What Should the Wild’s Playoff Lineup Be When Kaprizov and Eriksson Ek Return?

As the Minnesota Wild approach the final four games of the regular season, it’s hard not to see them as an embattled group that, after withstanding lousy injury luck, continues to hang onto their position by only the thinnest of margins.

However, help is on the way, and not a moment too soon. It sounds as if Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek’s return to the Wild lineup is imminent, possibly starting with Wednesday’s game against the San Jose Sharks. After missing the past 28 and 21 games, respectively, any opportunity for them to ramp up ahead of the playoffs will only help the team as they prepare to return to the postseason after missing out last season.

As the two stars get set to make their returns, the question arises about where they will fit into the lineup and what shuffling coach John Hynes will need to do with his forward lines. In the Wild’s last game, Sunday’s 3-2 overtime victory over the Dallas Stars, they deployed the below forward lines:

Wild lines vs Dallas Stars on 4/6/25 via DailyFaceoff.

Where will Hynes slot in Kaprizov and Ek once both are available? It seems the Wild coach has found a winning combination with his recently-created Marcus Foligno, Marco Rossi, and Matt Boldy line. That trio has been dominant in the 55 minutes they’ve played together at 5-on-5, producing a 66.4% shot attempts for percentage (Corsi) and a phenomenal expected goals percentage of 78.6%. The latter number is the best in the NHL this season for any line that has played over 50 minutes together.

Assuming Hynes keeps that trio together and that nearly inseparable duo of Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello are reunited as part of a line, what should the rest of the Wild lineup look like?

Part of that depends on the Wild’s first-round playoff opponent. If they finish in the second wild-card position, they’ll almost certainly play the Winnipeg Jets.

If that’s the case, the Wild will be best served by deploying a lineup capable of quick strike attacks built from sound defensive structure. One with strong skating across all four lines and can make the Jets, who lead the league in high-danger scoring chance percentage this season, work for their looks. 

Despite their prowess in creating chances, the Jets also miss the net far more than expected, partly because they have difficulty generating chances against well-structured defensive systems.

With these factors in mind, the ideal lines for the Wild in a playoff series against the Jets would be as follows:

There’s a lot to like with this lineup, starting with the top six, which looks capable of delivering some significant offensive pop and controlling possession against a Jets team that thrives when it can extend shifts in the offensive zone and overwhelm teams with shot volume.

Kaprizov, Ek, and Zuccarello are battle-tested as a trio, producing an expected goals-for percentage of 54.9% and an actual goals-for percentage of 77.78% in their even-strength minutes together over the past three seasons. 

However, the trio’s effectiveness will hinge on how quickly Kaprizov and Ek can get up to speed over the next two weeks. If they can eventually approach their capabilities after playing a few games, they will form a formidable top line against the Jets.

Of course, one of the keys to having a dominant top line is being able to ice a second line that can shoulder the offensive load when needed. That’s why the Foligno-Rossi-Boldy line’s recent emergence has been a revelation for the Wild. In addition to the dominant stat line referenced earlier, each player has fit in well as a complimentary piece.

Hockey Wilderness’ Justin Hein described why this works well in a recent conversation, pointing out that “the best lines in hockey don’t necessarily have players with stylistic similarities, but instead, every player fills enough roles that they can be competent in any area of the ice.”

Marcus Foligno has provided value to every line he’s spent significant time with this season. However, that’s been even more pronounced with Boldy and Rossi. 

Foligno’s defensive awareness, abilities to win puck battles, extend forechecks, and physical presence have freed up the offensively gifted young stars to generate chances off cycles in the offensive zone and on transition attacks following possession changes. Against a Jets team that tends to get caught over-extending their shifts in the offensive zone, the ability to generate quick attacks could prove deadly over a playoff series.

As interchangeable third and fourth lines, the Johansson-Hartman-Nyquist and Trenin-Gaudreau-Hinostroza lines each provide a strong mix of skating, defensive awareness, and scoring ability to keep the Jets honest. They can capitalize off favorable matchups to create scoring chances or offensive zone faceoffs and hold serve against Winnipeg’s top lines.

Johansson, Hartman, and Nyquist haven’t played together yet this year. However, Hartman has brought out the best in Nyquist in the 74 even-strength minutes they’ve played together. According to Natural Stat Trick, they’ve produced a 55.57% expected goals percentage and had 53.3% of high danger chances for. 

Hartman and Johansson have also produced strong high-danger scoring chance rates while breaking even on possession numbers. Furthermore, each of them brings a strong combination of defensive awareness and puck-moving ability. Johansson has been dynamite lately, and Hartman and Nyquist have each shown flashes of what they can do. Together, the trio forms a versatile line.

The same goes for the Trenin-Gaudreau-Hinostroza line. While they haven’t played together as a trio, they have spent significant time with each other over different line combinations. The underlying numbers from these instances suggest that, as a line, the three will be able to funnel pucks to the net and create high-danger scoring opportunities while also being effective in the possession game and defensively responsible.

As the extra forward, Justin Brazeau and Devin Shore can bring value should the Wild insert them into the lineup. Brazeau has begun to flex some of his forechecking prowess lately, and Shore has quietly had a strong campaign in his extended call-ups from the Iowa Wild. He’s produced above-average possession numbers relative to his deployments and won nearly 50% of faceoffs, which could prove valuable at certain points in a playoff series. 

With playoff roster rules being different, both of them can remain with the team and slot in as needed.

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Should the Wild pass the St. Louis Blues and finish in the first wild card position, they’ll likely face off against the Vegas Golden Knights. Against the Knights, Minnesota will want to deploy a lineup with more balanced scoring and an uptick in physicality. Vegas has a large, mobile defensive corps, a heavy yet offensively dangerous bottom six, and an offensively dynamic top six anchored by superstar Jack Eichel and two-way stalwart Mark Stone.

A healthy Wild team can match up with Vegas if they can spread out their best skaters and top scoring options while ensuring each line has a physical presence. As such, in a playoff series against the Golden Knights, they should deploy their lines as follows:

The merits of the Foligno-Rossi-Boldy trio have been discussed at length, but I’ll add that this line’s ability to be effective against Vegas will hinge on Boldy. Over his career, Foligno has shown he can be a physical, defensively dominant presence in nearly any deployment. Rossi seems to play the same game against anyone and is also developing a penchant for producing in big moments. 

Consistency is the only thing keeping Boldy from becoming a next-level star in the NHL. However, to his credit, Boldy seems to be earnestly working to add a physical element to this game. Not so much by throwing body checks. Instead, he uses his frame and skating to control play and emerge from hard areas with the puck on his stick. 

For this line to thrive against Vegas, Boldy must bring that element every night.

Kaprizov, Hartman, and Zuccarello are a known quantity. When the Wild have deployed them together over the past three seasons, they’ve been dominant in possession and expected goals percentage. 

While they’re not a physical line that throws their bodies around, none of them shy away from contact. Each is eager to participate in board battles and is more likely to win than lose them. Hartman has long excelled at playing with two more offensively in-sync linemates that he can read off of and get the puck to. He has enough hockey sense to get to soft areas and become available for a pass to create scoring opportunities.

What’s more? This trio has never had the benefit of having a complimentary top two line capable of creating offense every night, like they would have with the Rossi line. They’ll likely receive more favorable matchups this time around.

Johansson, Eriksson Ek, and Gaudreau provide the Wild with a third scoring line capable of locking down Vegas’ top six. Surprisingly, these three have hardly played together over the past three seasons. However, Ek and Johansson have spent over 800 even-strength minutes together over that span and produced a goals-for percentage of over 57%, along with a high-danger scoring chances percentage of 52.94% to go with positive possession and expected goals rates.

Given the way Johansson’s game has been trending, coupled with Gaudreau’s strong offensive season in which he’s produced 18 goals and 17 assists, this line seems capable of enough scoring touch to be a threat against anyone Vegas puts out against them. It would certainly make it tough sledding for Vegas in the neutral zone, where the Knights tend to thrive in generating offensive opportunities and possession.

Finally, a fourth line of Trenin, Shore, and Hinostroza would present a surprisingly difficult matchup for Vegas. While this trio also hasn’t played together much, Trenin and Hinostroza have spent nearly 60 even-strength minutes together, in which they’ve dominated possession and also produced a 56.3% expected goals percentage and had 68.75% of high-danger scoring chances.

Trenin and Shore have had less success together. Still, given each of their decent relative possession numbers along with the size and physical presence they bring (especially Trenin), combining them with Hinostroza, who has been a possession monster ever since joining the Wild off of waivers earlier this season, makes for an intriguing combination that could win some faceoffs and keep the opposition honest in their shifts.

There are realistic scenarios in which Brazeau or Nyquist can slot into the lineup. The odds are that they both would be in a hard-fought series against the Knights, especially Brazeau, who can wear down a defensive corps in a physical series. Depending on how the first game or two goes, there’s no doubt Hynes would find a way to work them into the bottom six as needed. 

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It’s been a long season for the Wild. While they seem to be limping to the finish line, it’s worth remembering that this was one of the best teams in the league before injuries decimated them. And now that they’re set to be fully healthy for the first time in months, they at least present a legitimate threat to anyone they face in the first round, including their most likely opponents.