By Tony Abbott -
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.
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