By Tony Abbott -
For most of the Minnesota Wild's existence, they've been what broadcaster Jeff Marek would often call "a donut."
Why? "No center."
It's not the sweetest way to put it, perhaps, but it's an accurate assessment of why the Wild tend to get burned to a krisp or kreme'd in the playoffs. Once the first round hits, they've had to match either Mikko Koivu or Joel Eriksson Ek down the middle against the likes of Jonathan Toews, Nathan MacKinnon, Mark Scheifele, Roope Hintz, and Ryan O'Reilly.
Nevertheless, the Wild hoped to enter the season with their deepest stable of centers in team history. Marco Rossi had a strong 2024-25 campaign, Eriksson Ek was as reliable as it got, Ryan Hartman shone bright in the playoffs last year, and Danila Yurov's arrival injected some much-needed youth and upside for the lineup.
There was a lot of optimism, but the first quarter of the season had the Wild looking... like a donut.
Of the Wild's four centers, only Rossi started strong out of the gate, scoring 12 points in his first 12 games. Eriksson Ek scored just his third goal on Sunday and has 13 points through his first 21 contests. Hartman notched two goals on Opening Night... and has just two goals and five points through 19 games. Yurov has had to fight to stay in the lineup, having as many healthy scratches as points, with five apiece.
But it could always get worse, as we learned this week.
Rossi, who had been battling a lower-body injury since Game 2, finally went on injured reserve and is week-to-week. The same terrible fate of being week-to-week has also befallen Hartman. Eriksson Ek remains a rock in the top-six, but Yurov had to go from the fourth line to taking center stage between Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello on Wednesday night. Yakov Trenin, who took just 48 faceoffs all of last season for Minnesota, drew third-line center duties.
Throw in Ben Jones, and you're talking about a quartet of centers who combined for six goals and 20 points in a combined 63 games entering Wednesday's tilt with the Carolina Hurricanes.
But somehow, someway, the Wild were able to make that work in a 4-3 shootout win against the Canes. It was very rarely pretty. After building a 2-0 lead, the Hurricanes did what they do best: build up insane shot quantity. They peppered Jesper Wallstedt with 45 shots on the night, which was just enough to chip away at a 3-1 lead in the final minutes. But when you're down two centers, banking two points is good, no matter how it happens.
The only question is, how long can this continue?
Let's assume Rossi and Hartman are back on December 4, two weeks from Thursday. During that time, the Wild are going to have to get through a schedule that's much tougher than what they've faced lately. Grinding out extra-time wins against Carolina and the Vegas Golden Knights are noteworthy, of course. But the 7-1-1 run that brought Minnesota back into the playoff bubble came against a generally weak stretch of teams.
The Vancouver Canucks, Nashville Predators, San Jose Sharks, and Calgary Flames are the dregs of the Western Conference. Even the first-place Anaheim Ducks are a young team for whom the Wild have their number for years, winning 19 of their last 20 games against them.
Vegas and Carolina only mark the beginning of the schedule ramping up. They'll have to go on the road to face the Winnipeg Jets and Edmonton Oilers. The Colorado Avalanche will come calling. Even if you think the first-place Pittsburgh Penguins and surprisingly not-terrible Chicago Blackhawks are smoke-and-mirrors, the former still managed to give the Wild a 4-1 beatdown at home on October 30.
And notably, the Wild will have Eriksson Ek, Yurov, Trenin, and Jones facing off against Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Schiefele, Connor Bedard, MacKinnon, Tage Thompson, Connor McDavid, and Leon Draisaitl over the next two weeks. Uh-oh.
So, how do they survive? It's not sustainable, but riding a red-hot goaltending duo of Wallstedt and Filip Gustavsson lifted them past Jack Eichel's Golden Knights and Sebastian Aho's Hurricanes. Continuing to be stout on the back end will also be critical. It's important to note that even as Carolina dominated the shot share, Minnesota did a reasonable job keeping the Hurricanes to the outside.
They're also going to need to watch Yurov grow up fast, and luckily, we saw him thrive on Wednesday. Finally getting a shot at a top-six role after being buried on the fourth line for most of the season, Yurov looked at home between Kaprizov and Zuccarello.
He had just one shot on goal but got another huge chance that missed the net, and he registered two assists. The first one was especially encouraging, as he sent a backhanded pass to Zuccarello that surely made Kaprizov proud.
But make no mistake, Rossi and Hartman still leave two massive holes on a team that was arguably a donut to begin with.
The Wild have already had to go on a run to save their season, but the degree of difficulty is getting turned up on more than one front. Now the training wheels are off, the competition is harder, and the injury road is rockier. As good as Matt Boldy and Kaprizov are on the wings, Jonas Brodin and Brock Faber are on the blueline, and Wallstedt and Gustavsson are in net, the center has to hold if the Wild are going to keep making a playoff push.
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