The Minnesota Wild have been stuck in a rut of playing just good enough to make the playoffs but not good enough to advance in the playoffs and, well, that’s not good enough for the State of Hockey. Last season’s battle cry or motto was Good Is Not Good Enough and they proved that to be true.
Now we move onto this season and this is a different team. There were some major changes to the Minnesota Wild’s roster during last season and some additions made in Free Agency. Most of the changes are still up for debate on if they were good or bad changes. Right now, the trades look uneven with the Wild side getting the short end of the stick or, in some cases, maybe no stick at all.
Then, on July 30th, Minnesota Wild Owner Craig Leipold decided his General Manager, Paul Fenton, was not the right man for the job. An extensive search was done to find the right man for the job and that search found former player and, at the time, the Assistant General Manager for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Bill Guerin is the right man to run the show. So far, this feels like a great move, especially after hearing all the strange things that happened under the reign of Paul Fenton. That could be because it’s still new so we still need to see how things go. Billy G did say all the right things:
“I hope my playing experience can help players. I feel like over 18 years and 1,200 games, or whatever it was, I’ve seen a lot. I’ve played on 8 teams, so I’ve seen a lot; I’ve been in a lot of situations. So I feel like I can empathize with what players are going through if things are tough. So I think it can only help.
…I hope to be a solid foundation for everybody. I have to be at my best if things are at their worst.” – Bill Guerin
“There’s everything here to win. Everything. I’ve seen it as a player. I’ve seen it in management…what it takes to build a winner; what it takes to be on a winner and everything is here. Everything’s in place. We have a committed owner. We have a great fan base here that’s knowledgeable and passionate. The building’s full. The environment’s great. We have an incredible staff. We have great coaching staff, scouting staff, hockey ops…and we have a good team. This is a good team. My job is to make it better and we’re going to build.” – Bill Guerin
“I’ve learned what it takes to build a winning culture and a winning team and you don’t win in this league unless the team comes first. We’re going to put an emphasis on character, on commitment & on sacrifice and what are you going to do for this team to help it win? I’ll bring what I’ve learned over the last 10 years to the Minnesota Wild. I’m really really looking forward to getting going in the state of hockey. We have a ton of work to do but it’s going to be a ton of fun and I can’t wait to get going.” – Bill Guerin
He stressed finding players and personnel with character who are will to sacrifice and put in the work to help the team win. He also said the Wild have everything here to win.
The big difference between Paul Fenton is that Bill Guerin understands this is a relationship business and you need good people to win. He is a winner. His name is on the Stanley Cup 4 times! FOUR! He won 2 Championships on the ice with the New Jersey Devils and the Pittsburgh Penguins then helped the Penguins win 2 more Championships from the management side. Does it get any better than that? He knows what it takes to win on the ice and how to build a champion from a management perspective off the ice.
It is a tad easier when you have a Sidney Crosby & an Evgeni Malkin on your team. Right now, the Wild do not have players of that caliber on their roster. They have good players. They have a bunch of players that have yet to realize their potential. Most of those players are in just their 2nd or 3rd NHL season so this is a big year for every one of them. They also have players coming off of some tough seasons who are looking for a rebound this season.
Adding Bill Guerin as General Manager is the biggest change to this team. The question will be if that big change can be enough to get them back to the playoffs and, more importantly, to get them to play together and for each other.
Welcome To The State of Hockey
The Minnesota Wild added playmaking F Mats Zuccarello and physical, gritty F Ryan Hartman (he did play for the Flyers) through free agency. D Carson Soucy also made the team out of camp, partly because D Greg Pateryn sustained a lower-body injury that required bilateral core muscle surgery and he’ll be out for approximately 6 weeks. Soucy did play well throughout camp, though. He also brings size and a defensive focus on his game.
Zuccarello comes billed as a great playmaker who can also score goals. He’ll help on the power play and he’s known for being a great teammate, too. Just ask King Henrik Lundqvist about it.
Some might say that being a great teammate isn’t that big of a deal when signing a free agent but there have been rumors about the Wild locker room for a long time. Are they just rumors? It’s a team sport and the teams that actually get along great usually are better than teams that don’t get along. Ask the Minnesota Twins. Culture is a huge part of winning! Bill Guerin even talked about it in the quotes above and he’s obviously been through it many times.
Hartman is now known as a gritty-4th-liner type of player but he has some scoring ability, too. He scored 19 goals with Chicago 3 seasons ago, 11 goals 2 seasons ago and 12 last season. He’s been traded at the last two trade deadlines, from Chicago to Nashville in 2018 and from Nashville to Philadelphia (for F Wayne Simmonds). He was also traded to Dallas in June for F Tyler Pitlick before becoming a free agent.
Pack Your Crap!
Some players had to pack up their stuff after last season. Gone are Fs Pontus Aberg, Eric Fehr, Matt Read and D Anthony Bitetto but the Wild won’t really miss them. Fehr was a decent 4th-liner but the Wild will be okay without him. F J.T. Brown was sent to the AHL Iowa Wild to begin the season as he just hasn’t been what the Wild wanted when they signed him to a 2-year, 2-way deal back in 2018.
Core Work
The Minnesota Wild have a bunch of young forwards that should turn into core players. They all need to take a step up this season. Fs Ryan Donato, Joel Eriksson-Ek, Kevin Fiala, Jordan Greenway and Luke Kunin all have the ability to make a huge impact on the Wild’s 2019-20 season.
Fs Ryan Donato, Kevin Fiala and Victor Rask were acquired through trades last season. They got their first full Wild offseasons so they had time to get everything in order and have a normal offseason to work on their offseason programs & improve their bodies and their game. That should help them assimilate to the rest of the team and Head Coach Bruce Boudreau’s system. That should turn into more comfort and better play. They’ll find out how their teammates like to play, where they want the puck and how to play alongside them. They’ll find out they need to be selfish with the puck sometimes because they all need to shoot the puck more.
That should turn into more points for all of them, especially F Kevin Fiala, who was trying to do too much by himself after coming to the Wild for Mikael Granlund. He was a turnover machine but you could see he has speed and skill. He came in 15 pounds lighter and at 5.7% body fat and, as for the legendary Boudreau skating test, Bruce said he not only passed it but, “blew it away.” Will he become a GameChanger for the Wild? We think so.
Donato established himself as a shooter and a goal-scorer. He just needs to continue that mindset. You’re a shooter so shoot the puck. He also showed how well he sees the ice. He makes and reads plays.
Joel Eriksson-Ek started to show what he can do after Mikko Koivu’s season ended in early February. He played well as his replacement but he still only scored 7 points (5 goals, 2 assists) in 22 games but compare that to 7 points (2 G, 5 A) in the 36 games before that and there’s progress. He also had more shots (58) in those 22 games than he did in the previous 36 games (53.) That’s an increase of more than a shot per game. Now, can he continue that even if he’s playing as the 4th-line center with Marcus Foligno & Ryan Hartman?
Luke Kunin has a bright future if he can stay healthy. He could be the future Wild captain because he plays the right way and is just a natural leader. He says and does all the right things. He won’t back down from anyone. He’ll drop the mitts if he feels the need and he knows how to get open for a shot, which he’s not shy about letting go. We like that!
Jordan Greenway is starting to realize how much of a beast he can be with the puck by using his size to protect the puck and be physical. We haven’t seen him be physical very often but in the preseason he made some hits that caused turnovers and turned into scoring chances.
A few seasons ago, people were raving about the Wild prospects they had coming with Kunin & Greenway & Ek. Now, they’re complaining that the Wild don’t have any prospects and, although that is mostly true, there really isn’t room for them anywhere. These players need time to grow and get used to the NHL game. This season, though, could decide their fate because there’s a guy named Kirill Kaprizov who will be here come April. Nico Sturm also showed he’ll be pushing for a callup as soon as one is needed as he was sent down to Iowa because they didn’t want him to sit in the NHL when he can play every day and develop in the AHL.
Kunin & Greenway are also on the last year of their entry-level deals so they know what this season means, the better season they have, the bigger paycheck they receive next offseason! Hopefully, by the end of the season, we’ll be saying…
Will Jordan Greenway & Luke Kunin have great seasons and get paid in the offseason as Restricted Free Agents?
Parise Does It
Can he keep doing it? Zach Parise led the Wild in points (61) & goals (28) last season. As he gets older, the only thing to worry about is his health. He’s going to be relentless whenever he’s on the ice and he has a knack of being where the puck is to score goals. That’s near the crease if you didn’t know. He plants himself in there and just battles to win pucks.
He should start the season on a line with Mats Zuccarello and he has really enjoyed playing with him so far this preseason. He likes being with a playmaking forward because he knows Mats will find him and get him more chances to score goals.
Foligno Security
Marcus Foligno will protect his net and his teammates. He’s become a very good penalty killer and he knows one of his jobs is to be the bodyguard or the enforcer and he doesn’t hesitate to step in when he feels the need.
One of the best plays of the preseason came in game 2, the first televised game. Matt Dumba took a high hit against the Colorado Avalanche and Marcus Foligno did not hesitate to show it’s not okay to mess with Dumba.
The Return of The Dumba Blast
Matt Dumba’s injury last season was the turning point. That’s when the offense and the power play went downhill and the season followed. Did it affect the locker room? It played a part but a lot of things affected the Wild missing the playoffs, the trades, the losing and no Dumba to lead the offense with his shot and his energy.
Dumba looks ready to continue what he was doing last season. He had 12 goals through 32 games. That’s a 30-goal pace! His 12 goals still finished in the Top-20 for defenseman. So having him back in the lineup and hopefully, for a full season, will be a huge boost to this team.
Remember what happened to the defense last season after the Dumba injury? They moved Greg I-Don’t-Even-Score-In-Practice Pateryn up to the 2nd pair. Dumba had 22 points in 32 games last season. Pateryn had 2 goals & 20 points over the last 2 seasons (153 games) on 200 shots on goal for a shooting percentage of 1. So, it was Jonas Brodin & Pateryn on the 2nd pair. Ouch. That pair had 1 goal & 16 points (Brodin: 9 assists; Pateryn: 1 goal, 6 assists) in the 50 games after December 15th, the game that brought Dumba’s season to an end.
The Kapfinn Returns, too
F Mikko Koivu will also return from surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament he suffered on February 5th. The Wild missed their leader, too. He leads from a defensive standpoint but he still brings some offense, too. He provides a center that can shut down the opponent’s top lines and he wins faceoffs. The Wild missed that when he was gone.
At 36, you’d think it would take a while to recover from an intense injury and surgery like that but Mikko is ready for the season to begin. We’ll see how well he holds up, though.
Where will Mikko line up? 2nd, 3rd or 4th-line center? Or, maybe the question should be who will his linemates be?
Zucker is Still Here
Thankfully, all of the efforts of Paul Fenton to trade F Jason Zucker fell through. He’s due for a bounce-back season after only scoring 21 goals last season. He also went from 64 points in 2018-19 to 42 points last season. He shot the puck more but his percentage went down. He hit the post a lot and his shot percentage went down by over 5%. His scoring chances actually went up although high danger scoring chances went down and he obviously didn’t cash in on as many of those scoring chances.
Having been in the trade rumors for the majority of last season and the offseason, Jason Zucker didn’t need any further motivation as he wants to stay in Minnesota and succeed here. He knows he can be and expects to be a 30-goal scorer in the NHL.
Deep Blue Something*
One of the good great things Bill Guerin did soon after being named GM of the Minnesota Wild was to get in touch with D Jared Spurgeon to address his contract situation. It didn’t take Billy G long to get Spurgeon extended for 7 more years in the State of Hockey to the tune of $53.025M, a $7.575 average annual value & cap hit.
That’s actually a higher cap hit than D Ryan Suter & F Zach Parise so he will be the highest-paid Wild player starting next season. It would also make him the 11th highest paid defenseman this season taking over 11th from Suter and he would be 10th if Dustin Byfuglien decides to retire but, of course, that starts next season. He is currently the 49th highest paid d-man.
D Jared Spurgeon had career highs in goals (14), even-strength goals (10), points (43), shots on goal (152) and shots attempted (304) last season. He also finished 11th in Norris Trophy voting. He’s 29-years-old for another 57 days but he’s become one of the best defenseman in the entire league since his career began in 2010. At just 5’9 & 167 lbs, Jared might be the guy to look at if you don’t think you can play in the NHL. He’s small but he plays defense and, although not a big physical presence, of course, he still plays physical but his skating ability, his speed, his shot and, most of all, his hockey sense help him succeed.
The blue line is one of, if not, the biggest strength for the Minnesota Wild. Since training camp began, the talk has been all about Matt Dumba’s return and Jared Spurgeon’s contract extension and nobody is saying anything about Ryan Suter, the Wild’s #1 defenseman.
Ryan Suter played all 82 games last season and he was coming off a brutal foot injury that many were saying could be of the career-ending variety. Now, he’s had a good offseason and he’s just lying in the weeds for another great season. He’s missed 9 games over his 7 seasons in Minnesota while averaging almost 28 minutes on ice and scoring 43 points a season. If you look up above, you’ll see 43 points was just Jared Spurgeon’s career-high in his 9th season and Suter averaged that.
Sutes should be completely healthy and put up great numbers again this season.
Jonas Brodin will always provide great defense because of his skating ability and his knowledge of the game. Doesn’t it feel like he should put up more points, though? He has been shooting the puck more but they just haven’t found the back of the net. What would a breakout season look like from #25? 10+ goals, 20+ assists? He had 8 goals in his 2nd season in 2013-14 but he didn’t turn into the 2-way defenseman we’d thought he’d be. He’s still as dependable as they come on the back end, though.
Nick Seeler, Brad Hunt and Carson Soucy round out the blue line. Seeler is a physical presence that is very much welcomed by his teammates. He has very good ability on defense as well. His skating ability is underrated but he’s a battler every time he’s on the ice. Brad Hunt is a decent defenseman who can bring some offense on the power play because of his shot. He’s also a great teammate. Soucy could turn into a Greg Pateryn-type with a little more offense. He has size and skating ability. We’ll see how he fills in for Pateryn over the next 6 weeks. If it doesn’t go as well as the Wild hope, Louie Belpedio will be waiting in Iowa for the call.
*Does anyone remember Deep Blue Something? They were a one-hit wonder with the song, Breakfast at Tiffany’s. You know, “and I said, what about…Breakfast at Tiffany’s. She said I think I…remember the film…” It’s a good song! Maybe they should play it at a Wild game?
Stopping the Puck
Devan Dubnyk is a good goalie and he has the ability to be very good. He allows too many soft goals, which aren’t always his fault, to be honest. That being said, it is his job to stop the puck. He has a great defense in front of him and he’s been very good for the Wild since he was acquired in 2015 but his Goals Against Average (GAA-2.25, 2.52, 2.54) has gone up while his Save % (.923, .918, .913) has gone down the last three seasons while he’s played 60 or more games.
Will the Wild try to lessen his workload this season? Is Alex Stalock capable of giving the Wild 20-25 starts and not hurting them in net? His stats don’t paint a great picture but he’s a good puck mover and he always has a great attitude.
Does former Gopher Mat Robson get a chance to show what he can do in the NHL this season? Or maybe Kaapo Kahkonen? They’re both 23-years-old and will battle for the #1 starting spot for Iowa. Kaapo was thrust into playing early last season due to injuries then faded as the season went on while Robson took over the full-time spot for the Minnesota Gophers. His numbers reflected a young defense in our opinion but he looks like a future NHL goalie with his size and his skill. The Wild signed Robson to give him a shot so he’ll likely begin the season as the #1 starter in Iowa. They are both restricted free agents after this season.
The Bottom Line
Can the Wild get better because the culture is improved? Did Paul Fenton tear up this team last season, causing them to miss the playoffs? Is Bill Guerin able to make that big of a difference with his players, his coaches and the entire organization to get this team back on track of making the playoffs?
It definitely feels like he has and he can. It’s a vastly different feeling in the building since Billy G has joined the organization. He knows what he wants from the team and he’s told them what he wants. He’s not going to dance his way around telling anyone how it is. He expects the team to play hard and put forth the effort and sacrifice to help this team win and to be a team that cares and plays for each other.
It’s time to see how much of a difference that’s going to make because the 19th Season of Minnesota Wild Hockey begins…TONIGHT!!!
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The Time to #GetWild is RIGHT NOW so…
