point he'll become a Restricted Free Agent. However, once that ends, the Wild still have him under team control through 2030, another three years after that. By comparison, that's only one year of team control less than they have with Gustavsson. When Wallstedt's contract is up, he'll most likely be in position to get a bridge deal. Barring injury, Gustavsson is a safe bet to take the majority of starts this season, and unless Wallstedt is markedly better, it's hard to see him forcing anything more than a 50/50 split in 2026-27. If the Wild can lock Wallstedt into an affordable rate through 2029, they're in a great spot beyond that. By 2029, Minnesota should have more than enough information on whether they want to have Wallstedt be The Guy going forward. If they do, they have two big advantages to avoid having Gustavsson squeeze Wallstedt out prematurely. The first is Gustavsson's trade clauses. He'll have a No-Move Clause through the summer of 2028, which turns into a 15-team no-trade clause afterward. That's a fair bit of flexibility to move on if the Wild feel the need to. The other advantage is the sheer affordability of Gustavsson's deal. That doesn't appear to be the case right away, but with the cap rising, we have to recalibrate what "$6.8 million" means. Gustavsson is set to be the 10th-highest-paid goalie next season, and his contract will only represent 6.5% of the salary cap -- roughly the equivalent of $5.8 million last year. If there's a time when Minnesota has to pay Wallstedt like a 1B goalie, they can do that without spending too much of their resources on the goalie position. The most important thing that the Wild could do was guarantee themselves a decent floor in net for the long term, and Gustavsson's contract does exactly that. That makes the extension worth it by itself. But the real value add for Minnesota was that they were able to do that without sacrificing their flexibility at the goalie position. They can either commit to Gustavsson long-term or establish a succession plan for Wallstedt, and they should be able to make that decision on their own terms. As important as the AAV and term are to evaluating contracts, it's hidden benefits like this that can turn a deal into a home run.

The universal view of the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts is that they were an anchor around the neck of the Minnesota Wild. That's absolutely true, you can't argue that Minnesota's upside wasn't capped by having $15 million or so in dead money these last two years. But even downsides can have upsides, and for Bill Guerin, the upside of having no money to play with is that it's pretty hard to make mistakes. Sure, you don't get to have those splashy summer headlines from signing free agents, but those tend to curdle quickly. Look at the Seattle Kraken, who threw center Chandler Stephenson $44 million last summer out of desperation for depth down the middle. Or pop some popcorn and get ready for Year 2 of the Nashville Predators weighing down their team with big deals for aging Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, and Brady Skjei. By default, Guerin avoided those landmines. That's not to discredit what he accomplished during the worst of the Wild buyouts. He had little margin for error in those four seasons, and he piloted his team to the playoffs in three out of four years. Regardless of whether or not you think that's what the play should have been, it's very impressive work. Now the field has opened to Guerin, with all of the privileges and risks that will entail. And as efficient as Guerin has been over these last four years, it's hard not to be a bit nervous about this. We saw him step on one of those landmines by giving Yakov Trenin a four-year, $3.5 million AAV contract last summer, even with the team cap-strapped. There's also the fact that the Vancouver Canucks apparently saved Guerin from giving Brock Boeser a risky, lucrative, long-term deal. That's a concern for a team that's already starting to see a few cracks in its spending. The Wild moved up from 19th to 11th in the NHL in contract efficiency, per Dom Luszczyszyn's annual ranking at The Athletic. It's encouraging, but it doesn't tell the whole story. A significant amount of heavy lifting was accomplished by $15 million of dead cap being reduced to less than $2 million, as well as Matt Boldy's value skyrocketing when weighed against his $7 million price tag. Last season, the Wild had just seven contracts that Luszczyszyn projected to produce negative value. Now that number is up to nine, and the average length of those contracts extends through the next three years (two years, if you exclude Brock Faber's eight-year extension that kicked in last month). That includes every defenseman except for Jake Middleton. The list of likely-negative-value deals also includes two of Guerin's extensions from Fall 2023 (Ryan Hartman and Marcus Foligno), last summer's "splash" signing (Trenin), and this summer's free agent of note (Nico Sturm). No team is immune to bad contracts, and the good teams rely on having some good or even great deals to cancel out the bad. The Wild are in the positive, overall. However, that's assuming Kirill Kaprizov is making $9 million against the cap. Next fall, that will become a deal much closer to his value. Heck, he might even be the highest-paid player in the league. There goes a $5 million cushion to absorb a bad hit or two. The salary cap's rise also means that the Wild are receiving their cap relief at a time when player prices are set to skyrocket. That might help the longer-term negative-value contracts, such as Faber (for now), Brodin, Foligno, and Trenin, age a bit more gracefully. Still, it presents a new set of problems. We're already seeing the conflict between the Wild's price points and the market in their stalemate with Marco Rossi. Getting $13 million of flexibility would have gone a long way if the cap had still been flat, as it has been for the last four years. Instead, the Wild are giving about half of that to Kaprizov in a year, and $8 million isn't going to go terribly far going forward. Heck, they might spend a bunch of it on Rossi. And if not Rossi, there's the next free agent opportunity, especially since the Wild are hoping to eventually deliver on "Christmas Morning." How can Guerin stay smart, flexible, and efficient going forward? A big part of that puzzle is in place, at least for the next couple of seasons. Entry Level Contracts for Zeev Buium and Danila Yurov mean that the Wild will have key contributors making very little money for the next two years. David Jiříček is in the final year of his ELC next year, and doesn't figure to make a ton of money on his next deal, unless things go really well. But that's only part of the formula, and that's only temporary. Guerin is going to have to navigate the seas of free agency while having a full arsenal of cap space without taking on too much water from bad deals. Making the best of a limited situation is a skill, but now we'll have to see how Guerin's cap management translates to a new environment.

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.

For the second time in five years, the Minnesota Wild are importing a highly-touted prospect from the KHL to the State of Hockey. The first one, of course, worked out pretty good. Now, they've finally signed forward Danila Yurov to a three-year, entry-level contract starting with the 2025-26 season. You don't have to take our word for it, either: Yurov is the Wild's second first-rounder (after Liam Öhgren) of the 2022 Draft and seemed poised to make the jump to North America last summer. He'd followed in Kirill Kaprizov's footsteps, winning the Gagarin Cup as a KHL Champion. In 2023-24, he notched 21 goals and 49 points in 62 games, surpassing Vladimir Tarasenko as the highest-scoring U-21 forward in KHL history (since tied by Ivan "Dimmadome" Demidov last year). Instead, he re-signed with Metallurg Magnitogorsk in the KHL, telling The Athletic, "I want more consistency from myself and to gain physical strength." It was a bit of a wait, though not nearly as long as the five-year odyssey with Kaprizov, but the moment is here. Now the question goes from, When does he get here? to What's next? The truth is, we don't know. Following his KHL breakout, a lower-body injury slowed Yurov's production, and he only scored 13 goals and 25 points in 46 games last season. You'd probably feel better about his prospects for next year had he stacked back-to-back stellar seasons, but injuries happen. Regardless, this probably isn't going to be a Kaprizov-type situation, where the 2020-21 Calder Trophy winner arrived fully formed. Remember, Kaprizov was 23 years old (and 263 days) when he debuted with the Wild. He came to Minnesota with 293 games of KHL experience -- 340 if you count the playoffs -- a Gagarin Cup, two goal-scoring titles in the KHL, and an Olympic Gold Medal. Alex Ovechkin and Georgy Zhukov are he only more decorated people in Russian history. Yurov has the Cup, but his resume can't touch Kaprizov's, which is understandable. He's two years younger than Kaprizov when he signed with the NHL. Yurov's 209 games played (270 counting the playoffs) in the KHL don't tell the whole story. His 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons saw him log 42 combined games, but at under five minutes a night. The following year saw him play 59 games, but at an average of just barely over eight minutes per game. So really, Yurov has two years of experience as a true regular in the KHL, as opposed to Kaprizov's five or six. There's still some development left for him, where there simply wasn't for Dolla Bill Kirill. Forget the 40-goal, 76-point 82-game pace Kaprizov was on for his rookie season -- Yurov reaching the 27 goals and 51 points Kaprizov actually scored (in the COVID-shortened season) is probably better than the best-case scenario. Looking at first-round rookies from Russia since 2010, their track record isn't fantastic. Let's look at the top 10 in terms of points per game: 1. Matvei Michkov, 2024-25 (age 20): 0.79 2. Nail Yakupov, 2012-13 (age 19): 0.65 3. Vladimir Tarasenko, 2012-13 (age 21): 0.50 4. Evgeny Kuznetsov, 2013-14 (age 22): 0.46 T-5. Andrei Svechnikov, 2018-19 (age 18): 0.45 T-5. Denis Gurianov, 2019-20 (age 22): 0.45 7. Valeri Nichushkin, 2014-15 (age 18): 0.43 8. Vladislav Namestnikov, 2014-15 (age 22): 0.37 T-9: Vasily Podkolzin, 2021-22 (age 20): 0.33 T-9: Fedor Svechkov, 2024-25 (age 21): 0.33 That's three guys out of the 15 who qualified who got a half-point or more per game. And we're talking about some fantastic KHLers who took time to get up to speed. Tarasenko was literally the best Under-21 player in league history, but it took him until his third NHL season to score 30 goals. Kuznetsov had multiple 40-point seasons in the KHL, but it also took him time to ramp up. It's an adjustment that includes, but goes beyond the jump in talent and the speed of the game. Yurov is moving halfway around the world and has to adapt to a different culture. Oh, and he has to keep learning to play the most difficult position on the ice, which he only started playing regularly two years ago. The Wild front office seems confident in his ability to adapt to the center position, intending to start him at the pivot to begin the season. Is he going to be ready for that role immediately? That's an open question, and it's possible he might never be a better fit at center than at wing. That's not to say Wild fans shouldn't be excited for Yurov next year. This is an exciting day, and Yurov is a player who could be electric in Minnesota. But is patience going to be required? Absolutely. Next year may be go-time for the Wild as an organization, but it's going to be Yurov's first step toward a long and productive career. Fans (and the front office) must keep that in mind.

In a game like hockey, where momentum, pressure, and emotions dictate the outcomes of games, a team's captain can often be the spark that pushes the team to new heights. Some teams have captains like Alex Ovechkin or Sidney Crosby, whose offense can carry a team. However, the players you hear about the least often make the most impact. That’s the case for Minnesota Wild captain Jared Spurgeon. Spurgeon’s teammates give him accolades, but people outside the organization often overlook his impact. Spurgeon’s consistent defense and flashes of playmaking have never been more critical than now. I don’t need to reiterate that the Wild have struggled to score. So, with the postseason right around the corner, it is refreshing to see that the Wild’s 35-year-old captain has been scoring at an elevated rate. Spurgeon has mostly stayed healthy this season, scoring seven goals and 32 points in 65 games. It’s encouraging to see the captain return to form this year after playing only 16 games in the 2023-24 season before undergoing season-ending back and hip surgery. It also became clear what the Wild look like without Spurgeon. He’s always been crucial to the Wild’s backchecking. Stable defense Since the beginning of 2023, Spurgeon has missed 82 games. In that time, the Wild have allowed 262 goals. However, in the last 82 games with Spurgeon, Minnesota has allowed 236 goals. Because the Wild have lost 380 of their 493 one-goal games since their founding, the 26-goal difference with Spurgeon on the ice could be the difference between making the playoffs or not. The puck goes in the net less with him around. While Spurgeon may only be +7 this season, he has a respectable career plus/minus. He has been +30 three times and +124 three times. That ties Spurgeon for the 196th-best career plus/minus of all time, tied with 35-year-old defenseman Alex Pietrangelo. Experts argue over whether plus/minus is a reliable stat, with the consensus being that the quality of one's team heavily affects the player’s number. However, in Spurgeon’s case this year, he played most of the season without Kirill Kaprizov to pad his stats. Spurgeon did this on a team with a -12 goal differential, the seventh-worst goal differential in franchise history. His blocked shots also highlight his defensive prowess. Spurgeon’s 115 blocked shots are the second-most on the Wild. I’d say his willingness to put his body on the line after undergoing major surgeries might be what the rest of the team sees in him. Late in the season, he injured his throat by blocking a shot. Consistent offense Spurgeon's defensive capabilities have been the foundation of his success, but he’s consistently produced offense from the blue line. Spurgeon may not be Quinn Hughes or Cale Makar, but he’s tied for the sixth-most points on the Wild this season. That might not have been the case if Minnesota’s offensive core had stayed healthy this season. Still, Spurgeon stepped up when the Wild needed him most, the trait of a team captain. Even though Wild fans see Spurgeon as a superstar, you likely won't hear about Spurgeon’s game on ESPN or the NHL Network. Still, the Wild aren’t the Wild without him. His consistency offensively and defensively stabilizes them on both sides of the ice. Though Spurgeon has had every excuse for his offensive production to slip, he didn’t take that as an option. Since 2015, Spurgeon has achieved two 40-point seasons and has only failed to score fewer than 29 points twice: once in 2020 due to a shortened season and once in 2023 because of his surgeries. During the COVID-shortened season, Spurgeon played 54 games and scored 25 points, maintaining his usual production of roughly half a point per game. In terms of points per 60 minutes this season, Spurgeon has maintained an average of 1.45, the third-best of his career. The last time he scored at a better rate was in the 2021-22 and 2017-18 seasons, when he scored 1.75 and 1.48, respectively. Throughout these three seasons, one constant has remained: Spurgeon stayed above 1.0 assists per 60 minutes, proving he is still a fantastic playmaker today. Staying consistent offensively is difficult enough in the NHL. Still, for obvious reasons, it is even more difficult for a defenseman to make a difference on both ends of the ice. Add aging into the mix, and you start to realize why you see players retire in their mid-30s. While I hope not to see Spurgeon retire anytime soon, the good thing is that he still has a lot left in his game. He may not spend his entire career in Minnesota because the Wild have more reasons to let him go than to stay. But in a season of ups and downs, Spurgeon has been a constant for the Wild, who still gives us glimpses of the player he was in his prime.

“It is going to be alright. It’s all good!” “This team is so awful. I’m angry!” “Listen, this is exactly what you’d expect to happen, so really, it is what it is. Just go with the flow, bro.” Odds are that when you think of the Minnesota Wild right now, a phrase that sounds like one of the three above starts running through your head. Whichever one it is, it’s also likely the same phrase that runs through your head most of the time. Sports fans tend to fall into one of three categories. Scroll through the comment section on any sports website. You’re likely to see each one of them battling for the souls of the other two in an increasingly escalating debate that eventually dissolves into a bunch of fiery declarations about who lives in their parents’ basement and who just needs to open their eyes and “actually watch the games.” And let’s be honest, we’re lucky if it stops there. But we here at Hockey Wilderness are a civilized bunch intent on delivering wholesome content to our loyal and knowledgeable readers. So, instead of rehashing the same conversations you’re likely to find in the comment sections on lesser sites, what you’ll see here today is what happens when three highly rational, completely objective hockey fans engage in a spirited discussion about how the Wild will fare in this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs. In one corner, you have Optimist Brian. In the other, Peter the Pessimist. And up there, perched from the rafters and taking in the big picture, is Rational Randy. ---------------------------------------- The prompt: The Minnesota Wild will find playoff success this postseason and win at least one round. Optimist Brian: They can definitely do it! If you don’t count the past two months, the Wild are basically one of the best teams in the league. No reason they can’t ramp it back up in April with all their big guns. Peter the Pessimist: Listen, good hockey is like jazz music – I know it when I see it, and with this bunch, I haven’t seen it in a while. Plus, I mean, if we’re not counting the past two months, I’ve only gained four pounds since Christmas. So why don’t my pants fit then? Rational Randy: The way I see it, you can’t win or move comfortably in your pants if you’re not healthy, so of course, the Wild have been struggling lately. I believe that answers Peter’s question as well. Let’s see what happens if everyone gets healthy and the Wild can give opponents a healthy diet of Kirill and Co. every night. Time will tell, fellas. Optimist Brian: That’s exactly what I’m saying! We all know that when the Wild put the pedal to the medal and play their game, they get rewarded for their efforts. In general manager Bill Guerin, we trust! This is the guy who finally got Kaprizov to come over and who led the team to the best regular season in franchise history. Peter the Pessimist: Listen Brian, would I trust Bill Guerin to spin a good yarn and pick up the tab at the bar? Absolutely. Do I trust him with my hockey team? Sorry, but that ship flew the coop when he handled the team like he has this year. And really, even before that, things started getting weird. Rational Randy: Well, the way I see it, going into the season, the Wild weren’t expected to be as good as they have been so far, so we have to keep that in mind. Have they been as good as we would have hoped? No. But they haven’t been awful either. Time will tell what happens. We just gotta let the universe unfold as it will, bros. Optimist Brian: Well, listen, the universe unfolds according to the will of the hockey gods, and this year, they have to be on our side! I mean, the Wild put on their hard hats every game and go to work, and they’re bound to get rewarded with some puck luck at some point. Why wouldn’t this be the year they finally do? It’s the final year of Flower Power, after all. The gods be with us, I say. Peter the Pessimist: What in the name of Manny Fernandez are you two blabbering on about? The universe and hockey gods don’t win you hockey games! It’s Xs and Os, execution, being a well-oiled machine, and star power. And right now, the Wild are headed down the home stretch looking like the rickety sled in Cool Runnings, and the team’s stars are being held together with duct tape. Rational Randy: You know, Peter, some people have used duct tape to do some really great things. I had a wallet made out of it for all of middle school. The Wild’s chances have definitely gotten worse with all the injuries they’ve had, but all you really need is a chip and a chair, and then once the cards are dealt, it’s all up to fate. Time will tell. Let’s just sit back and enjoy the ride, dudes. Optimist Brian: You’re damn right I’m gonna enjoy the ride! How many teams do you know that could survive this many injuries to key players and still be pretty much a lock to make the playoffs? You know why? It’s because they have the intangibles and put the pieces in place to succeed. Their goalie tandem features an emerging star and a sure-fire hall of famer. They have a great mix of young talent and steady vets who all know their roles. Look at Marcus Johansson. He’s practically the Greek god of off-puck neutral zone positioning. That’s the stuff you need to win! Peter the Pessimist: Oookay. Let’s unpack this for a second, Brian. Your rationale for the team making a playoff run is that the Wild played well to start the season, they have a backup goaltender who they’ve barely played in the last month, and because they have Marcus freaking Johansson? What in the name of Justin Fontaine are you smoking? Randy, come on, this guy’s nuts, right? Rational Randy: Well, I can see both of your points, really. There’s a lot to be said for having a veteran presence in the room, and Fleury is known to have been a valuable mentor to young goalies in the playoffs. And Johansson does bring some defensive value, but Greek god is a little over the top. So yeah Peter, Brian’s probably smoking something. But that’s just his journey, man, just like the Wild are on theirs. Time will tell what happens, compadres. Optimist Brian: The Wild won this week! They are the best! Peter the Pessimist: The Wild lost this week. They suck. Rational Randy: You win some, you lose some, bros. Optimist Brian: Let’s go Wild! Let’s go WILD! Peter the Pessimist: Uhh yeah…I’m gonna go. Randy, can we be done here? Rational Randy: Sure thing, fellas. Rational Randy abides.

Special teams are incredibly important in crunch-time games, and the Minnesota Wild's power play had been struggling to cash in on their few chances in the last week or so. In their last four games, Minnesota went 0-for-9 with the man advantage, including two losses to big-time teams. Normally, a team like the Wild can ride out a four-game slump. However, needing to get a win against a top Washington Capitals team, John Hynes needed to do something drastic to shake things up. On Wednesday, the usually-conservative Hynes went bold, icing a five-forward power play unit. Some of the best, most talented teams have tried this tactic -- the Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers come to mind as the pioneers -- but the Wild have been slow to the party. Under Bruce Boudreau, they were among the last teams to fully embrace having four forwards on the power play. Dean Evason always felt confident enough in Jared Spurgeon to have him as a defensive safety blanket. As for Hynes, Spurgeon, Brock Faber, and Declan Chisholm have all had 50-plus power play minutes. You can understand a fully-healthy Wild getting tempted into a five-forward unit. Having Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek, Mats Zuccarello, Matt Boldy, and Marco Rossi all on the ice? No one would bat an eye at that. But Hynes pulled that lever with Kaprizov and Eriksson Ek on the shelf, putting in Freddy Gaudreau and Marcus Johansson on the top unit. That raised eyebrows, or it would have, if it hadn't worked. 23 seconds into Minnesota's second (and final) power play chance, Gaudreau tipped Boldy's point shot to send the puck past Charlie Lindgren to tie the game. It was a necessary step to secure a crucial two points by knocking off the President's Trophy-leading Capitals. Gaudreau even iced the game by notching an empty-net goal. When Gaudreau first got to the Wild, he was plucked out of obscurity by Evason, whose long relationship with the player came from their days with the AHL's Milwaukee Admirals. Evason staked some of his reputation on Gaudreau, telling Michael Russo in August 2021, "I can attest to him... being a real, real good player, but a real good teammate as well." After a 44-point season, Evason got to take a victory lap. "I think my feelings personally on Freddy are well-known by now and I think it's an organizational feeling as well," the coach declared the following September. "You could play Freddy anywhere." But when Evason got fired amidst a slow start from many Wild players -- including Gaudreau -- it put Gaudreau into somewhat uncharted territory. Gaudreau was a late-bloomer, making the NHL full-time at 28, under a coach who had a unique relationship with him. How would it work under Hynes, who had no connection to Gaudreau at all? As Gaudreau's struggles compounded, it didn't work. During the 2022-23 season under Evason, Gaudreau averaged 16 minutes and three seconds per night for Minnesota. During Gaudreau's final 37 games in his first season under Hynes, that average time on ice fell to 13:24. Early this season, Hynes put Gaudreau on fourth-line duty, with him averaging just under 14 minutes a night in October, a month in which he went scoreless until the final game. His struggles under Hynes led to widespread speculation that the Wild might seek to give him a fresh start under the coach who had 1000% faith in him. However, no such move materialized, and Hynes, Minnesota's front office, and the fans all should be happy about that right now. It’s the State of Freddy Hockey now. Goals have been tough to come by in St. Paul this March, and Gaudreau's been one of the only reliable sources of them. His six scores in March leads the team, and his eight points are behind only Matt Boldy, tying him for second on the Wild. On a squad that's struggling to keep up trying to elevate the team in the wake of an absurd string of injuries, Gaudreau is one of the few players seeming to gain strength as the season wears on. And whether Gaudreau sees it this way, he's proving that he's no one-coach wonder. Hynes is leaning on Gaudreau like he never has before and is finding why Evason had such trust in the player. Since the start of February, Gaudreau is averaging 17:16 per night -- more ice time than Gaudreau's peak season (16:16) under Evason. During that span, Gaudreau is fifth among Wild forwards in 5-on-5 time, fifth in power play time, and by far their top penalty-killing forward. When defending a one-score lead with a 5-on-6 against the best goal-scorer of all time, Hynes had Freddy Hockey out there to stop Alex Ovechkin from tying the game. As Evason said, Hynes is finding he can play Gaudreau anywhere. Of course, some of this increase in playing time is out of necessity. During February and March, Ryan Hartman missed time due to suspension and Eriksson Ek has been out for over a month. If Gaudreau was simply eating minutes, maybe that's not a perfect indication of trust. But Gaudreau is stepping up, and as the five-forward power play showed, Hynes is looking for ways to get him into the game. It's working, and Gaudreau is suddenly in sight of setting a career-high in goals. He scored 19 two seasons ago, which means he needs just two in his final nine games to not just hit a career-best, but crack the 20-goal mark for the first time. More importantly, the perpetual underdog is helping an underdog Wild team claw out points as they grow closer to clinching a playoff spot. Last night saw him help Minnesota pick up a huge regulation win against Washington. Earlier this month, he notched two points in a 4-3 win against the Seattle Kraken. He scored the only tally in a 1-0 shutout of the Boston Bruins. Combine those big-moment scores with his always-solid two-way game, and Gaudreau is showing he's a player capable of earning the trust of any coach.

Based on what we've seen so far, there's only one way that Liam Öhgren is helping the Minnesota Wild get to the playoffs this year. As trade bait. I don't say that disrespectfully or because there's any shame in not being ready for an NHL playoff run as a 21-year-old rookie. Öhgren can create his own shot at the AHL level but can't quite do it against bigger, stronger NHLers. That's not good or bad. It just is. Unless you're trying to get the Wild to the playoffs without Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek. Once Eriksson Ek went on the IR, Minnesota had gone 0-3-0 before being forced to make a move, trading for Gustav Nyquist. It wasn't inspiring, perhaps, but when your team scores two or fewer goals in seven of their past nine games... you gotta do something. To make the Nyquist trade, they had to send Öhgren and fellow rookie forward Marat Khusnutdinov to the Iowa Wild for salary cap reasons. Those ripples showcase Minnesota's issues as a potential buyer: They have little flexibility, few moveable pieces, and almost no draft capital. The Wild will enter the 2025 Draft with only their second and sixth-round picks and a fourth-rounder they picked up from the Toronto Maple Leafs for facilitating a Ryan O'Reilly trade two deadlines ago. They've already moved their 2026 second-rounder to acquire Nyquist. So, what's left? A lot, actually. Minnesota has the second-best prospect pool in the NHL, according to The Athletic's Scott Wheeler. They have cornerstone pieces in Zeev Buium, (and, they hope) David Jiricek, Danila Yurov, and Jesper Wallstedt. Beyond those headliners, the Wild also have intriguing forward depth in Riley Heidt, Hunter Haight, and Charlie Stramel. Öhgren is sort of stuck in between those tiers. Few consider him a potential impact player, but he's close to NHL-ready and a cut above the Heidt/Haight/Stramel crowd. So it makes sense that, when asking Who's expendable?, Öhgren's name would come up. In fact, it did in The Athletic's round-up of players most likely to get dealt. Now, you've gotta give to get. Still, the Wild should go out of their way to keep Öhgren at the deadline, even if it means risking falling out of the playoffs. Why keep him over someone like Heidt, Haight, or even their 2026 first-rounder? It's a long-term fit issue. Many of Minnesota's forwards fit a similar prototype: Smart players who must rely on their offensive skill to make an impact in the NHL. Heidt, Haight, and Ryder Ritchie may play hard, but they don't have the potential to be, say, an elite forechecker like Eriksson Ek. Someone like Stramel might, but despite his strides at Michigan State, whether he makes it to the NHL is still an open question. As I said earlier, that's not good or bad. It just is. Öhgren is simply different from the pack. His 6-foot-0, 187-pound frame isn't imposing, but his playstyle should be once he settles into the NHL. Öhgren's game profiles similar to Eriksson Ek's. He has the skill to be on the power play but is effective on the forecheck. If the Wild want the kind of third-line scoring threat they had a few years ago with Eriksson Ek, Marcus Foligno, and Jordan Greenway, Öhgren is their most likely prospect to fill that role. That's probably not going to be the case with the smaller Heidt or Haight. Ritchie is 6-foot-1, so maybe he will become that player. Still, at least at the draft, he looks like someone whose ID you'd check before selling him lemonade. Obsessing over height and weight charts is a good way to make mistakes in player evaluation, but here's the thing: Someone has to fill the physical role on a team. It's not about fighting or blasting guys with hard hits. Instead, it's about having players who can forecheck and withstand physical pressure, which is essential. Öhgren is their top prospect who cleanly fits that bill. And if they don't develop someone like Öhgren, they'll try to find that player elsewhere. All you have to do is look at the last two summers to see that. Marcus Foligno got a four-year deal that's working out great now but carries the potential to fall off hard toward the end. Ryan Hartman signed a three-year extension and his value has plummeted to the point where he's getting called "just a knucklehead" by NHL executives. Yakov Trenin came in as a free agent and is on pace for eight goals in the first year of a four-year pact that pays him $3.5 million annually. It's hard to say that Öhgren is more important than the Big 4 of Buium, Jiricek, Wallstedt, and Yurov, but arguably, he's just as important, even if Öhgren doesn't quite stack up to them talent-wise. Great teams have great players at the top, of course, but teams also need strong role players to make a deep run. There's a place in Minnesota for someone with, say, Nino Niederreiter-type potential, which is something Öhgren can provide that few others in the system offer. You can't say, The fifth-best prospect in our system is completely untouchable, but the Wild would be wise to find any way they can to keep Öhgren in-house.

Playing hockey was all in the family. It’s a tale not uncommon in athletic circles. Claire Thompson grew up lacing up skates and picking up a hockey stick in Toronto. She followed the lead of her dad, Ian, and older sister, Jennifer, who each played hockey growing up. The girls started skating at a young age. It was just the thing to do, Claire said. “Just go out to the outdoor rinks and learn to skate as a family,” Thompson said. “And then my older sister started playing organized hockey, and I wanted to do everything just like she did. That’s how I kind of got started playing hockey.” That start blossomed into a successful hockey career. Thompson, 27, is flourishing in her rookie season as a Minnesota Frost defenseman. The third overall pick in the 2024 PWHL Draft has 14 points in 16 games and is one of the top scorers in the league. She played high school hockey for Martingrove Collegiate Institute and two seasons for the Toronto Junior Aeros, which won the Provincial Women’s Hockey League (also PWHL) and Provincial Championship in 2015-16. Looking at Thompson’s production from the blue line, it’s easy to refer to her as an offensive defenseman. She leads the Frost with 11 assists and is tied with forward Taylor Heise for second in points with 14. There’s a good reason for that: She started as a center and didn’t switch to defense until later in high school. She was a defensive, play-making center, and her dad wanted to see if she could switch to playing on the blue line. “My dad just thought that my skillset would translate into being a skilled, efficient defenseman,” Thompson said. “He brought it up to me to see if it was something that I was interested in considering, and I said that I was.” They talked to her coach, and by the next season, she fully switched over to defense. She said they didn’t know exactly how it would turn out or if it would be a good decision. “It’s obviously panned out pretty well,” said Thompson, adding that she has no regrets about the position swap. But hockey isn’t Thompson’s only passion. She wanted to become a doctor ever since she could remember. Thompson always liked math and science. She also had another family tie; her grandfather was a doctor. He died when she was young, and “I think that was always kind of in the back of my mind.” That career aspiration – of becoming a doctor – was realistic and attainable while Thompson was growing up. Playing professional hockey was not. She always saw hockey as a way to help her get admitted into the best university she could “because, unfortunately, at that time there wasn’t a big pro women’s league to aspire to be a part of, despite there being the Olympics and that always being a dream.” Hockey on the collegiate, international stage Thompson played hockey at Princeton from 2016 to 2020 and was a captain her senior season. She scored 31 goals and 87 points in 128 career games while being named a four-time ECAC All-Academic selection, three-time AHCA All-American Scholar, and two-time Academic All-Ivy honoree. As a junior, she finished third on her team in scoring and led defensemen with nine goals and 28 points. While the Olympics was ultimately her dream, Thompson didn’t make the Canadian national team until her senior year. So, from her high years and most of college, she didn’t think professional ice hockey was a viable career option. She hadn’t made the national team until then, and there wasn’t another hockey league worth putting her medical school dreams on hold. She graduated from college with her undergraduate degree in 2020. After making the national team, she took two years off of academics to chase her Olympic dream for the 2022 Games, where she won a gold medal with Canada in Beijing. In the process, she broke the Olympic record for the most points scored by a defenseman in a single tournament with 13 points (two goals, 11 assists) in seven games. Thompson also won International Ice Hockey Federation World Championship gold in 2021 and silver in 2023 with Team Canada. Following the 2022 Olympic cycle, Thompson started her medical school journey in August 2022 for the fall semester at NYU. She wants to pursue orthopedic surgery. The summer following her first year of med school, the PWHL presented an opportunity. However, Thompson was already committed to another year of school. When the puck dropped on the PWHL inaugural season in January 2024, Thompson took a year off from competitive hockey and was busy studying and working toward her medical degree. “I had never really planned to take a whole year off hockey,” Thompson said. “The year prior to that, I had played in the PWHPA and with the national team and was able to do both with school. And then the league (PWHL) kind of came together late last summer, early in the fall.” With everything so new, it wasn’t clear how she could pursue hockey and education simultaneously as she’d done previously. But once she found out the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, weighing the hockey requirements versus her med school requirements, she focused on school but also how she could continue to play hockey. Drafted by the champs When Minnesota celebrated its Walter Cup Championship, Thompson had completed two years of school and entered the 2024 PWHL Draft. Thompson, like other players, was not at Roy Wilkins Auditorium in St. Paul, attending the PWHL Draft on June 10, 2024. Instead, she watched the proceedings from her med school apartment. She and her roommates and friends had a draft party. There were a few Minnesotans in the room who were excited when Thompson’s name was called in the first round by the defending PWHL champion. That night, she told the media via virtual video press conference that entering the draft was a “really difficult decision” because she loves med school. Still, her “sights have been set on continuing to play professional hockey during this period of my life.” Thompson expressed her excitement at being drafted to Minnesota that night. “I’m just so excited to be a part of such a successful team coming off the most recent championship,” she said on draft night. “I couldn’t think of a better place to start my professional ice hockey career. “They always say ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder.’ So not being able to play this year has really reinvigorated my love for hockey.”

The Minnesota Wild have employed more than their fair share of players from Finland, the European hockey hotbed. Some are among the most impactful players in the organization’s history. The club’s affinity for Finns eventually earned it a new nickname. The Finnesota Wild. Heck, there even used to be a Finnish hockey podcast with the same name. While the team hasn’t had a Finn suit-up since Kaapo Kahkonen played 25 games in the 2021-22 season, that has a chance to change in the coming years. Over the past two drafts, the Wild have selected three Finnish players, all of whom the organization hopes to develop into NHL players. In 2023, they selected Rasmus Kumpulainen; in 2024, they selected Aron Kiviharju and Sebastian Soini. All three prospects participated for Team Finland in the 2025 World Junior Championship in December and January. The Finns showed well in the tournament, making it to overtime of the gold medal game, where they eventually fell to Team USA. For Kumpalainen, it was his second time playing for Finland in the World Juniors, while Kiviharju and Soini participated for the first time. I watched all seven of Finland’s games in the tournament and paid particular attention to the trio of Wild prospects to get a sense of who they are as players and, more importantly, what they might become. My biggest takeaway was that of the three, Aron Kiviharju has the best chance to become an impact player. Aron Kiviharju - Defense Shoots: Left - 5-foot-10, 181 lbs. Current Team: HIFK (Liiga) Acquired: 2024 NHL Draft, 4th round (No. 122 overall) Kiviharju endeared himself to Wild fans on draft day last summer when he told Bill Guerin that he had just made the steal of the draft when the Wild selected him in the fourth round. After missing most of his draft season due to a dislocated kneecap, the once highly-touted Finn had slipped down draft lists and was none too pleased. He’s rebounded nicely with a solid post-draft year thus far, playing in Finland’s top professional league and earning a spot on the Finnish World Junior squad. At that tournament, Kivharju was named captain of a team full of older NHL prospects, which speaks volumes of his character and demeanor on and off the ice. The confidence that led Kiviharju to declare to Guerin is also visible in how he plays the game. While he may not project as a high-end prospect, there’s reason to believe he has enough tools to make an impact in the NHL. However, there is some uncertainty about how his game might translate as he moves up levels. Let’s dig into his game a bit. Strengths The game calms down when Kiviharju has the puck on his stick. He handles it with poise, and it’s extremely rare to see him make a bad decision. He has a knack for understanding the game’s trajectory and adjusting in real-time. When things break down, and players around him start to scramble, Kiviharju makes calm plays to get the puck out of the zone by skating it out of trouble or relieving pressure with short passes against the grain to evade forechecks. When his team struggles to generate offense, he’ll activate in the offensive zone to try and create a spark. Kiviharju’s poise with the puck allows him to be effective offensively when walking the blue line to create passing or shooting lanes. He doesn’t have a hard shot and prefers to make a play. Still, he uses his teammates well and can break down defenses by interchanging with forwards and attacking soft spots to create space. Kiviharju uses strong footwork to move laterally while walking the line but keeps his torso towards the play. That allows him to see the ice and keep options open. All of this is on display in the clip below. Kiviharju recognized an opportunity to attack a collapsed defense and created a goal: Kiviharju uses situational awareness to disrupt plays and deny options with his stick and body positioning in his own zone. As a smaller defenseman, he holds his own in board battles. He uses solid footwork and positioning to gain leverage, spin out of contact with possession, or poke a puck to a teammate, similar to Jared Spurgeon. Kiviharju’s footwork and sturdy frame mean he rarely takes big hits. His breakout passes are a joy to watch. He consistently throws passes to the tape at the right pace for the situation and can wire or finesse them. He isn’t a dynamic skater, but Kiviharju is efficient in that he stays balanced. He doesn’t lose his form, which usually allows him to get from point A to B at the right time. When defending rushes in the neutral zone, Kiviharju handles himself well when forced to back up against a quick transition and can read attacks to string plays out and get into passing lanes. Question marks My biggest question regarding Kiviharju’s ability to be a reliable NHL defenseman is whether he has the pace necessary to defend against players who attack him wide with speed. He’s not the swiftest backward skater. Kiviharju usually adjusts for that with positioning and awareness, but he can have trouble recovering if he gets caught flat-footed or there’s a quick counter off a turnover. That isn’t an issue too often for him now, but I could see it being something that NHL teams might exploit if he isn’t able to add some explosiveness to his backward stride or improve the power he gets when turning from backward to forwards so he can beat guys to the near side post. Kiviharju also tends to be overconfident when defending one-on-one and goes for a poke check in situations where he shouldn’t. As he moves up levels, players will also be able to exploit this. Kiviharju will have to learn to adapt his game to leagues where he’s no longer a top player who can get away with unnecessary risks simply because he’s better than everyone. I am confident he can, but it might require time and growing pains. The play below is a perfect example of something he does well and also where he has room for growth. Note how Kiviharju uses his strong lateral push to recover and get into position quickly. (He was only out of position because he got crossed up with a forward covering the point). Once he gets there, instead of relying on that positioning to deny or deflect a shot, he goes for a poke check and misses. The result is a goal against. Finally, it’s fair to wonder about Kiviharju’s NHL role. He’s an effective offensive player but not a dynamic one. He can quarterback a power play unit, but he is probably more of a distributor than someone who can be a scoring threat and would probably not be a top-two option for that role on good teams. Kiviharju isn’t a physical presence. While he doesn’t get pushed around often, he might struggle against heavy opponents. He moves well enough to defend in all situations, but Kiviharju is probably not a dynamic enough skater to be a shutdown defender against top players. Where exactly he’d fit in a lineup will have to be clarified with time. Projection When I watch Kiviharju play, I see a future NHL defenseman. He can probably be a No. 4 to 6 defenseman with time, but it might take 4 to 5 years to get there. Kiviharju’s intelligence and poise will separate him from other players with similar toolkits. If he can adapt his game to the AHL and then the NHL, he can become the type of player that coaches love because he’s well-rounded, won’t make bad decisions with the puck, and is an efficient distributor up the ice. It remains to be seen if Kiviharju is the steal of the 2024 draft. Still, if he can go from being a fourth-round pick to becoming an NHL mainstay, that would be an exceptional outcome for Judd Brackett and the rest of the Wild’s scouting staff.

"Last week, I helped my friend stay put. It's a lot easier than helping someone move. I just went over to his house and made sure he did not start to load s--- into a truck." -- State of Hockey native Mitch Hedberg. After four years of largely staying put, the Minnesota Wild are itching to move. They want to move on free agents, they want to move young players for established ones, they want to make a splash. "I like to be aggressive," said general manager Bill Guerin at the end of his team's abbreviated playoff run. "I don't want to sit on my hands at all. And I'm tired of doing that." "Christmas Morning" has been the phrase ownership has thrown around about July 1. In some sense, that was right at the time. Not only could the team sign Kirill Kaprizov (which seems likely to happen), but they'd perhaps be able to knock the socks off a superstar free agent like Mikko Rantanen or Mitch Marner. However, as we're shaking the boxes in the closet, it's sounding more like Brock Nelson and/or Brock Boeser is all that's inside. Of course, there's always the trade market, but that doesn't appear too fruitful. Elias Pettersson might -- mind you, might -- be a big fish on the trade block. However, as great as a player he can be, it's hard to see a GM who said "I don't love soft skill" pursuing the Vancouver Canucks star. Fair or not, Pettersson has a reputation. Beyond Pettersson? There are restricted free agents who may be difficult for their current teams to keep -- JJ Peterka and Matthew Knies come to mind -- but teams usually figure out how to keep young core pieces. We're not hearing about Jack Eichel/Matthew Tkachuk-type situations where a star player wants out of a losing franchise. Maybe that changes, but the Wild have committed themselves to doing a cannonball into an offseason where the available talent is roughly the equivalent of an above-ground pool. And if you listen to State of Hockey native Mitch Hedberg, you'll know there's not much you can do in an above-ground pool. If that's the case, maybe the Wild are better off staying put. Minnesota might not need to do all that much to their roster -- at least not in terms of splashy moves. After all, they just pushed the Vegas Golden Knights in a playoff series despite missing around $15 million worth of depth players. And that was without a coming youth movement that should solve many depth issues on its own. Next season will (likely) see the arrival of Danila Yurov, a two-way forward with skill and solid production in the KHL. Liam Öhgren, a physical power forward, scored 19 goals and 37 points in 41 games with the Iowa Wild and might be ready to contribute. 6-foot-5 defenseman prospect David Jiricek has a summer to gain strength. So does Zeev Buium, who got his first taste of NHL action in the playoffs and largely held his own. Goalie Jesper Wallstedt has a summer to clear his head and reset after a tough year. Minnesota spent years building up this stable of top prospects, and might have five highly-touted, first-round prospects injected into their lineup next year. Why not stay the course? Why, for example, trade Öhgren to land a scoring winger when he might be ready to fill that role in October? Where's the harm in seeing what this team can do with these young, NHL-ready players bumping out replacement-level types like Gustav Nyquist and Marcus Johansson and Jon Merrill before making a "splash" that can become an albatross? Guerin has acknowledged that risk. "You have to be careful because July 1 can be a day of mistakes," he told the media. And he's right -- even the top free agents can be potential landmines for the Wild. Nelson's projected contract might be the most reasonable, with Evolving-Hockey projecting three years and a $7.4 million cap hit. Still, that includes buying his ages-34-to-36 seasons, which are hardly a sure thing. They project Boeser's deal to run seven years at an $8.2 million cap hit. Minnesota might be committing to a one-way winger who relies on his shot to generate offense well into his 30s -- ask Dany Heatley or Thomas Vanek how well that player profile ages. Or they could give a similar deal to Sam Bennett (EH Projection: seven years, $7.5 AAV), yet another one-way player... one coming off a career-high 51 points. The more you look, the more you realize that maybe this isn't the year to throw money around wildly. It might be better for the Wild to bide their time, see what lineup holes their prospects fill, and go into the summer of 2026 with more money and information. Except, the Wild can't, and they won't. They've hyped up the summer as the year they can go off and add the final pieces to becoming a contender. Looking from their view, you can see why they sold the summer of 2025 to the fanbase. Four years is a long time for fans to have to wait. After four years of steadily getting less able to make moves, doing nothing with newfound flexibility is a bad look for a team. Still, there has to be a balance. Should the Wild go with Nelson or Bennett, they might move a 23-year-old top-six center to make room for a pivot who's significantly older and worse in their own end. They may take a cost-controlled goal-scorer in Öhgren and try to cash him in for a quick fix. In both cases, Minnesota is probably much better staying put. While the Wild have found themselves in a position with some financial flexibility, they probably should have allowed for more flexibility in their timeline. They didn't, and now it's go-time, even if the big splashes they plan to make might make for better headlines than they do for building a Stanley Cup contender.

Before the start of this past season, Minnesota Wild defensive prospect David Spacek achieved a slow, steady ascension up Minnesota’s defensive prospect ladder. After the Wild took him in the 5th round of the 2022 NHL draft, he passed older players like Ryan O’Rourke (2nd round, 2020), Jack Peart (2nd round, 2021), and Kyle Masters (4th round, 2021), who Minnesota drafted higher than him. He wasn’t far behind Daemon Hunt (3rd round, 2020) and Carson Lambos (1st round, 2021) in the organizational pecking order. But after a blunt, scathing interview his father gave to Czech media outlet iSport on Tuesday, it appears that Spacek’s days as a Wild prospect are numbered. David is from Czechia and is the son of former NHL defenseman Jaroslav Spacek. The NHL veteran of nearly 900 games has been a prominent figure in Czech hockey since his retirement in 2012. David plays a key role for the Czech national team at the IIHF World Championship, playing on the second pairing and quarterbacking the second power-play unit. His father, Jaroslav, appeared on the Zimak podcast to discuss the team’s chances. When asked about his son’s progress in professional hockey, Jaroslav decided to let loose with his opinions of David’s experiences in the Wild organization (all quotes translated with Google Translate): I’m not happy about it at all…David’s game at the World [Championship] is to push to get out of here. … David didn't get a sniff up there [in the NHL], not a game, and they didn't even call him up. While the guys who played much worse than him were taken up there. They went there for a few days at least. David hasn't received a single call-up in two years. I'm very disappointed with the entire organization. The players whom the Wild called up to the NHL ahead of Spacek included Iowa Wild captain Cameron Crotty, who appeared in one game, and Lambos, who didn’t play for the big club but spent six days with the team in early January. David Jiricek, Spacek’s former Czech junior teammate, is also included on that list. The Wild acquired Jiricek in a blockbuster trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets in November (for a package that included Hunt). Minnesota called him up twice: once in January, when he played six games, and again for three weeks in March, when he didn’t play but practiced and traveled with the team. Jiricek’s arrival pushed Spacek lower on the organizational totem pole, which irked his father. However, not as much as when Zeev Buium joined the NHL team straight out of college as a 19-year-old and played four games in the Wild’s playoff series against the Vegas Golden Knights, bumping Spacek another down another notch: The playoffs came, a young kid comes in, drafted in the first round last year, who didn't even play a game on the farm, they signed him right away, and he's going to play a game against Vegas right away. At that moment, it assures you that David has no chance at all in this organization. … There are over 30 teams in the NHL, I believe that he will get a chance somewhere. Now the biggest job will be to find a club that will care about him and give him a chance. Now, a prominent father speaking out on behalf of his son is certainly not unheard of, and there’s no guarantee that one speaks for the other. Still, it’s hard not to think that Spacek also feels his father’s blistering criticism of his experience in the Wild organization to some degree. So, where do the Wild go from here? Spacek is only 22, an age at which most defensemen are still developing as professionals. This past season, he led all Iowa Wild defensemen in scoring while mainly playing on the second pair. He also spent significant time as a power play quarterback, often on the first unit. That said, the Iowa Wild had the worst power play in the AHL, with a measly 13.8% success rate. Iowa was not a good team this year, so the special teams struggles are certainly not an indictment on Spacek alone. However, at this point, it’s fair to wonder how high Spacek’s ceiling is as a prospect. I’ve seen him play a fair amount over the years between his two appearances at the World Junior Championships, three Tom Kurvers Prospect Showcases, and two full AHL seasons. I’ve seen a player who does many things well but isn’t exemplary in any area. Spacek is a good skater with solid lateral movement and a smooth stride, but he doesn’t get a lot of power off his edges, and there’s a real possibility he’ll struggle to defend with his feet in an increasingly fast NHL. He has decent size (6 feet, 190 lbs.) and engages physically, but he’s not enough of a force to make a difference in physical play. Spacek plays with poise with and without the puck and usually displays solid positioning. Still, he often takes bad angles when backtracking, which gives attackers options and makes it harder for him to recover. He’s responsible with the puck, but sometimes to a fault, as he almost always defers to the safe, simple play rather than testing the opposition with a stretch pass or by moving to exploit a seam. He moves well across the line as a power-play quarterback and distributes the puck with simple efficiency. Still, he’s not a significant threat to break down defenses or create his own chances, and there’s no way I can see him eventually quarterbacking an NHL power play. All of this adds up to Spacek being a good professional hockey player without a defining quality that will make him stand out enough to become a full-time NHL player. I like his game a lot, and I can envision a scenario where he gets in a good situation and sticks as a sixth or seventh defenseman for a few years. Still, I think he will top out in the AHL and eventually head to Europe to continue his career. Given the Wild’s move to acquire Jiricek and immediately slot him above Spacek on the right side, it’s starting to seem like the organization views Spacek similarly. And given his father’s recent comments, it seems apparent that Spacek isn’t satisfied with being an organizational depth piece that watches more highly touted prospects zoom past him on their way to NHL careers. What should the Wild do? It’s hard to imagine Spacek has immediate trade value beyond a late-round draft pick or a similar fringe prospect looking for a change of scenery. This isn’t like the Calen Addison situation, when the Wild gave up on the enigmatic defenseman and traded him to the San Jose Sharks for fringe prospect Adam Raska (who played a total of 13 NHL games before settling in as a minor leaguer) and a 5th-round pick. Addison was a former second-round pick who played over 90 NHL games. However, after cycling through three organizations this season, he seems destined for a career in Europe. Spacek has yet to appear in the NHL. Adam Beckman might be a better recent comparable. Beckman was a forward who was once viewed as a legit NHL prospect before his growth as a player stalled. At age 23, the Wild traded him to the New Jersey Devils for forward Graeme Clarke, who was the same age and had a similar player profile as a former prospect turned NHL longshot. Beckman and Clark players have been in the AHL since the deal, and the Devils saw enough of Beckman to trade him to the New York Islanders. If the Wild move on from Spacek, they could try to swing a trade that brings back a late-round pick and hope that Judd Brackett uses it to unearth a gem. However, a return like that would probably require the Wild to part with more than Spacek alone. So, the more likely option is to trade for another prospect looking for a fresh start, hoping they can develop him into a valuable organizational piece. Either way, it’s unlikely they’d get a significant return, especially given that his displeasure with his current circumstances is now known to all. Perhaps the Wild’s best bet would be to hang on to him and tell him that his best chance for finding a new home (or earning a call-up to Minnesota) is to show up to training camp ready to go, hit the ground running next season, and showcase his abilities for any potential suitors. That seems like the best scenario for all involved. Iowa will need reliable defensemen next season, and Spacek should play a prominent role there. If he can provide solid production and demonstrate an ability to be a difference-maker in professional hockey, it would give the minor league squad a much-needed boost and Spacek the best chance to develop interest from other teams. Either way, if there’s any truth to what his father said on Tuesday. It’s probably only a matter of time before David Spacek finds a new employer.

The Minnesota Wild played such a tight game against the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 1. A series that almost every national media member thought would be the most one-sided win we have seen in some time was possibly the closest Game 1 in the first round this year. Watching that first game, a belief that the Wild might pose a large threat to the Golden Knights' Stanley Cup dreams started becoming a reality. It all came to fruition for Game 2. The Wild tied the series 1-1 with a decisive 5-2 win before returning to St. Paul. What can we take from Tuesday night's performance? A few things. Starting on the right foot While we all thought it was possible after watching Game 1, there was still the concern that Vegas would stop toying around with its food and put a stranglehold on this series for the second game. Nothing was certain, and the Pacific Division winners could take control at any moment. Fortunately, this might just be who the Golden Knights are, and they didn't take it to the next level. Minnesota took control almost immediately. There was a surge of offense for the home team, but the Wild pulled it back to even. All it took was some Kaprizov magic sauce to open up the scoring. He launched a pass to Matt Boldy that might have been the best ever. That is exactly what Boldy said and admitted to the media after the win. It was the best pass he's ever seen. From then on, it was full throttle. Less than two minutes after Boldy opened up the scoring, Marcus Foligno scored his third ever playoff goal to double the lead; and before the first period could even come to a close, Mats Zuccarello scored a beautiful goal after Marcus Johansson stripped the puck in the Golden Knights' own zone and fed it to the Norwegian. And even just a few minutes into the second period, Kaprizov got his own goal after forcing one earlier to make it a four-goal lead that Vegas could barely even come back from. This hot start suffocated anything coming from the home team. It was a dominant and forceful 25 minutes that gave the Wild enough room to breathe and ultimately was the deciding half of the game. Kirill Kaprizov's magic We all need to take time and give ourselves space to think about Kirill Kaprizov's performance in Game 2. We have seen countless performances from the Wild's best player where he has taken over a game and completely willed the Wild to a win. Maybe it is just the smaller sample size or the competition this team has faced, but it is a completely different story in the playoffs. On Tuesday night, Kaprizov went off. We need to include the mind-bending pass that opened the scoring. A beauty that is indescribable. It wasn't just the incredible assist and the two goals he scored after that -- he clinched the win with an empty-net tally -- but his overall impact on the game. When Kaprizov was on the ice, the Golden Knights still had an advantage in shot attempts at 5-on-5. (We will explain why it's not a big deal in the next point.) However, according to Natural Stat Trick, the Wild had a 13-8 advantage in registered scoring chances. It becomes even more impressive when you dig deeper and find out Kaprizov started just a third of his shifts in the offensive zone. He wasn't handed even close to the best environment to lead a team's offense, but still earned an advantage in registered scoring chances. Now, there is a downside to the Wild having such a decisive lead so early on in the game: Score effects. Holding off the score effects In plain language, when a team is down a couple of goals, they are likelier to throw as many pucks as possible at the net in hopes of evening the score. Conversely, when a team is trying to hold a lead, they will be more conservative with their offense and not try to run and gun so often, focusing on more possessions to kill the clock. Since the Wild had a four-goal lead less than halfway through this game, the Golden Knights just came stomping and charging for the last 30 minutes. As we can see thanks to Natural Stat Trick, with 5-on-5 play, Vegas kept getting more shot attempts off as soon as the Wild scored their fourth goal. Almost every team has to be wary of this when up big so early. Of course, it's always a good thing to score more goals, but the hope is that there is a large enough lead to prevent this surge of offense coming from the other side from doing some lasting damage. Although Minnesota allowed two goals as this happened, it wasn't enough to let them lose hold of this game. More importantly, it was roughly 15 minutes of absolute hell unleashed from the home team -- going from just a plus-1 advantage in shot attempts after the Wild's fourth, all the way to a plus-28 advantage before the second period ended and the Golden Knights scored their first goal within that tilted stretch. If the Wild are going to stand a fighting chance in this playoff series, they will probably face more of these types of minutes. The Golden Knights try to impose their will whenever Minnesota gets a sniff of a lead or can catch a lucky break. It will be up to Filip Gustavsson and the Wild's entire defensive scheme to withstand it. But hey, they did a great job Tuesday night at doing exactly what they needed. Now, it's back home in Minnesota as the Wild host Vegas for Games 3 and 4 Thursday and Saturday night.

34 years after his Austrian countryman staved it off, Judgement Day has finally arrived for Marco Rossi. After completing two 82-game campaigns in a row, piling up 45 goals and 100 points in the process, Rossi has won much of the State of Hockey over with his play. For good reason: He's as responsible as anyone on the Minnesota Wild for them getting into the playoffs. We can already count six standings points that came directly off his stick. He scored two overtime winners (against Detroit on February 22 and against Dallas on April 6) and forced overtime with another four goals. There are plenty more big third-period/overtime goals for which Rossi also notched the primary assist. All that's true, but it hasn't quite shaken off the remainder of his detractors, and the upcoming series against the Vegas Golden Knights is tailor-made to confirm their biases. Vegas' roster weighs an average of 204 pounds, the third-most in the NHL among teams that made the playoffs. The eight blueliners on their roster average out to be 6-foot-3.5 and 212.5 pounds. They're the definition of the big, tough "playoff-style" team. Meanwhile, Rossi's just a lil' guy! He's listed at 5-foot-9 and 183 pounds. How will he thrive against a blue line with half a foot and 30 pounds on him? That has been the question all along with Rossi's detractors, which means the center's first postseason will be a referendum on his ability to be part of a winning team. Specifically, the Wild. Why is that the case when it wasn't for, say, Kirill Kaprizov's first postseason (two goals, three points in seven games in 2021) or Matt Boldy's (one goal, one point in six games in 2022)? Because the detractors aren't just fans in the stands. They're seemingly coming from inside the house. Speaking about the style of team he wants on Dan Barreiro's KFAN show on April 11, general manager Bill Guerin said, "I don't wanna just grind games out. You need skill. You need talent, you need stars. You need these guys. ... I want tons of skill. ... If you have a lot of skill in your lineup and you have a high, high compete level, then you've got something. "I don't love soft skill," Guerin continued. "Kirill, to me, is that. He's not soft skill at all. He is a high-compete, high-skill guy. Like [Mats] Zuccarello -- high compete, high-skill. [Joel Eriksson] Ek isn't as skilled as Kirill, but he is skilled, and he's high-compete. Same with Boldy, and he's learning how to get his compete to another level, and not just rely on his skill." You can't name all 23 guys on the roster in a radio interview, of course, and no one is going to hear that and think Wow, Guerin must think Freddy Gaudreau and Brock Faber have soft skill. But Rossi was second on the team in points and third in goals, and he evades mention by the GM when listing guys who don't have "soft skill"? Considering the history of trade rumors surrounding Rossi, whether or not Guerin meant to omit him, it certainly feels pointed. Of course, those aren't going away, and the speculation will only grow if he doesn't score this series. A low output for him will confirm everything his detractors believe. Beyond that, this series may be the last impression of him before an offseason where he's an RFA due for a major raise. Fair or not, Rossi will be judged by what he does in the series to a greater degree than any player. Unless, of course, the determination of Rossi's future can only go one way. Confirmation bias doesn't just confirm the things you already believe. It also throws out evidence to the contrary. Folks weren't sold on Rossi's AHL numbers translating to the NHL two years ago, but then Rossi worked hard and returned to score 21 goals and 39 points as a rookie. There were still people who weren't sold, and then he came back and scored 24 goals and 60 points. Is that going to change if Rossi keeps up that production in the playoffs, scoring around two goals and five points in a seven-game series? Or even a bit more? Or will his detractors (and/or Guerin?) find a way to convince themselves they were right all along? Maybe Rossi performs well, the Wild (a heavy underdog to Vegas) still lose, and the thought becomes Well, but they still lost in the first round. Or perhaps, Yeah, he got his points, but that was all soft skill. At this point, if you're not in on Rossi, it's hard to know what would convince you to buy stock in "Marco "Goal-O." He was already one of 30 centers (minimum 300 faceoff wins) with 60-plus points this season. He's already just one of five centers in team history to accomplish the feat, and the only one to do so before their 25th birthday. Most teams would call a player like Rossi a building block, and you'd certainly think the Wild are in a "beggars can't be choosers" situation with centers. But here the Minnesota Wild are, entering a playoff series that is appearing to shape up to become a referendum on Rossi. Not their best player, Kaprizov. Not Zuccarello, who has three goals and 13 points in 23 games in four playoff series losses. Nor is it a referendum on Boldy and his four points in 12 games. And seemingly not any of the 12 other players who -- unlike Rossi -- have actually taken part in at least one of the Wild's first-round flops. It won't be surprising to see Rossi succeed during this series. Coming through in big moments, despite being doubted every step of the way, seems to be his MO. But if the team doesn't see Rossi as indispensable now, then it unfortunately would be shocking for anything he could do in this series to change their minds.

Let’s immediately get something out of the way: Zeev Buium is an NHL-caliber defenseman right now, at this moment. And after a remarkable run as an amateur that included a gold medal at the World Under-18 championships, back-to-back golds at the World Junior Championships, an NCAA championship in a season he began as a 17-year-old freshman, back-to-back seasons as the top scoring defenseman in college hockey and a Hobey Baker nomination, he’ll get a chance to prove it. Buium made it official on Friday night when he announced his intention to leave Denver University to sign with the Minnesota Wild and begin his professional career. It sounds like he’ll join the team sometime in the coming days and make his NHL debut on Tuesday at the Xcel Energy Center in the Wild’s season finale against the Anaheim Ducks. There has been plenty of hype around the teen phenom ever since the Wild selected him with the 12th overall pick in the 2024 draft, and his resume suggests that the hype has been justified. But how does his game stack up to the NHL, and what should Wild fans expect from him this season? Is he ready to be a contributor right away in the playoffs, and if so, how might the Wild use him? Let’s dig into his game a bit: Offense To start, it’s worth noting that for almost every game Buium has played for the past two seasons – and possibly even longer – he’s been the best player on the ice, often by a wide margin. When a player exists within that norm, it’s impossible not to develop some habits that reflect a player used to doing whatever he wants, and that’s occasionally been the case for Buium. He has frequently been guilty of holding onto the puck too long at the offensive blue line, attempting to deke and dance around opponents until he gets the perfect opportunity to slice into the heart of the defense and make a play. Of course, Buium wouldn’t have developed that habit if he couldn’t get away with it, and more often than not at the college level, he did. If he wants to succeed immediately at the professional level, he’ll have to dial it back a bit and learn to make a safe pass to an outlet or a pass along the boards down low to continue a forecheck. That said, there’s no mistaking the singular offensive abilities that Buium will bring to the Wild blue line. When he’s on the ice, his team usually has the puck, and he’s often the one with it. His skills are such that he’ll be able to create offense on his own immediately. Buium’s ability to combine body fakes and deception with elite skating to create opportunities for himself and teammates is basically a hybrid of Quinn Hughes and prime-era Adam Fox, two of the most offensively gifted defensemen to come to the NHL from the college ranks in recent years. Buium can beat defenders one-on-one at the blue line or when moving down the wall. While he’ll have some adjustments to make to learn to make quick decisions with the puck when defenders close in on him, his high-end puck skills are good enough to beat NHL defenders right now. He can create shooting lanes, and while he doesn’t have a blistering shot, he can get it off quickly and with high accuracy. This includes snap shots and wrist shots to beat goalies clean, aiming for a teammate’s stick to get a deflection, or just getting shots through with traffic in front. These same attributes will immediately make him a dangerous power-play asset. He will step into the NHL and instantly be a high-end power-play quarterback. Buium is so good at creating lanes and using any open ice to his advantage that it might take his new Wild teammates some time to learn how to best read off his constant movement and precise, cutting attacks. He loves working two-man give-and-goes and orchestrating plays to open up a teammate and hit him with an accurate, well-paced pass. He's also a one-man breakout in a way that reminds me of Jonas Brodin, except his puck skills are better. Buium’s offensive instincts allow him to turn a loose puck or turnover into instant offense the other way. This is another skill that will translate as soon as he arrives in St. Paul. The main thing he’ll have to rein in is the tendency to look for the perfect play and hold onto the puck until he finds it. Like other elements of his game in college, this developed from being a dominant player. If Buium can rein that in and rely on his ability to make crisp, well-timed, accurate passes, he can be a reliable puck mover in his own end. Defense This area of Buium’s game raises the most questions about his ability to contribute immediately in the playoffs. How will the young defenseman withstand the rigors of defending high-speed attacks, withstanding physical forechecks, and winning puck battles against the best players in the world? Buium's effectiveness as a defender depends on skating, footwork, and body positioning, and he’ll also have to rely on those attributes in the NHL. Similar to the offensive side of the puck, Buium has grown accustomed to being dominant and sometimes is too dependent on his skating, particularly when defending the rush. He’s overly reliant on his ability to recover and sometimes takes bad or sloppy lines, giving opposing attackers more ice than he should. NHL forwards will be able to exploit this extra ice, so he’ll need to be more diligent with his gaps in pro hockey. Still, Buium knows how to defend with his feet and should be adequate in most situations as long as he remains diligent with his positioning. He has superb hockey sense and can read plays, recognize attacks, and disrupt them before they become dangerous. Like Victor Hedman, he often defends the rush by turning and skating forward rather than backward. Footwork and positioning are also his biggest assets in board battles. In the NHL, he’ll be able to hold his own in these situations if he can get to the spot first, or at the right time, and establish good positioning. His strong legs and balance will be able to fend off opposing players so he can emerge with the puck or push it to a teammate. However, as you’d expect with a teenager in a men’s league, Buium will struggle initially if it comes down to a pure strength battle for a puck. That’s okay, but it could be an issue in heavy matchups. The biggest weakness in Buium’s defensive game is his off-puck positioning and awareness, which is the biggest cause for concern regarding his ability to immediately translate his game to the NHL. For example, when the puck is in the neutral zone, and either team hasn’t established possession or is changing hands back and forth, Buium can be guilty of puck-watching and drifting out of position into bad spots, sometimes even to his defensive partner’s side of the ice. If the opposition gets possession and starts a quick attack, he often has to scramble to recover or attack the rush from a bad place, and his partner gets hung out to dry or has to try and read off Buium's scrambles. The same goes for instances when the opposition establishes long forechecks and pressure. Buium tends to try to read plays and anticipate where the puck might go, which he often does well. However, he drifts out of positioning to do this, and if he makes the wrong read or the puck takes a bounce, he’s not where he should be. In college hockey, there aren’t enough pure scorers that can capitalize on these instances, but that won’t be the case in the NHL. It’s easy to envision scenarios where Buium tries to jump a play that doesn’t happen, and a forward gets left alone in the slot or on the back door. It’s less-than-ideal, for sure, and will cause some growing pains in the NHL, where predictability and positioning are the backbone of defensive structures that rely on cohesion to succeed. It’s not something to be overly concerned about long-term. Buium is an intelligent player who will adapt to the NHL with experience. However, initially, it will cause Wild coaches and fans the occasional headache and goal against. Intangibles In the 2025 World Juniors, perhaps the most impressive part of Buium’s performance – besides the world-class pass to spring Teddy Stiga for a breakaway on the game-winning overtime goal in the gold medal game (the last highlight in the video below) – was how calm Buium was throughout the entire tournament. That version of Team USA had plenty of dynamic players playing high-octane offense. Buium produced in that department with two goals and four assists in seven games. He also played a steady, quiet game for much of the tournament. He made smooth breakout passes, calmly skating the puck out of trouble and driving the USA offense from the back end while maintaining defensive positioning in ways he didn’t need to do for a well-structured Denver team this season. It’s telling that, in the highlight package below, you’ll mostly see Buium making smart, efficient plays with the puck and less of the dynamic, jaw-dropping plays that populate his other highlight reels. If he can bring some of that quietness to the NHL, his transition will be more seamless. From a physical standpoint, Buium has shown that he isn’t intimidated by heavy play. As the undisputed star of his team in college, Buium was targeted every night by opposing teams. Still, he consistently showed a willingness to engage and stand up for himself. Boston College made a point of targeting him in the NCAA tournament this year. The Eagles took runs at him all game, and Buium and Ryan Leonard (now with the Washington Capitals) engaged in numerous heated net-front battles and post-whistle scrums. Buium held his own against the larger forward. He also made sure Boston College heard about it, waving goodbye to the entire opposing bench after clinching the game with an empty net goal late in the third. What to expect from Buium this season The bottom line is that Buium is ready to be an NHL contributor right now. As colleague Justin Wiggins stated yesterday, the Wild would be wise to use him in some capacity immediately. Can Buium play in the NHL playoffs this season and be effective? From an offensive standpoint, he absolutely can. He’ll be the best offensive threat on the Wild blue line right away. Will he make mistakes that lead to goals against? Probably, yes. He’s young and prone to make the careless errors young players make, and that NHL players can take advantage of. Can he defend well enough to be a positive asset? I think he can, yes. His skating and hockey sense are good enough to compensate for some of his other deficiencies. Plus, if Buium is on the ice and the Wild have the puck more often than not, they won’t have to worry about defending. Should the Wild give him playoff minutes? My answer is a resounding yes. Buium can be enough of an offensive asset right away to be a difference-maker if the Wild deploy him in sheltered minutes, on the power play, in offensive zone faceoffs, and in favorable matchups. Will the Wild give him playoff minutes? That’s another question entirely. My sense is that they won’t, not right away. Coaches want predictability, and for all their faults, John Merrill and Zach Bogosian won’t get out of position in ways that Buium might. Buium’s volatility factor might be something John Hynes and his staff prefer to do without, at least initially. If anything, I could see Buium slotting in over Declan Chisholm instead of Bogosian or Merrill. Ultimately, they should insert him into the lineup, even as a seventh defenseman. Buium is young, and it’s not easy to be an NHL defenseman, especially in the playoffs. But the Wild don’t have another player like him, and they’ll need to generate more offense than they have in previous playoff appearances if they want to make any type of run this year. Zeev Buium might be the extra piece they need to make it happen.

When was the last time Minnesota Wild fans were this excited for a prospect finishing up their collegiate career? The energy from Minnesota following Denver University’s loss to Western Michigan in the Frozen Four last night had nothing to do with a hatred toward the defending national champions. We’re just excited to add Zeev Buium to the roster, an inevitable outcome now that his college season is over. Buium and multiple sources have strongly hinted that he won't return to Denver for his junior season. Minnesota's announcement of Buium signing his entry-level contract should come any day now. Perhaps it will come Saturday while he hangs around St. Louis for the reveal of the Hobey Baker Award this evening. But the Buium discourse has already begun. Many fans hope the dynamic defenseman can jump straight into the Wild’s lineup, similar to Brock Faber’s ascension two years ago, and make an instant impact. Yet, there is still a faction of fans who have quickly put the brakes on that idea. Buium isn't nearly as polished defensively as Faber was two years ago, and he’s also going to be over a full year younger than Faber was at the time. The Wild are also deep on the blue line, with established veterans patrolling the third pairing. But make no mistake -- Buium will get at least one regular-season game before the season ends as a test run. If his elite offensive upside transitions immediately to the NHL and he holds up adequately in his own zone, let the debate begin for his spot in the starting lineup for the playoffs. However, if his defense is an issue, it will be difficult to supplant Jon Merrill or Zach Bogosian in the lineup. Right? Not so fast. Just because the Wild are hesitant to remove a veteran defenseman from the lineup, it shouldn’t stop them from getting creative and have Buium dressed for Game 1 of the first round. A lot of this is assumption. What if his offense doesn’t immediately translate? Still, the Wild need to start putting plans in place just in case Buium is as dynamic in the offensive zone as he looks to be. What if Buium plays in the regular season finale against the Anaheim Ducks and is lights out on the power play? If that happens, it will be extremely difficult to put him in the press box. Every power play chance in the playoffs can be the turning point of any game -- or series, for that matter. But the Wild don’t need to choose between Buium or Merrill and Bogosian. Instead, if Buium is as advertised, they should open Round 1 with a starting lineup of 11 forwards and seven defensemen. Sure, the Wild are much deeper up front with Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek back. But even with a hypothetical fourth line of Ryan Hartman between Yakov Trenin and Justin Brazeau, two skaters amongst those three would not have nearly the impact Buium could have as the seventh defenseman garnering power play minutes. Brazeau and Trenin are in their first years in Minnesota and intrigued Bill Guerin because of how their size could impact a long series in the postseason. But neither has been all that inspiring in a Minnesota sweater. The case could be made that Buium would have a far bigger impact in a limited role as a powerplay specialist. Another positive behind this strategy of only dressing 11 forwards means the Wild would have to double shift a few players a couple of times a period. It’s never a bad thing to create more ice time for Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy, two of the better players in franchise history. Trading out Brazeau or Trenin’s minutes for more Kaprizov/Boldy plus Buium on the powerplay is a massive net positive for the Wild. If anyone reading this is now thinking how unheralded such a strategy is, might I remind you that this exact move sunk the Wild in the playoffs just a few years ago against the St. Louis Blues? In the 2022 playoffs, the Wild raced out to a 2-1 series lead over their Central Division rivals. Then Craig Berube got creative with his lineup, deploying an 11F/7D format starting in Game 4. The Blues won the next three games, knocking the Wild out in six games. Berube’s creativity enabled him to out-coach Dean Evason and give his team the lift it needed for the first-round upset. What Berube did is similar to what I am proposing the Wild do to start the playoffs, should Buium’s offense translate immediately in his NHL debut. Knowing the Wild were susceptible to minor penalties, Berube turned to offensive-minded defenseman Scott Perunovich to be his seventh defenseman starting in Game 4. He elevated him to the top powerplay unit and was extremely selective in his 5-on-5 usage, only deploying him in favorable spots to continue tapping into his offensive potential when possible. The result? Perunovich powered the Blues man advantage to a series win. In the final three games, St. Louis' power play converted on 33% of their chances. In those three games, Perunovich didn’t play more than 12 minutes at any point but still recorded three assists, with two coming on the man advantage. Outside of his power play usage, Berube deployed Perunovich sparingly. He called Perunovich over the boards for offensive zone draws, knowing he could maximize his offensive talent while not risking his defensive warts negatively impacting the game. In those three games, Perunovich started 11 shifts in the offensive zone at 5-on-5 and just one in his own end. He recorded the primary assist on one of those shifts, and Minnesota never scored a goal with the Hibbing native on the ice. That's the exact strategy the Wild should deploy with Buium when the playoffs start. The question doesn’t need to be which defenseman Buium should replace. Instead, it should be whether John Hynes can be creative enough to get the best out of his dynamic blue liner.

Wednesday, April 9, was unexpectedly eventful for the Minnesota Wild. Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek returned. A player scored four goals for only the third time in franchise history, and Marc-Andre Fleury may have made his final home start. An instant classic 8-7 barn-burner had Wild fans’ heads spinning. Minnesota earned two huge points and sits alone in the top wild card spot because they have games in hand and a solid tiebreaker. Still, seven goals from the San Jose Sharks? It brings nagging doubts into fans’ heads. Is Fleury cooked? Why can’t the Wild defend? Does anything really matter? Of course not. Nothing matters, and everything is always the same. Minnesota will likely be bounced in the first round (two-to-one odds by sportsbooks, or about a 33% chance to win a playoff round) within two weeks of this writing. Even so, let’s try to find out just what happened. The data initially points a finger at Fleury. 2.8 expected goals (xG) is a pretty average workload, even for a Wild team averaging 2.88 xG against (xGA) per 60 minutes (11th-best in the NHL). But remember that when data points a finger, four fingers point back at itself. Looking through the tape of all seven goals, MoneyPuck’s xG model underscored many of these chances. The model accounts mainly for the shot type (wrist shot, deflection, backhand, etc.), shot location, and the time and location of the last event (usually a pass or turnover). It doesn’t know if the goaltender was screened or how long the puck carrier held and skated with the puck. The model also ignores who is shooting the puck, so dangerous snipers like Will Smith and Macklin Celebrini can outperform the model over time. On a night like this, it's possible that the xG model undersells the danger of the shots that Fleury faced. Sometimes, a goaltender can perform admirably on this amount of xG, letting in four or even five goals. But seven? That raises my eyebrows. Still, let’s check the tape and do what Minnesota sports fans do best: assign blame. Toffoli’s goal was indicative of San Jose’s offense all night. They had many plays from below the goal line that found half-covered snipers in the slot. At first glance, Rossi appears out of position, but he’s done his job well. He got a stick into the passing lane. However, Rossi’s reaction leaves a bit to be desired. He could have charged Toffoli’s forehand and contested the shot. Rossi is a step slow, which gives Toffoli time to pick his spot. According to Moneypuck’s model, Toffoli only had a 7.6% chance of scoring, which would be around the 30th percentile of shot danger for all shots -- in other words, it qualifies as a “low-danger chance.” Any hockey fan could tell you this is a particularly dangerous shot, so the model probably undersells the shot danger here. Still, Fleury might want this back. He has eyes on the puck, but his initial reaction to Toffoli’s shot is to drop his right pad to cover the five-hole. Toffoli quickly elevates the puck with a heel shot and beats Fleury below the glove. San Jose’s second goal also featured good perimeter puck movement. At first, I thought this was Johansson’s fault for leaving the strong-side point open. However, upon a second watch, he is “on the rail” (an imaginary line between the faceoff dots and hash marks), covering the most dangerous passing lane. In this case, that’s the weak-side defenseman. With so much puck movement, Johansson should prevent a change of side and instead give up the pass to the strong side point. There’s not much Fleury can do on this play. He squares up for a tip from Celebrini, which leaves him out of position when the tip ends up on Celebrini’s forehand instead of on net. Brock Faber is the culprit here. As the Wild broadcast highlighted, he chases Celebrini far from the net just before the shot attempt. It’s a habit of Faber’s that most NHL defensemen can’t get away with, but Faber does this all the time and is often rewarded with turnovers at the boards. This is a “better-be” play, as in you better be right. Celebrini turns back to the net with elite edge work and timing, wide open in the slot. Faber also decides to chase with Brodin at the net front, who could normally help in this situation. However, Nikolai Kovalenko’s smart play pulls Brodin from the slot. Grundstrom’s goal was not quite as pretty. The first issue with this play is Bogosian and Boldy’s rush defense. Defending Grundstrom two-on-one with help from Merrill and Foligno, neither steps up to make a play. On top of that, Bogosian fails to follow Grundstrom to the net. Boxing out Grundstrom to the side could have prevented him from tapping in this leaky puck. I don’t fault Bogosian for failing to clear this puck, as it’s stuck on his backhand; however, that highlights that he should be boxing out Grundstrom instead of standing behind Fleury. Speaking of Fleury, his sins on this goal are worse than Bogosian’s or Boldy’s. Cam Lund’s point shot had a 2.3% xG value. That doesn’t account for the chance of a rebound or tip, increasing the danger of the chance, which Fleury does by failing to catch the puck. It appears that Lund made a small angle change on his way in, which Fleury tracked reasonably well, sliding right to left. Still, Fleury should have frozen this puck. Lund’s hardest shot this season was 83 mph, about league average for a forward but well below the average for a defenseman (about 90 mph). Shots from the point should be frozen when they come that slowly. Enough of the greasy goals. Back to the good stuff. Well, kind of. I give Fleury a pass on this knuckler puck. The xG value of 5.3% implies that Fleury should save shots from this spot about 95% of the time. However, this is an opportunity to consider xG in another light. An average NHL goalie would save about 95% of shots from this area on a pass below the goal line. Still, the strange shot angle makes this one of the 5% goalies should be okay with letting in. Celebrini doesn’t make full contact with the puck, which actually works to his advantage. This one is like a chip shot in soccer. If hockey players could reliably pull this shot off, you could question Fleury’s technique. Since they can’t, Fleury does everything right by squaring up to the shooter and coming out of the net. The defensive breakdown is another example of the Sharks working the puck from the perimeter into the slot. Gaudreau steps up to Celebrini far outside the faceoff circle, and Celebrini works a blazing give-and-go play to beat Gaudreau to the net. Gaudreau may be anticipating help from Brodin, but he’s actually unavailable when the puck is behind Minnesota’s net. As diagrammed in Jack Han's Hockey Tactics 2025, The Wild like to use both defensemen to trap opposing puck carriers in this area of the ice, and Brodin anticipates that Smith will try to carry the puck around the net. Brodin ends up with the net between himself and Celebrini, unable to cover for Gaudreau. The next rep is another Marco Rossi near miss. Like the Toffoli goal, Rossi is the nearest to the goal scorer, so he’ll get all the ugly Twitter screenshots. However, the blame lies with Zuccarello and Kaprizov on this goal. Zuccarello starts this play with a turnover inside San Jose’s blue line. Rather than forcing a pass through two Sharks to a covered Kaprizov, he could have played the puck to Rossi on the half wall or Chisholm at the point. That would have established possession and prevented a counterattack. Rossi is the deepest man in San Jose’s zone, so he has few responsibilities in this situation. Kaprizov and Zuccarello track back appropriately, but Kaprizov makes a mistake in the defensive zone. At this moment, Kaprizov should be covering the passing lane from below the goal line across the net, as Johansson did on San Jose’s second goal. Instead, his focus is on returning to the right wing point. It’s not an unforgivable mistake, but it’s why this passing lane is open. Essentially, Kaprizov hands off that responsibility before Rossi can cover that passing lane. Why is Rossi unable to cover that passing lane? All because of the Zuccarello turnover, in which Rossi was available at the half-wall in San Jose’s zone. Zuccarello and Kaprizov are excellent offensively and reasonably good two-way players but plays like this are the trade-off. Fleury has no fault in this goal. It’s a wide-open chance in the slot changing sides, then skating away from the grain. The xG value of 14.5% undersells the danger because Fleury is screened, and the Wild aren’t pressuring the shooter. On top of that, the quality of the shot (perfectly placed on the far side top corner) makes it far more difficult to save than an average shot from this location. This was when Celebrini and Smith took this game from good to great. Maybe the future really is teal. Maybe this is a hot take, but I can’t find fault with a single player here. The forecheck forces a contested pass to the point, and the tip pass would be icing if not for Smith’s speed. Bogosian contests Smith behind the net with several stick checks, but Smith protects the puck with his body. Eriksson Ek has his man covered off the rush and tries to keep his right skate in the passing lane as he turns from rush defense to in-zone defense. He nearly swats the pass away with his stick. Fleury protects the wraparound but can’t do that, nor can he get across the net fast enough or contest the passing lane with his stick. When another team strings together that many passes under constant pressure, there’s nothing more to be done. If you want to assign blame, it’s just that Bogosian is no longer fast enough to defend in space when elite players get these types of chances. This one was about the Jimmies and Joes, not the X’s and O’s. Tip your cap to San Jose’s young players on this. The same can’t be said of the game-tying six-on-five goal. When Celebrini first receives the puck at the left point, Minnesota’s coverage is correct. Boldy drops from his weak-side responsibilities to cover the slot but remains there too long after Gaudreau has recovered. When the puck moves to Liljegren at the center point, Boldy should respond by stepping to Liljegren and Smith’s double-attack, but he leaves both players essentially uncovered. Because Boldy stays in the high slot for too long, it opens space in the faceoff circle for Smith to take a medium-danger shot. To win in the playoffs, the Wild will need better five-on-six defense from Boldy. Fleury is not blameless on this goal. He reacts to the shot late, and that’s enough on a shot inside the bar. Fleury seems distracted or screened by Eklund tripping in front of him, but there’s not much more Bogosian can do to box out Eklund. He even hooks him to slow his path into Fleury’s eyes. If anything, Bogosian is overzealous. He could have ended up with a tripping penalty if Smith didn’t score immediately after the trip. As good of a shot as Smith takes from a medium-danger area, Fleury could probably be expected to do more on this shot. Still, it’s not the worst goal to give up. So there you have it. Weigh this information however you take it. With seven goals against, there was plenty of blame to go around. From a ten thousand-foot view, the only repeatable aspect of this game seems to be Fleury’s performance. Not every goal was his fault, but this game solidifies him as a clear backup rather than the 1B to Gustavsson’s 1A. The Wild likely won’t put him in net for the playoffs unless a deep run necessitates a game of rest for Fleury’s Swedish colleague. The Sharks also victimized Bogosian’s skating on more than one occasion. But, with his minutes already sheltered, there’s nothing more that Minnesota can do to mitigate that problem. For the rest of the team, this is the bad you take with the good. Rossi had some bad puck luck. Kaprizov and Zuccarello take some calculated risks every game, and San Jose’s top line bit them on those risks last night. Faber’s on-ice results speak for themselves throughout the season. He shouldn’t change his game just because perhaps the best young player in the game victimized his aggressive defense. Ultimately, the Wild seem to have solutions in place for the issues they had against the Sharks. Don’t let this game temper playoff expectations, even if their first-round opponent is a two-to-one favorite.

The Minnesota Wild are getting in on the college free agent game this spring, which is nothing new for the organization. College free agency has been a well from which Wild have drawn useful contributors like Nico Sturm, Nate Prosser, and Justin Fontaine. Not all of these signings work out, of course -- just ask Casey Wellman -- but signing an intriguing player for free is always a decent bet. In the past few days, the Iowa Wild signed a pair of amateur tryout contracts (usually a prelude to an entry-level contract signing). The first was with Ben Meehan, a U-Mass Lowell defenseman. Meehan's numbers don't indicate much NHL offense -- he has scored three goals and 17 points in 36 games this season. But he's been a captain on the team for the last two years, and the Wild have a good track record of acquiring and developing defensemen that the Los Angeles Kings took in the 2020 Draft. Iowa's next ATO signee was Gunnarwolfe Fontaine. Is he good? Will he be a contributor in St. Paul? To answer those questions, I have just two words for you: Gunnarwolfe Fontaine. How can you be destined for anything but greatness when you're named Gunnarwolfe Fontaine? The second he steps onto the ice, he'll immediately catapult Name Hall-of-Famer Nino Niederreiter and become the Coolest Name in franchise history. Seriously, let that sink in: HIS NAME IS GUNNARWOLFE FONTAINE! "Cellar Door" was so last millenium. Gunnarwolfe Fontaine should soon replace it as the consensus two most beautiful words in the English language. Folks who say it are treated to an effortless rhythmic flow and pleasant mouth-feel. No nickname could ever be as cool as "Gunnarwolfe Fontaine," but even the hockey world -- which is obsessed with coming up with terrible, bland nicknames -- can't possibly mess this up. Call him "Gunnar" or call him "Wolfe," either is going to be great. The Wild should also petition the league to allow GUNNARWOLFE FONTAINE to have his first name on his jersey. "GUNNARWOLFE" would immediately jump into the NHL's best-sellers. My editor insists that I do some real analysis, and, fiiiiiine. What else does GUNNARWOLFE FONTAINE offer the Wild? It's fair to call GUNNARWOLFE FONTAINE a late bloomer. Born just one day after the NHL Draft cutoff for 2018 eligibility, he was one of the oldest eligible players in the 2019 draft... and he was still passed over. As a 5-foot-8 player (he's now listed at 5-foot-10) without exceptional numbers in the USHL, going undrafted is the sort of thing that'll happen to you. Lesser prospects might have been deterred, but not ones named GUNNARWOLFE FONTAINE. He returned to the Chicago Steel and finished fifth in the USHL (though fourth on his team) with 57 points in 45 games. Scouts who arrived to watch 2020 first-round pick Brendan Brisson soon had GUNNARWOLFE FONTAINE on their radar. "His path to a successful career is still likely to be trying to mold his game after Brad Marchand (small pest with skill), but this year he showed more and more that the skill was there," wrote McKeen's Hockey, who ranked him as the 102nd-best prospect in their 2020 Draft Guide. "His shot is among the best in the USHL and can still score from anywhere in the offensive zone." Not only was GUNNARWOLFE FONTAINE a crafty offensive player, but he also proved hard to play against, a defining characteristic of Bill Guerin's ideal identity for his team. "Defensively, he uses his speed well to backcheck and plays hard in all three zones," detailed FC Hockey in their 2020 Draft Guide. "[He] shows an affinity for getting in the face of the opposition. He blocks shots and uses an active stick. Despite a smaller frame, he usually wins puck battles along the boards, and he’s not afraid to throw his body around, making some good hits." The Nashville Predators were the team to take a flier on GUNNARWOLFE FONTAINE, selecting him 202nd overall in 2020. From there, he played five years in the NCAA (he played during the 2020 pandemic, giving him a fifth year of college eligibility). In four years at Northeastern University, he was solid, with 32 goals and 97 points in 131 games, but never finished higher than third on the team in scoring. His true breakout came last year after he transferred to Ohio State. GUNNARWOLFE FONTAINE co-led the Buckeyes in goals (17) and points (40) in 40 games, finishing tied for 26th in the nation in scoring. He's also earned a reputation for scoring the biggest goals in the biggest games. During the prestigious Beanpot Tournament, GUNNARWOLFE FONTAINE has five goals and eight points in six career games. This includes scoring both of Northeastern's goals -- including one with less than five minutes in regulation to force overtime -- en route to their 2023 shootout win over Harvard. The following year, GUNNARWOLFE FONTAINE notched back-to-back overtime winners to claim the Beanpot again in 2024. This trend continued during his time as a Buckeye, especially during the Big 10 Tournament. During the quarterfinal, he saved Ohio State from elimination by forcing overtime with 1:29 remaining. He followed up that performance with two goals in the semifinals against Penn State, where he scored the opening goal and the closing goal... again, in overtime. In the final against Michigan State, GUNNARWOLFE FONTAINE was nearly a hero again, scoring the game-tying goal with 2:21 left to take the game to overtime before Isaac Howard won the tournament for the Spartans. To step up in so many big moments regularly, you have to be doing a lot of things right all the time. That appears to be GUNNARWOLFE FONTAINE's game, and that game has gotten him to the NHL's doorstep. Will he get there? Small, late-blooming forwards don't have the best track record in making the NHL. The odds that we never hear from GUNNARWOLFE FONTAINE in a meaningful way are fairly high, joining the ranks of (Iowa) Wild Legends like Sam Anas or Sammy Walker. Jonathan Marchessault and Yanni Gourde are the 99th-percentile for his mold of player. They were passed over in the draft (and unlike GUNNARWOLFE FONTAINE, never drafted) and didn't have a full-time NHL role until they were 25, but those guys are very much the exceptions. Someone like Mason Shaw is the realistic best-case scenario for GUNNARWOLFE FONTAINE. Shaw also had a small frame but provided just enough offense to stick in the NHL and provided energy and physicality. If the Wild can get that out of GUNNARWOLFE FONTAINE, that will be a home-run signing. But even if he doesn't stick in the NHL regularly, Guerin 1000% needs to call up GUNNARWOLFE FONTAINE any time the Wild travel to TD Garden to play the Boston Bruins. Can't let that Beanpot Magic go to waste.

When the Minnesota Wild traded for David Jiricek on November 30, they did so partly because the price was right. They got a blue-chip defense prospect for Daemon Hunt and four draft picks. You can argue the draft capital (a first, second, third, and fourth-round pick, staggered between 2025 and 2027) is a lot, and maybe it is. But Jiriceks don't come onto the market often, and the Wild believed in him, so it was a no-brainer. Since then, however, the Wild have been hampered not necessarily by the cost of getting Jiricek but arguably by the opportunity cost of making that move. Minnesota was always going to have a tough time at the trade deadline with their salary cap restrictions, but the Jiricek deal cranked up the difficulty. Without their 2025 first-round pick, it was going to be difficult to pry someone like Brock Boeser from the Vancouver Canucks. Instead, the Wild settled for trading their 2026 second-rounder for Gustav Nyquist. It's safe to say the route the front office chose is going bust, at least for the 2024-25 Wild. Nyquist hasn't brought offense to the Wild, scoring just three points (all assists) in 15 games. Meanwhile, Minnesota hasn't seen much use for Jiricek in the NHL, playing just six games in the NHL and zero since January 20. As of Tuesday, there's a 12% chance that the Wild will have been aggressive buyers this season while missing the playoffs. Second-guessing the Wild is easy when they're (at best) backing into the playoffs. But Minnesota's mediocrity lately is why the Jiricek trade was such a brilliant maneuver in the first place. Unlike the Nyquist trade, acquiring Jiricek wasn't a move that would either help Minnesota in 2024-25 or not at all. The use of assets was aggressive, making other moves at the trade deadline difficult. But what kind of deals are we talking about? The opportunity cost for the Wild was almost certainly forgoing short-term player rentals. Instead, the Wild pulled off a forward-thinking swap that should set them up for years. That's not just a defensible trade; it's exactly what fans should have wanted Minnesota to do. Unless you expect to see the Wild advance to the second round (Moneypuck puts their odds at 18.6%) or further, most fans would probably prefer the team to sell at the deadline or at least not buy. Trading a first-round pick is by definition a "buyer" action, but obtaining a top prospect is the desired outcome of a "seller." Looking at it through that lens, suddenly, it doesn't matter whether Jiricek was able to make an impact this season. Especially since the Wild were always upfront about this not being a move for this season. "I think it's gonna take us a little while to get him up to speed here," Guerin said after making the trade. "There's a lot for him to learn." Scouting director Judd Brackett echoed that sentiment, telling The Athletic, "[He] still has some things to work on, obviously, as he transitions to playing pro hockey in North America. "But it's really hard to get these types of players." That last point is especially true with what Minnesota gave up to get Jiricek in the first place. Columbus is slated to take the Wild's pick at 21st overall. A team can get a useful player at that spot, sure -- Columbus did with Yegor Chinakhov in 2020. At the same time, the home run rate isn't great, and this draft is "below average," per Corey Pronman. And the talent thins out fast. Players can always drop, but here are the NHL comparables for numbers 19 to 23 on Pronman's March rankings -- within two spots of 21st overall: Ryan Hartman, J.T. Compher, Ross Colton, Chris Tanev, and Zach Whitecloud. If those prospects hit those projections, Columbus should get a solid player. But that day may be two-to-three years away, and it may also never arrive. And if 21st overall is far from a sure bet, what about those second, third, and fourth-round picks? You can find value in those rounds. They will yield role players more often than they'll produce a Jason Robertson, Brayden Point, or Devon Toews. As for Hunt, he has yet to play in the NHL for the Blue Jackets and has just two goals and 13 points in 44 games for the AHL's Cleveland Monsters. Minnesota may have traded him at the peak of his value. Meanwhile, if Jiricek hits his reasonable upside, the Wild have an impact top-four defenseman on their hands. They may have that as soon as next season. Even with his skating flaws, Jiricek still put up Monstar numbers for the Monsters. Minnesota seems confident working with their skating and strength coaches this summer will unlock the 6-foot-4 blueliner's potential. Will it? That's ultimately what will vindicate or doom the trade. But that's still a solid, smart bet, even if we await the returns. Focusing on the playoff run, it'd have been better for Minnesota to do some LTIR shenanigans and acquire a big name like Boeser for 25 games. However, the far wiser move is to focus on building the Wild for their actual competitive window, and that's why the Jiricek trade is still 100% the right call.

The Minnesota Wild are coming up on another offseason, and you know what that means: It's time for Marco Rossi trade rumor corner. The Wild's young center has been in the rumor mill for each of the past two offseasons, and it appears his 22 goals and 54 points in 70 games (so far) may not save him for a third round of rumors. After a trade deadline reprieve, the speculation machine started firing up again on Thursday's "Worst Seats in the House" Podcast with Michael Russo. Quoting Russo: Somebody asked [The Athletic colleague] Joe Smith on his podcast that he believes it's 70% [likely] that Marco Rossi is traded this summer. A person asked if I agreed with that, and I would actually say it's higher. I genuinely think that, reading the tea leaves, I think that they're gonna move him this summer... They are so far apart on what Rossi's camp his value is versus the Wild, it's not even funny. They're in different universes right now. Here we go again. There's the possibility that Rossi is on the Matt Dumba track, always available for a perfect return that will never arrive, presenting no one reason to worry Rossi could be on the move. However, Rossi is a restricted free agent this offseason, which means he's in line for a big raise that the Wild simply don't want to pay, perhaps even via offer sheet. It's a situation that at least has the potential to force the Wild's hand. Whether any trade is a good idea depends on the return, and we don't know what that might constitute. However, if Minnesota is looking for a center-for-center trade, it will be tough to upgrade from Rossi. As of Sunday, his Standings Points Above Replacement has been 4.1, which leads the Wild and puts him in the top-15 league-wide among regular centers. Let's just say that Jack Eichel, Leon Draisaitl, or Wyatt Johnston ain't walking through that door. That means the Wild can either try buying low on a formerly elite center like Elias Pettersson or make a lateral move, at best, in a center swap. The former may be a long shot, and the latter doesn't make much sense. That's fairly concerning because if a center-for-center swap isn't possible, then trading Rossi will put them, by definition, down a center. If that happens, the Wild will have become alarmingly cavalier about giving away talent down the middle. This happened, to a lesser extent, at the trade deadline when Minnesota shipped out Marat Khusnutdinov in a trade for winger Justin Brazeau. Khusnutdinov had few NHL accomplishments. Still, flipping a 22-year-old, speedy center for a slow, 28-year-old fourth-line winger was an odd choice, to say the least. Especially given how Rossi's recent injury scare showed how close the Wild's center depth is to running on fumes. Maybe Khusnutdinov wouldn't have helped with that, but he at least offers more upside than the Wild's current options. You don't have to look far to see how other teams value -- and honestly, hoard -- centers. The Colorado Avalanche traded premium draft capital to land Brock Nelson and Charlie Coyle at the trade deadline. The Dallas Stars go six-deep with Johnston, Matt Duchene, Roope Hintz, Jamie Benn, Maverik Bourque, and Sam Steel. Heck, they're throwing Mikael Granlund at the pivot before resorting to a Brendan Gaunce-type. Honestly, even with a healthy Rossi and Eriksson Ek, the Wild's center room will have difficulty keeping up with the sheer depth of the Western Conference's top teams. So what happens if they remove Rossi from the equation? Outside of a center-for-center deal, John Tavares is the only high-end free-agent center. Tavares is having a productive season (29 goals, 60 points in 62 games), but he'll also turn 35 before next season starts. It's also worth wondering whether a player who's played in New York and Toronto will see Minnesota as a desirable landing spot when the franchise has historically struggled to attract free agents without local ties. If the Wild strike out on an established center, then the franchise's eggs all go into the Danila Yurov basket. Yurov is a top prospect, but the Wild just saw a 21-year-old prospect in Khusnutdinov struggle to transition to the NHL after putting up solid numbers in the KHL. Yurov has advantages Khusnutdinov doesn't: he's bigger and has a better shot than Khusnutdinov. Regardless, pinning their hopes on a young player immediately adjusting to a bigger, faster league halfway across the world seems dubious. There's also a difference between shifting from wing to center in the KHL and doing so in the NHL. There's reason to think that Yurov can make the transition -- he has the size, skating, and skill to stick at the position. Still, even lifelong centers are sometimes better suited for the wing. Without Rossi, Minnesota could easily be left without a Plan B if Yurov can't stick down the middle. And even if Yurov is an NHL-caliber center and does make a seamless transition to the position... since when is it bad to go three-deep at center? It's almost becoming a requirement to win now. The Cup Champion Florida Panthers are another team with more centers than spots for centers. The runner-up Edmonton Oilers have two of the best five centers of the league, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is behind them on the depth chart. Dallas made the Conference Finals last season, and we've already talked about their situation. Up to this point, Russo and Smith's belief that the Wild will trade Rossi has come up bust, but it's never wise to dismiss someone as plugged-in as Russo. It feels like there's got to be fire to accompany this much smoke. Still, unless the Wild can pull off something huge, Wild fans should hope this round of Rossi rumors don't pan out. Centers are gold in the NHL, and the Wild have two high-end, Under-30 centers on their roster, with the chance to get a third in Yurov. Trading Rossi (likely) wouldn't just be a misunderstanding of the NHL's economy; it'd be a failure to properly read the Wild's map to a Stanley Cup.

It was always going to be easy to dunk on the Minnesota Wild at the trade deadline. Short of putting big-money players like Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek on LTIR, they simply didn't have the flexibility to grab a big fish like Mikko Rantanen or Brock Nelson or Brock Boeser. They couldn't get a medium fish, either. We must consider that difficulty when judging what the Wild did at the trade deadline. Maybe you're not thrilled about the Wild flipping a second-rounder for Gustav Nyquist, but what else could they have done? In a playoff chase, standing pat isn't much of an option, especially with Minnesota's offense sputtering. But the Wild did manage to find a way to make a move, swapping out Jakub Lauko on their active roster for Justin Brazeau of the Boston Bruins. Did they get better for the move? Probably. All due respect, Lauko's a "Nice guy, tries hard, loves the game" kind of guy. He's willing to get physical, has speed, and is a bit of a sparkplug. Still, you've got to have some offensive utility in the NHL, and Lauko didn't show much of that in Minnesota because his hands were a weakness. Meanwhile, Brazeau offers Minnesota three things they need at the moment: His 6-foot-5 frame, right-handed shot, and sneaky-good goal-scoring ability over his short NHL career. Since making the NHL last season, just days after his 26th birthday, Brazeau has potted 15 goals in 76 games. That's not a ton, but considering his ice time, it's fairly efficient. Since the start of the 2023-24 season, Brazeau's 0.95 goals per hour (in all situations) tie him for 144th among 411 forwards with 750-plus minutes during that span. That rate puts him right there with Jesper Bratt (0.96 Goals/60), Mark Stone (0.95), and Evgeni Malkin (0.94). Not bad. And, perhaps notably, more than anyone currently on the Wild aside from Kaprizov (1.69), Matt Boldy (1.13), Marco Rossi (1.00), and Eriksson Ek (0.97). Maybe Brazeau doesn't do much else, but scoring goals is the hardest thing to do in the NHL. However, if Brazeau indeed has the touch he showed in Boston, he has a chance to help Minnesota a bit. It's kinda weird that a team fighting for their playoff lives was regularly scratching him, but hey, it's worth a shot. If the move was for Lauko and the sixth-round pick they threw to the Bruins, this is a fine move, even if it doesn't move the needle all that much. But the Wild also threw in Marat Khusnutdinov, a soon-to-be-23-year-old center with upside. Giving up on an interesting young player before he hit 100 games makes the move much harder to swallow. Two things can be true at once: Khusnutdinov hasn't been an NHL-caliber player since making his debut in March of last season, and this was too soon to trade him. It's not just that Khusnutdinov scored just three goals and 11 points in 73 games. It was that he rarely took his tools -- his high-end speed, his ability to be a pest at 5-foot-10, the hands he showed in the KHL -- and put them together. He was merely solid defensively and a black hole on offense. Brazeau is likelier to help the Wild make the playoffs in 2024-25 than Khusnutdinov was, especially with the latter in the AHL because of the salary cap. As a short-term move, that's an upgrade. But why are the Wild playing the short game? No one in Minnesota thinks it's the Wild's year. Ownership acknowledges this is Year 2 of the front office's five-year plan. When Kaprizov came out looking like an MVP, and Minnesota stacked up wins, that was fun, of course. Still, no one at the Xcel Energy Center really thought this team was a Cup contender. Certainly not with $15 million in dead cap space. And, seemingly, that included the front office. A team going for it wouldn't have traded their first-round pick for David Jiricek, whose value was future-focused. They would have kept their powder dry to pursue a Nelson, a Boeser, or someone who could provide immediate help. What made the Jiricek move so great was that it was playing for 2025-26, when the Wild would have some money to throw around and build up some depth. It was a team looking at their window and making moves to take advantage of it while being honest about their chances this season. That was a step in the right direction. Khusnutdinov for Brazeau feels like a step in the wrong direction. Presumably, Minnesota sees their window as Years 3-through-5 of their plan. Who's more likely to make an impact then? A fast 22-year-old center who had a strong career in the KHL before arriving in Minnesota? Or a big 27-year-old winger with a nice shooting percentage in less than 1,000 NHL minutes? There's a decent chance that in three years, Brazeau will be a solid fourth-line NHLer, and Khusnutdinov will be back in the KHL. It's also plausible that neither player will be in the NHL in three seasons. But trading in the NHL is partly based on playing the odds, and the chances that Khusnutdinov will be a solid middle-six NHL forward in three years are much higher than Brazeau. Again, the Wild lacked flexibility in dollars to spend and assets to trade, which must be respected. But to what end did Minnesota part with a fast, young center? To get slightly better, sure. But in a Central Division where the Dallas Stars just got Rantanen and the Colorado Avalanche landed Nelson and Charlie Coyle? It seems like the Wild traded Khusnutdinov for a knife to bring to a howitzer fight, and that simply doesn't feel like enough reason to do that.

Very suddenly, it seems like the Minnesota Wild could have a little bit of wiggle room at the trade deadline. If Joel Eriksson Ek's injury keeps him out until the end of the regular season, the Wild could take advantage of LTIR and free up $5.25 million of cap space. That would change things from the status quo, where Minnesota is virtually unable to make a trade, to a scenario where the Wild could be actual players. As a result, The Athletic is daring to speculate about the Wild landing a center. You already know one of the names: native Minnesotan Brock Nelson. The second name is, at least on paper, much more intriguing. Dylan Cozens of the Buffalo Sabres. It's easy to see why the Wild would be interested in The Workhorse From Whitehorse. He's 24-years-old, and right-shot centermen who've scored 30 goals are in short supply. Since the 2014-15 season, there are only 17 players who've scored 30 goals and won 500 faceoffs in a season. Only 13 of them are active. It also doesn't hurt that Cozens has the kind of frame (6-foot-3, 207 pounds) the Wild seem to covet down the middle. It's easy to see Cozens as a cornerstone for a franchise's future. However, a deeper look reveals that Cozens is a substantial risk for any potential suitor -- and that's being generous. The big thing to consider with any breakout season is whether it's sustainable. Is the new success born from genuine growth from a player, or is there some smoke-and-mirrors happening? At first glance, Cozens' 2022-23 season seems like a breakthrough. He shot 14.7%, which is a touch high. However, he scored 31 goals on nearly 27 expected goals, which doesn't seem outrageous by any means. Worst-case scenario, Cozens seemed ready to settle into the 25- to 30-goal range, which is terrific for a center. Since then, Cozens has just 29 goals in 136 games -- an 18-goal 82-game pace. The thing is, you'd expect to see a significant drop in expected goals, but that's not entirely accurate. Last year's 18 goals came from 23.6 expected goals. This season, he's on pace for 16 goals on 21.9 expected. The chances are down, sure, but not back-to-back-sub-20-goal seasons down. Looking at his young career, it seems like Cozens might not be a particularly talented shooter. That 14.7% from his 31-goal season is a definite outlier. Take out that season, and his career shooting percentage drops from 10.1% -- about league-average -- to 8.4%, which is pretty abysmal. For context, fourth-line grinder Brandon Duhaime has a career 8.2 shooting percentage. It's important to note that talented players sometimes take a while to flip a switch and get higher-percentage shots. In Nathan MacKinnon's first four seasons, he only shot 8.1%, and he's shot 11.1% with one of the highest shot volumes in the NHL ever since. Twenty-four isn't too old for the light to come on, either. Joel Eriksson Ek shot an absurdly low 6.8% through his age-23 season, which is lower than, for example, Jared Spurgeon's career mark. But once he figured to get to the net, his game flourished, and his shooting percentage has been at 10.1 ever since. Maybe Cozens just needs to have something click. But even if that's the case, there are still two major red flags for the young center. The most obvious hole is his defense, which is close to the bottom of the barrel. According to Evolving-Hockey's Goals Above Replacement metric, 432 forwards have played 1000-plus minutes in the past three seasons, and Cozens' defensive impact per minute ranks 402nd. Cozens is a dead-ringer defensively for Cole Caufield, except that Caufield has at least scored 33.7 goals per 82 games over his career. Cozens has scored 19 goals for every 82 games since joining the NHL. And look, you don't have to care about defense 100%. If you're talking about someone like Caufield or Kyle Connor, you'll take the good with the bad. Their offensive prowess -- particularly on the power play -- helps coaches and fans live much happier with any defensive lapses on their own end. If Cozens isn't a stout two-way guy, he can still be a big, right-shot, goal-scoring threat down the middle. Eriksson Ek can handle the defense and let Cozens do his thing. The problem here is that Cozens isn't some major power play threat. In fact, he's one of the least productive forwards in the NHL on the power play. Over Cozens' four full NHL seasons, he's logged 670 minutes on the power play. He's one of 145 forwards who have 500-plus minutes during that time. Cozens ranks 133rd in goals per hour (0.99) and 122nd in points per hour (3.58). That's atrocious. There isn't a meaningful distinction between Cozens' numbers and Marcus Johansson's power play stats over that same time (0.92 G/60; 3.70 P/60). Again, Cozens is young enough that you can guess he'll have some room to grow after a change of scenery -- but how much are we talking about? Cozens is making $7.1 million per season, which will look increasingly better as the cap increases. Still, the player has to perform, especially because taking on someone like Cozens will surely cost a top prospect. I could potentially be the de facto "Christmas Morning" addition, with a trade taking the place of free agency. If the Wild get Cozens, they might not be able to do anything else, at least not without trading a more productive player like Matt Boldy or Marco Rossi. Maybe the Wild would be inclined to roll the dice on Cozens. There are absolutely upsides to such a move. Getting a player at this stage in their career is better than getting an older player with similar defensive warts (looking at Brock Boeser, perhaps). Cozens' ability to play the pivot is attractive, but those red flags are bright. If a change of scenery isn't the missing piece to unlock a new level of skill from Cozens, the Wild might be stuck with another half-decade-long albatross in his contract.

When the season began, the Minnesota Wild dreamt of the situation they’re in right now. Coming off missing the playoffs for the third time in the past 12 seasons, the Wild are eight points ahead of the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference and look like a virtual lock to return to the playoffs this spring. A team like this usually catches Bill Guerin's attention, whose history of deadline deals suggests that he will attempt to add to this roster to make a Stanley Cup run. But while the Wild have played well, they are not a team worth investing in at this year’s trade deadline. That may seem preposterous to the Wild's loyal fans. Minnesota has 14 of their final 24 games at home, including a seven-game homestand next month. They’re enjoying breakout seasons from Jake Middleton and Marco Rossi. Matt Boldy and Brock Faber are coming off strong performances at the 4 Nations Tournament, and Joel Eriksson Ek and Kirill Kaprizov will eventually return from injury. But a deeper look at the Wild shows this team may have too many flaws to fix with a deadline deal. The most glaring problem is that Eriksson Ek and Kaprizov are injured. Kaprizov was having a Hart Trophy season before he suffered a groin injury after the Christmas break. After recording 50 points in his first 34 games, Kaprizov has played in three games since. Guerin admitted he has no idea when the Russian star will return from this injury. By the time he does, he may not have enough time to get into game shape for a playoff series. Take the 2022-23 season as an example. Kaprizov was injured in a March 6 win over the Winnipeg Jets and missed over a month with a groin injury. He returned for the final two games of the regular season but wasn’t the same explosive player, recording only one goal in Game 1 of a six-game playoff series loss to the Dallas Stars. There's a similar cloud of secrecy surrounding Eriksson Ek’s injury. Few players on this roster have Eriksson Ek’s toughness, but it may have been to his detriment when he went to play for Sweden in the 4 Nations Tournament. You can’t blame him for wanting to play for his country. However, it may have been costly if he initially suffered his lower-body injury during the tournament. The combination of these two injuries has Wild fans firing up the trade machine. But even if the Wild pull off a blockbuster for Brock Nelson, Brock Boeser, or any other Minnesotan available via trade, no one can replace Eriksson Ek or Kaprizov. More realistically, they may not be able to help a flawed team. For starters, the Wild’s penalty kill isn’t just bad. It’s historically bad. The Wild’s 71.4% penalty kill rate this season is the 10th lowest in NHL history since the league started keeping track during the 1977-78 season. The New York Islanders (70.2%) and the Detroit Red Wings (69.6%) have lower percentages this season. However, neither team will likely make the playoffs, making the Wild’s problem more glaring. Elite goaltending is a way to fix that, but the Wild haven’t gotten that either. Filip Gustavsson started the year hot with a 13-4-3 record and a .931 save percentage but is 9-8 with a .895 save percentage over his last 18 starts. The struggles have worsened recently: Gustavsson has a 4-6 record with a .886 save percentage. If the Wild were the offensive team they could be with Kaprizov and Eriksson Ek in the lineup, this wouldn’t be an issue. However, as Tuesday’s loss to the Detroit Red Wings showed, this team has no margin for error. Gustavsson only faced 16 shots but allowed three goals in a 3-2 loss. If Gustavsson can’t find a suitable level of play, it creates another challenge unless they want to try and get one last playoff run out of Marc-Andre Fleury. Even then, there’s still the temptation to go all in blindly. The Wild were legitimate Stanley Cup contenders when Kaprizov went down. If they can get him back, they can make a run. But can Nelson, who is part of another historically bad penalty kill, make a difference until he gets back? And would it be worth acquiring Dylan Cozens from the Buffalo Sabers to replace Eriksson Ek and to hedge against Rossi not re-signing next season? There’s also a history of playoff failures with this core. They blew a 2-1 lead in the 2023 series against the Stars and a 2022 series against the St. Louis Blues. As much as we want Boldy to pop up in a series like this, he hasn’t done it yet, with just four points (1 G, 3 A) in 12 career playoff games. Then there were Marcus Foligno's back-to-back meltdown with a late Game 4 penalty and a Game 5 ejection during the playoff series with the Stars. Then there's the whole playing-at-home thing, where the Wild have mysteriously posted a 13-13-1 record in St. Paul this season. Minnesota will get the chance to turn it around. Still, is it worth making a seismic move, especially when the Wild already traded their first-round pick for David Jiricek? Even then, the first names teams will ask for in a trade are Zeev Buium and Danila Yurov, who the Wild aren’t trading. Still, the chances are high that Guerin will do something to improve this team because they’ve earned that right. But you will be disappointed if you’re hoping for a massive move that magically fixes the Wild.

Every year, Scott Wheeler does tremendous work covering over 500 NHL prospects for The Athletic and ranking the strength of their prospect pool. The Minnesota Wild added emerging top prospect Zeev Buium in last year’s draft and traded for big right-handed defenseman David Jiricek. Therefore, the Wild are a winning team and also have Wheeler’s second-best prospect pool. Wheeler ranks the top 15 prospects and gives an in-depth analysis of each, including projections and possibilities for each player. With the strength of the Wild’s pool, some notable players just missed the cut. Caeden Bankier, C, 22, Iowa Wild Bankier spent the last two years developing in Iowa. He’s a natural center that plays a strong two-way game. Last year, The Athletic’s Corey Pronman had Bankier ranked as his sixth-best player in the Wild’s prospect pool. While I’m not as bullish on Bankier as Wheeler, I feel as though Bankier deserved to be among the top 15 of the Wild’s prospect pool. He has 21 points in 45 games with Iowa, only two fewer points than he had in 51 games last season. I would have liked to see a little more of an offensive improvement in his second year, but he won’t be a star offensive contributor to make Minnesota’s roster. At 6-foot-2, 192 lbs., Bankier has the size to be an NHL player and projects to have a bottom-six role. He doesn’t have the skill to be a top-six player, but he’s responsible and smart on both ends of the ice. While Bankier’s stock has fallen slightly, I’d still expect him to get games in the NHL as early as next season. Rasmus Kumpulainen, C, 19, Lahti Pelicans Kumpulainen is a curious case. He started strongly in his first season of professional hockey in the Liiga, with two goals in his first career game. That’s rare for teenagers in the best Finnish League. He's playing against grown men, but Kumpulainen looked to be building off of the success he had in his one season with Oshawa in the OHL. However, Kumpulainen only has 11 points in 37 Liiga games. That’s understandable, given his age, but not what you’d like to see from a player who started the year so well. Kumpulainen is a skilled 6-foot-2, 200 lbs. player, which is why the Wild took him 53rd overall in 2023. We won’t know what kind of player Kumpulainen will be for a while. He could figure it out, blow up, and be on pace to play NHL games again in the next few years. But at this point, we need to see how he finishes the season. Perhaps the Wild will try to get Kumpulainen in Iowa to get a closer look at him next year. Jimmy Clark, W, 20, University of Minnesota A former seventh-round pick for the Wild, Clark has progressed admirably while playing close to home. Like Kumpulainen, Clark is another prospect who started the season off hot and has cooled off lately. Clark has 14 points in 29 games for the Gophers. That’s three points more than he had last season in 10 fewer games. Clark is creative in the offensive zone and can make things happen for his teammates. At 6-foot-1, 180 lbs., the winger from Edina has decent size and should fill out that frame a little more as he grows in the NCAA. Clark will only get more opportunities to show what he can do as he plays more college puck. He probably will spend all four years in college and transition to Iowa after he's done playing if the Wild retain his rights. Still, the kid’s got some tools that could be a solid addition to the Wild’s third line one day if they develop right. Samuel Hlavaj, G, 23, Iowa Wild Hlavaj’s numbers don’t look great in Iowa, but neither does Jesper Wallstedt’s, and he’s one of Minnesota’s top prospects. Hlavaj only has a .890 SV% and a 3.18 GAA. However’ Iowa’s porous defense makes it hard for any goaltender to succeed. Still, Hlavaj has put together some solid games, including one shutout and 35+ save performances that led to Iowa wins. Hlavaj has been getting a ton of time in Iowa after showing out with Slovakia on the world stage. It was a short stint of games, but he had a 1.67 GAA and a .929 SV%. Hopefully, with more games and a developing Iowa blueline, his numbers can grow with the teams. He might eventually steal some games as a backup NHL goalie. Will any of these guys play prominent roles for the Wild one day? Probably not. Still, with the strength of the Wild’s prospect pool forcing these guys down the rankings, I thought these prospects still had interesting upside and were worth noting. All stats and data via Cap Wages and Elite Prospects unless otherwise noted.

I can clearly remember the last time it felt like Christmas Morning to be a Wild fan. The exact date was July 4, 2012, the date the Minnesota Wild signed the now-onerous and crippling Zach Parise and Ryan Suter contracts. Make no mistake, no one thought those deals would look good in the mid-2020s. But that was a problem for mid-2020s Wild fans. Ha ha. But for the moment, it genuinely felt like Christmas Morning. It had everything -- Wild fans making a wish list for those players, the anticipation, and even a dramatic flourish with owner Craig Leipold bringing them to Minnesota via plane as beat writers hid in the bushes to take a peek. It was undeniably Christmas in July. (And no, I don't want to hear about how Kirill Kaprizov's arrival in Minnesota was like Christmas Morning. The day Kaprizov arrived was like when your deadbeat dad shows up for the first time in four years and gives you a gift that's "for the birthdays he missed," but it's good enough for you to say, "Actually, Ron kinda came through here.") But now that the hangover of Christmas Morning 1.0 will wear off in July 2025, we're being promised Christmas Morning 2.0. No, really. "Next July 1 is going to be like Christmas," declared Mr. Leipold back in October. And I'm afraid of Christmas morning. Don't get me wrong, I'm writing to Santa about a long-term extension for Kirill Kaprizov to arrive on exactly that date. Whether it's for $13, $14, or, heck, $20 million per year, I don't care as long as it's eight years. If that gets done, I'll get something I'm thrilled about under the tree. But after four straight lean years where the Wild have had to do their shopping at Five Below, there's no doubt Minnesota wants to make a big splurge. That's also the fear -- of leaving a Parise/Suter situation and diving right into another one. That's not an indictment on Mr. Leipold's ownership. For one, it's his team and his money, and Wild fans should be happy to have an owner willing to break the bank to try and field a winning product. You can hop the Green Line over to Target Field Station and see what happens when the owner isn't as willing to invest in the team. Nor is it an admonishment of the Parise/Suter contracts. Those two were top-50 players, and the Wild were an afterthought in the NHL before those moves. They became relevant overnight and remained so ever since. The ending would always be bad, but if I had a chance to go back in time and get the Wild's ear before signing those deals... I'd advise them to do it again. But this is a different free agent class, a different Wild team, and a different juncture in franchise history. Let's start with the players available. There are only three players who've been in the NHL's Top-50 in Evolving-Hockey's Standings Points Above Replacement since the start of the 2021-22 season that are hitting free agency: Mitch Marner (seventh), Mikko Rantanen (eighth), and Brad Marchand (28th). If Marner or Rantanen want to sign with your team, you do that in a heartbeat and ask questions later. Marchand would move the needle. Still, at 37, he'd be a short-term, late-career signing. Everyone else is especially subject to The Winner's Curse, where signing them virtually guarantees a bad ending. To get a player in free agency, you're almost always overpaying in both money and term. Look at the Nashville Predators, who had their Christmas morning in July. They threw cash around and inked two-time Rocket Richard Trophy winner Steven Stamkos, Conn Smythe Trophy winner Jonathan Marchessault, and threw in a top-four defenseman in Brady Skjei for good measure. Look what they got for it: Seventh place in the Central Division, with Stamkos and Marchessault on pace for 22-and-24-goal seasons, respectively. No one is saying the Wild can't use a top-six center in Matt Duchene, Brock Nelson, or John Tavares, even into their mid-to-late 30s. Nor would a right-shot scoring winger like Brock Boeser or a speedster like Nikolaj Ehlers be out of place in Minnesota. But again, this is a different Wild team at a different juncture of their franchise. They have Kaprizov and Matt Boldy, two star players who will keep them relevant. Minnesota also isn't so desperate for centers that it needs to sign a Faustian contract to get one -- while the depth isn't great, Marco Rossi and Joel Eriksson Ek make a good 1-2 punch. They also have a great prospect pool that won't need to carry the team the way Minnesota depended on Mikael Granlund and company to do in 2012. Goalie Jesper Wallstedt and defenseman Zeev Buium probably need to become tentpole pieces. Still, if players like Danila Yurov, Liam Öhgren, David Jiricek, and Riley Heidt become solid players instead of stars, that doesn't throw the whole plan into flux. The Wild did a great job assembling this foundation, and it'd be a shame if an ill-advised free agent signing blew that up. How would it feel if, four years from now, the Wild were forced to choose between keeping Buium and Jiricek, or Rossi and Yurov because they had one or two poorly-aging Stamkos-esque contracts? Now, free agency isn't the only way to bring aboard an impact player. If the Wild target a young player on the outs with their team or one who wants out, that's a different story. The Florida Panthers did that with Matthew Tkachuk, for example. The whispers are out about Elias Pettersson, and buying low on a three-time 30-goal scorer at center before turning 27 would be exactly the kind of Christmas morning move I would welcome. It's hard to imagine that the Wild won't make a big splash this offseason. The front office and ownership are motivated to make a move. Minnesota is in a contention window with Kaprizov, and the fanbase is starved for something good after four years of league-imposed frugality. But Christmas morning needs to come with the right presents, or the memory of Christmas 2.0 will turn into sour egg nog.