|
Wild Open Season With High Expectations |
|
|
|
|
|
It is the dawn of a new era in Minnesota after a "wild" Wild Summer.
Officially turned the page from the same old same old Wild of years past where the new season brought most of the same faces back from the previous year and the hope was that the team would progress simply by experience.
Those days are gone!!!
We have talked about the buyouts of Ryan Suter and Zach Parise ad nauseum, but it marked the unofficial turning of the page for the Wild organization. We know the cap ramifications and all of that, but this was done to wipe the slate clean and to show that Bill Guerin is in full control of the hockey operations with the Wild.
This is Guerin's team now and the moves that he has orchestrated have set the tone and expectations for bigger and better things to happen with the Wild moving forward. Making the playoffs will not be good enough any longer.
It is time to make some noise when the games mean the most.
The leader of this team is Kirill Kaprizov period end of story. Armed with his new 5-year, $45M contract, he is the star of the show now. Together with Kevin Fiala they provide the Wild with two bonafide top notch scoring threats every time they step on the ice.
Joel Eriksson Ek also was rewarded in the off-season with a new 8-year contract following his breakout season in 2021. JEE built off of his strong COVID-19 shortened season of 2019-20 where he really established himself as a true shut down center while contributing offensively with 8 goals and 21 assists in 62 games.
Last season Erkisson Ek showed he can also be a goal scorer neeting 19 in 56 games, while centering the the Wild checking line with Marcus Foligno and Jordan Greenway. This season Joel will move up to the top line role between Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello.
Last season Kaprizov and Zuccarello played most of the season with Victor Rask as their center and occasionally it was Ryan Hartman between the pair of talented wingers. This season the expecatation is that JEE takes another monumental leap forward as his role is greatly expanded.
With the defensive conscience of Eriksson Ek and the work ethic of Kaprizov and Zuccarello, this could be a line that performs like "the Perfection Line" (Patrice Bergeron-David Pastrnak-Brad Marchand) does for the Bruins. Now those are lofty aspirations and I am not saying they will become that trio but the model is certainly similar.
Kevin Fiala who had to take a backseat to Kaprizov after being the focal point of the Wild offense since his arrival at the trade deadline in 2019. Fiala is poised to have a career year after being taken to arbitration by the Wild this Summer before the two sides agreed on a a 1-year, $5.1M contracr.
That sets up Fiala to push for a long term deal when he is once again an RFA this upcoming Summer. Fiala has matured a ton and is ready to take his career to a new level. He will be playing with a familiar face in free agent signee, Frederick Gaudreau, who played with Fiala under current Wild head coach, Dean Evason, in Milwaukee of the AHL.
They will begin the season with Victor Rask skating on the left wing in hopes that this will get Rask to boost his offensive production and get him closer to the 20-goal scorer he was back in his Hurricanes days. Rask too is in the final year of a contract and will be playing to secure a new deal.
Ryan Hartman, had a solid 2021 season with the Wild and established himself as a key player in the Wild lineup moving from 4th line right wing to top six center positions, playing the pivot at times for Kaprizov and Fiala both. Hartman is a workhorse who kills penalties and checks with the best in the business, but he has offensive upside being a fomer first round draft pick (#30, 2013 Chicago Blackhawks). Hartman does have a 19 goal season in the NHL which came in his his first full season with the Hawks back in 2017, so last season his 7 goals and 22 points last season were no fluke.
Hartman opens the season as the replacement for Eriksson Ek on the Wild checking line between Foligno and Greenway. This is a more natural fit for Hartman but should not be in any way a step down from what we have grown accustomed to with JEE between the two rugged Wild wingers.
The fourth line will see Nico Sturm or newly signed Rem Pitlick centering Nick Bjugstad and rookie Brandon Duhaime. Duhaime earned his way onto the Wild roster with a very strong camp and he brings a fiesty, gritty game, and has speed to burn. Pitlick may get the first look at center, but we will have to wait until game time to see if that is the way Evason leans tonight.
Either way the competition for jobs is very clear and no one is safe. it is all about performance on the ice and personal feelings are put aside. This is a new day in Minnesota and the focus is on winning hockey games.
We have discussed the Wild offense, now let's take a look at the new look Wild defense. The defense has always been the staple of the Wild team and dating back to the 2013-14 season the Wild big four of Suter-Spurgeon and Brodin-Dumba have all been fixtures on the Wild blueline, with Suter leading the way.
Jared Spurgeon is the new leader, and despite being named the captain prior to last season, now that Suter is no longer in the Wild locker room it feels more like this is "officially" Spurgeon's team now. Jonas Brodin and Matt Dumba have played together for the majority of the past eight seasons and they will again team up to form one of the finest tandems in the NHL.
Spurgeon will have a new partner in Alex Goligoski. who was signed to a one year deal to replace Suter on the top pair and log big minutes on the powerplay and penalty kill. Goligoski brings more offense than did Suter, but the Suter is the more rounded defenseman, so this will be interesting to watch.
The third defense pair and depth are all new to the Wild as Carson Soucy was selected in the expansion draft by Seattle and Ian Cole was not offered a new contract. Brad Hunt was also not re-signed either.
In their place, are Dmitry Kulikov, Jon Merrill, and Jordie Benn who were all signed as free agents. Kulikov was signed for two years while Merrill and Benn both to one year contracts.
Kulikov is the one to watch of this trio as he too is a former first round pick (#14, 2009, Florida Panthers) and does have some offensive potential. He was regarded early on in his career as a offensive defenseman but as he has matured he has settled into more of a depth defensive role. He skates very well and could be utilized in a bigger role with the Wild if the need presents itself.
There was some hope that Calen Addision would take the next step and earn one of the final defense positions after suiting up for the final three playoff games last season with the Wild in their opening round series loss to the Vegas Golden Knights. That did not materialize and Addison opens the season in Iowa, but will be a big part of the Wild in the days to come.
The Wild prospect cupboard is pretty full and there was hope that Matt Boldy, Marco Rossi, and Adam Beckman would push to make the Wild roster this season. That is not the case to at least start the season as Boldy is out for 4-6 weeks, with a broken ankle. Beckman, who made the best case to stay with the big club with his 4 pre-season goals, but in the end it is better for him to log big minutes in Iowa rather than play fourth line minutes in the NHL. Rossi was more of a long shot to make the team with his recovery from Myocarditis as the result of his COVID-19 diagnosis last year.
Rossi also performed very well in the pre-season but his contract situation plays better for the Wild to move a bit more methodically with their top pick from the 2020 draft. Rossi should get some time with the Wild this season but unless he really knocks the door down look for him to be down in Iowa this season for the most part.
Finally the Wild goaltending which was the backbone of their successful 2021 season. Following the 2020 season, Bill Guerin, called out the Wild goaltending, sating they were not good enough and had to better moving forward.
He went out and signed Cam Talbot and dealt long time starting goalie, Devon Dubnyk. The hope was for Alex Stalock to continue his strong backup role to Talbot, much as he had been for Dubnyk, the previous three seasons. That was not the case as Stalock too suffered his own bout with COVID-19 and then Myocarditis.
Kaapo Kahkonen, who was coming off a sensational season in Iowa in 2020, that saw him capture top goaltender honors in the AHL. He opened the season behind Talbot and seized the backup role for good, when he filled in for Talbot through two separate injury stints.
Talbot and Kahkonen are set to man the Wild net again this season with Talbot expected to take the lion's share of the workload. Talbot was the rock for the Wild last season and is everything that Guerin could have hoped for when he signed him to a very reasonable deal with an AAV of $3.66M per year.
Talbot is a physical speciman as he works tirelessly to keep himself in incredible shape. He realized back in his early days in the NHL, with the Rangers that in order to stay in this league he needed to take far better care of himself. He has made that his mission and today he is a far better goalie because of that very fact.
Kahkonen looks to build on a very strong rookie season, but there was a dip in his play as the season wore on last year so the goal is to find that consistency even when he is not playing every day. That is the challenge of being a back up goalie and those that are very good at it know how to prepare themselves both on game days and more importantly to be ready on game days where they are not starting.
It is a bright future for the Wild for sure, but the future is now for this team...
Minnesota Wild Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»