Last Word on Hockey’s Puck Drop Previews are back for the 2024-25 season! As the regular season approaches, Last Word will preview each team’s current outlook and stories to watch for the upcoming year. We’ll also do our best to project how things will go for each team throughout the campaign. Today, we’re previewing the 2024-25 Minnesota Wild.
2024-25 Minnesota Wild
2023-24 Season
The Minnesota Wild had a bit of a disappointing season. The team finished outside of the playoffs for the first time since 2019. Minnesota had lost in the first round every season in between, but at least they were making it. The Wild faced several key injuries, including to their most steady defenders Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin. The Wild were particularly poor on the penalty kill where they ranked third-last in the league, killing just 74.52% of short-handed situations.
On the bright side, the 2023-24 season did see the emergence of Brock Faber. Faber played his first full season in the NHL and finished second in rookie of the year voting. Faber played more minutes than anyone on the Wild and his rise to stardom did shine one bright spot on the 2023-24 season.
2023-24 Off-season
The off-season wasn’t terribly eventful for the Wild as far as bringing in new players. The team has long been strapped for cash, but did pick up Yakov Trenin. Trenin is a solid penalty-killer and should aid the team going into next season in that area. The story of the off-season came from a couple of key extensions. Jake Middleton re-signed with the Wild as did Brock Faber. Faber’s extension is worth $68 million over 8 years and represents the locking up of a franchise player.
Projected Lineup
Forwards
Kirill Kaprizov – Joel Eriksson Ek – Matt Boldy
Liam Ohgren – Marco Rossi – Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Foligno – Marat Khusnutdinov – Ryan Hartman
Jakob Lauko – Yakov Trenin – Marcus Johansson
Top Six
The Minnesota Wild’s top six is an interesting group of forwards that contains a lot of talent. Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy in particular have developed into elite NHL scorers that only look to be improving. Boldy had a rough start to last season, but still finished with 69 points in 75 games. Kaprizov is a star in this league. Kaprizov scored 46 goals last season on the way to a 96 point season. Joel Eriksson Ek remains a steady contributor and should play solid defence and provide a scoring touch next season.
The second line is a bit more murky. Marco Rossi and Mats Zuccarello will certainly have the chance to start there, but the left wing spot is probably up for grabs. Liam Ohgren will have the chance to make an impact in his rookie season and should have every opportunity to make the top six. Ohgren scored 19 points in 26 games last season for Farjestads BK Karlstad of the Swedish Hockey League. Marco Rossi had a solid rookie season last year, but will be looking to make a big jump. Zuccarello remains a consistent contributor despite seeing a goal-scoring drop off last season. The Norwegian winger scored just 12 goals last season after scoring 22 the year before.
Bottom Six
The Wild’s bottom six is harder to predict. They have some mainstays like Ryan Hartman, Johansson and Foligno. They also have some new injections into the lineup like Trenin and Khusnutdinov. Khusnutdinov in particular is of interest this season as he will be making his full-time debut for the Wild. He doesn’t project to be a star, but could easily turn into a solid middle of the lineup contributor. He should play solid defense, provide some grit to the lineup and contribute offensively, if all goes well.
Defence
Jonas Brodin – Brock Faber
Jake Middleton – Jared Spurgeon
Declan Chisholm – Zach Bogosian
Top Four
The Wild’s top four defenders are one of the real bright spots of the team. As mentioned, Faber blossomed into a fantastic piece for the Wild last year and will hope to continue his rise. This year he won’t have to do it on his own, though. Captain Spurgeon will be returning after an injury that kept him out most of last season. Brodin, another solid defender, will be joining him with a clean bill of health. The top four is rounded out by physical Middleton. The top four has a great mix of grit, skill, experience and youth. While Brodin and Spurgeon are getting up there in age, it’s still a strong point for the team.
Bottom Pair
The bottom pair of the Wild appears to mostly be there for shot-block and physicality. That’s not necessarily a bad thing though. With so many players that play heavy minutes like Brodin and Faber, the Wild’s bottom six will be there for energy with fairly limited deployment.
Goalies
The Minnesota Wild enter 2024-25 with questions in net. They’ll likely be starting the year with the same duo last year in Filip Gustavsson and Marc-André Fleury. The pair didn’t have a great year last year, but if Gustavsson bounces back that narrative could change. The season before last he was one of the best in the league with a .931 save percentage. If he can return to form, the Wild goaltenders look great, if not things get interesting. The Wild possess one of the best goaltending prospects in the world in Jesper Wallstedt. Wallstedt will start the year in the minors, but if things go poorly in Minnesota, don’t be surprised to see him don the Wild sweater. At just 21-years-old, it may be early for his arrival, but the Wild also might not have much a choice if Fleury and Gustavsson remain poor options.
Players to Watch
Kirill Kaprizov
Kaprizov is a player to watch in every sense of the phrase. His future contract extension will loom large as a storyline in Minnesota, but he’s just as interesting to watch play. As one of the most exciting offensive talents in the league, there’s a reason they call him “the thrill”. Kaprizov has scored 40 goals in three straight seasons and will hope to pot 50 for the first time in 2024-25. With contract negotiations coming up and a solid first line, keep an eye on Kaprizov to explode once again next season.
Jared Spurgeon
Spurgeon has been one of the most crucial parts of the Wild lineup for over a decade. He’s the captain of the team and an underrated two-way defender that put up at least 25 points per year from 2013-14 to 2022-23. As mentioned, Spurgeon lost most of last season to an injury which makes him one of their most interesting players coming into this season. Spurgeon turns 35-years-old this season and it remains to be seen if last year’s injury is a bump in the road, or the start of his decline. That storyline will be one of the most important for the 2024-25 Minnesota Wild.
Marco Rossi
Rossi scored 40 points last year, good for sixth place in Calder trophy voting. With a spot on the second line guaranteed, Rossi will have to take another step to cement his place as a foundational place of this team. There’s been a lot of discussion about whether Rossi may be traded, and this season likely goes a long way in deciding the outcome to that saga. The Wild drafted Rossi 9th overall in 2020, and the talented Austrian took a bit longer than many hoped getting to the league. This season may be a cross roads for Rossi, but he has all the talent to come out the other side as part of the Wild’s core.
Predictions for the 2024-25 Minnesota Wild
The Wild are a bit of a tough team to predict. On one hand, they have a lot of top-end talent and are returning several key players from injury. On the other, Brodin and Spurgeon are also reaching the later stages of their careers. Their ability to return from injury-laden seasons is a cause for concern. They also have huge questions in net. Wallstedt is undoubtedly exciting, but is probably too young to carry any major load. Filip Gustavsson has shown the ability to be a top-end goaltender, but is also incredibly inconsistent.
All that being said, Minnesota is a consistent team. Last year is probably an aberration as far as being out of the playoff hunt. The Wild will likely be a bubble playoff team that gets impressive performances from Kaprizov, Faber, Boldy and some other top talent. But they’ll ultimately be out in the first round or two of the playoffs.
Main Photo: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
