As the Wild get healthy, increasingly hard decisions are on the horizon (Gift Article)
March 25, 2026
As the Wild get healthy, increasingly hard decisions are on the horizon (Gift Article)
10 comments
Not a very substantive article but with M. Foligno nearing return it will be interesting to see who comes out of the lineup.
N. Foligno, Brink, Yurov, Jojo seem to be the realistic options. I think Brink has made himself irreplaceable, for now at least. Foligno would seem like the most obvious answer but he’s been playing well too honestly and can PK.
My gut is Yurov comes out with McCarron moving to 3C and N. Foligno taking over 4C.
Kaprizov – Ek – Boldy
Tarasenko – Hartman – Zuccarello
Jojo – McCarron – Brink
Foligno – Foligno – Trenin
Is the world ready for both Foligno brothers on one line?
Healthy internal competition is good to have. But then my worry is Hynes isn’t sitting the guys who are, objectively I think, struggling. I think we all know who those guys are.
It’s been mentioned in the past couple broadcasts that Hynes I think has been sitting with each individual player to discuss roles and lines and stuff and that’s good. We heard about convos with Trenin, Quinny, probably some more. And we know about the return of regular practices. Both good moves.
Bob has made himself irreplaceable. He’s shoot first guy and we need those because the passing mentality is detrimental. I think the fans would try to burn down GCA if Hynes took him out. Fabbri I think is only for emergencies. Petry same. The Folignos have put themselves into a pickle because Nick is playing great. Do we really want to take Dani out regularly? I can’t imagine that.
If they are all healthy that’s a gift. I remain skeptical though.
Still have high hopes for an all Russian line
Yurov is coming out for the playoffs or prior. Not reliable in the dot and hasn’t had a good last few games. Sturm and macarron much better options. Yurov is good but not ready for what’s coming.
Mojo needs to sit, and Hartman honestly needs to either move down the line or be benched too. Both have been massive liabilities, and have directly contributed to goals against.
The only “decision” this team needs to make is whether they care enough to play harder than their opponents every single night, in every single period. Gus shouldn’t have bobbled that puck last night but we shoulda racked up 5 goals when we had them on the ropes in the first instead of instantly reverting to dogshit defensive turtlemode for the last 50 minutes of the game.
Last nights game served notice to Dallas and Colorado that if they think we are the MN Mild you are sadly mistaken. Expect a very physical series!
I’m ready to put Hughes on ice until the playoffs honestly! The dude has high minutes (plus the Olympics), seems to be getting targeted now gamein game out, and then it gives these last handful of guys minutes to show what they have to offer. Hughes is a proven commodity, can play with anyone and is not a concern! What would be a concern is if he gets nicked up before games truly matter. Whoever shines the most in the last few games? Gets the last playoff roster spot.
I think the Wild would be best served resting as much as possible to get as healthy as possible and not care too much about winning more games in the regular season. Passing Dallas would give you one extra home game in that series, but getting passed by the Mammoth let’s you likely play the Ducks in the first round instead of the Stars and then potentially gives you a much easier second round against either the Oilers or Golden Knights
10 comments
Not a very substantive article but with M. Foligno nearing return it will be interesting to see who comes out of the lineup.
N. Foligno, Brink, Yurov, Jojo seem to be the realistic options. I think Brink has made himself irreplaceable, for now at least. Foligno would seem like the most obvious answer but he’s been playing well too honestly and can PK.
My gut is Yurov comes out with McCarron moving to 3C and N. Foligno taking over 4C.
Kaprizov – Ek – Boldy
Tarasenko – Hartman – Zuccarello
Jojo – McCarron – Brink
Foligno – Foligno – Trenin
Is the world ready for both Foligno brothers on one line?
Healthy internal competition is good to have. But then my worry is Hynes isn’t sitting the guys who are, objectively I think, struggling. I think we all know who those guys are.
It’s been mentioned in the past couple broadcasts that Hynes I think has been sitting with each individual player to discuss roles and lines and stuff and that’s good. We heard about convos with Trenin, Quinny, probably some more. And we know about the return of regular practices. Both good moves.
Bob has made himself irreplaceable. He’s shoot first guy and we need those because the passing mentality is detrimental. I think the fans would try to burn down GCA if Hynes took him out. Fabbri I think is only for emergencies. Petry same. The Folignos have put themselves into a pickle because Nick is playing great. Do we really want to take Dani out regularly? I can’t imagine that.
If they are all healthy that’s a gift. I remain skeptical though.
Still have high hopes for an all Russian line
Yurov is coming out for the playoffs or prior. Not reliable in the dot and hasn’t had a good last few games. Sturm and macarron much better options. Yurov is good but not ready for what’s coming.
Mojo needs to sit, and Hartman honestly needs to either move down the line or be benched too. Both have been massive liabilities, and have directly contributed to goals against.
The only “decision” this team needs to make is whether they care enough to play harder than their opponents every single night, in every single period. Gus shouldn’t have bobbled that puck last night but we shoulda racked up 5 goals when we had them on the ropes in the first instead of instantly reverting to dogshit defensive turtlemode for the last 50 minutes of the game.
Last nights game served notice to Dallas and Colorado that if they think we are the MN Mild you are sadly mistaken. Expect a very physical series!
I’m ready to put Hughes on ice until the playoffs honestly! The dude has high minutes (plus the Olympics), seems to be getting targeted now gamein game out, and then it gives these last handful of guys minutes to show what they have to offer. Hughes is a proven commodity, can play with anyone and is not a concern! What would be a concern is if he gets nicked up before games truly matter. Whoever shines the most in the last few games? Gets the last playoff roster spot.
I think the Wild would be best served resting as much as possible to get as healthy as possible and not care too much about winning more games in the regular season. Passing Dallas would give you one extra home game in that series, but getting passed by the Mammoth let’s you likely play the Ducks in the first round instead of the Stars and then potentially gives you a much easier second round against either the Oilers or Golden Knights