Summer Coolers: Minnesota Wild
the Minnesota Wild. And we talk about a team that always seems to underachieve. They’re like the poster child of underachieving. 97 points last year, but lost in the opening round to Vegas in six games after having a lead in that series. The last time they won a playoff round was in the opening round against the St. Louis Blues 10 years ago. And I want to talk the personnel first here. Aside from Mark Andre Flurry retiring. They also lose. Frederick Gdro traded to Seattle. Justin Brazzo signing the UFA by the Pittsburgh Penguins. And Gustav Nyquist as we just said a few minutes ago signing a UFA by Winnipeg. Their pickups. Vladimir Terasenko in a trade with Detroit for futures. Nico Sturm signed as a UFA from the Stanley Cup winning Florida Panthers. Cal Peterson potential maybe third line goalender signed as a UFA last play with the Flyers in 2324. Nicholas Obe Cubell signed as a UFA from the Rangers and Tyler Pitlick signed as a UFA from New York as well and resigning with the Wild as a pending UFA left-wing Marcus Johansson. Where I’m going with this, Neil, is Bill Garren now had money to work with, at least you would think. And with the buyouts of Zach Paresi and Ryan Sudter, which took place in 2021, they’re finally dealing in a situation where the dead cap space dropped from 14.7 million to 1.67 million. And we know that Caro Capri off is going to become a UFA after this season. He’s currently making $9 million a year. club has 9.4 million currently in cap space. Did you expect Minnesota to do a little bit more? I thought they’d spend some more money in the summer because I was waiting for Bill Garren’s hands to get untied because of the suitor and Paray buyouts, but he he really didn’t do that. He made a trade with Detroit for futures and gets Terraino which gives him another offensive weapon up front for the power play particularly. But it after that there really wasn’t anything sexy about what they did in the summer. There just wasn’t. And this kind of fits into what we have seen with the Wild really over the course of the last decade that they’re a team that’s good enough to make the postseason, but they’re never good enough to make an impact. And what we have seen here, if they even make the playoffs in 26, it falls right in line with that. Yeah, they’re they’ve got some real good players. Let me go through something with you. Capri off is an elite talent. No doubt about that. Y Joel Erikson is a very good player. Matt Baldy is a really good young upand cominging star. They have also Ryan Hartman who’s a one of these guys that is their Tom Wilson I would say and is a valuable guy. They’ve got some real character guys like Felino. And on their back end, they’ve got two very good young players that are coming into their own. One who just started in the playoffs last year, and that would be Zeve Buy. But Brock Faber is a real good defenseman and a young defenseman. And of course, they got their captain Jared Spurgeon back there as well with Begoian and Jacob Middleton. So, their defense is pretty good. they don’t have the offensive weapons. If Matt Zuckerello at his age is still playing on the first line, that’s not a I don’t think that’s a good indication of a great offensive team. But they have some weapons and as I said, Matt Baldi’s getting better and better. Where can they go in the playoffs? I don’t know. They are a playoff team. It looks like to me the way that they’re structured, they do have some potential depth in their prospect pool. Also, defenseman David Yurichek and then bottom six forwards potentially Danella Yurof and Liam Ogran. So that will certainly potentially augment this club. and wanted to point out on defense that Jonas Broaddin is expected to miss the start of the season with surgery for an upper body injury. And in goal, Philip Gusson will be the number one with Yesper Walstead expected to have the backup role with Mark Andre Flurry retiring. But now as we look at this, I still think that this is a bubble team based on what they had done during the course of the off season, which from my chair is underwhelming. Yeah, I think it’s a wildcard team. I don’t think that they’re not in the class of Winnipeg, Dallas, and Colorado, but I don’t think they’re down they’re certainly not down with Chicago. I think they’re above St. Louis and above Utah. That can all change with one injury. You could be right, Vic. They could be just a bubble team. I think the best we can hope for with them is a wild card spot. I agree. And while we do the Pacific, I’m going to give some props to Anaheim, but that’s for the next show. And also before we drop this, remember also you talked about the potential of the big injury. Carro Capri off missed a lot of time last year and he sure did. And if any of those bigger forwards for them, talking Matt Baldy among them, maybe a significant amount of time, there are going to be two or three clubs that are waiting to jump into a wild card spot and could vault Minnesota. Just saying. Oh, absolutely. No, there’s no doubt about it. And their head coach, John Hines, is going into his third year with the Wild. He succeeded Dean Everson. And he’s got to prove something, too. He’s When you’re in your third year as a head coach, it’s a year where you’ve got to do good things or else the GM starts looking around saying, “Maybe that’s the reason we are not getting anywhere.
In this episode of NHL Wraparound, Neil Smith and Vic Morren break down the Minnesota Wild — a team that continues to underperform in the playoffs despite regular season success. With 97 points last season and yet another first-round exit, the Wild haven’t won a playoff series in a decade. So what’s next?
Neil and Vic evaluate the off-season moves by GM Bill Guerin — including the retirement of Marc-André Fleury, key signings like Vladimir Tarasenko and Nico Sturm, and what it means that Guerin didn’t make bigger changes despite finally having cap flexibility after the Parise/Suter buyouts.
They dive into the team’s core — Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy, Joel Eriksson Ek, and Jared Spurgeon — and whether that group is strong enough to push past the Wild Card bubble. Plus, goaltending questions with Filip Gustavsson taking over and top prospect Jesper Wallstedt stepping in.
Is this a playoff team or just more of the same?
IN THIS EPISODE:
[00:00] Minnesota’s playoff frustrations and off-season expectations
[01:30] Breaking down the Wild’s key losses and additions
[04:20] Guerin’s conservative approach despite cap space
[05:45] Defensive depth and Jonas Brodin’s injury
[07:00] Goaltending tandem: Gustavsson and Wallstedt
[08:15] Kaprizov’s future and the weight he carries
[10:00] Is John Hynes on the hot seat?
[11:25] Can this roster survive the Central Division pressure?
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
The Wild made minimal upgrades despite having more flexibility this summer.
Kaprizov is entering a contract year — and the pressure is on.
John Hynes is entering a pivotal year as head coach.
Minnesota may be fighting for a Wild Card spot unless their top players break through.
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