Training Camp Preview — Minnesota Wild

The Minnesota Wild has a ton of experience and some fresh up and comers in the hunt for what it hopes will be a huge season, beginning Friday (Sept. 15, 2017) when the team opens camp in the twin cities.

Life in the Central Division has been tough for the Wild in recent years. After what seemed like an eternity of having to figure out how to get by the Hawks, the Wild have not had to face them in the past two seasons. However, the Dallas Stars and then St. Louis Blues have sent the veteran laden squad to the sidelines in the opening round of playoffs in each of the past two seasons.

On a team loaded with veterans – adding a 41-year-old forward might not seem the answer, but Matt Cullen decided to postpone his retirement after winning the Stanley Cup in June. The incentive for the Virginia, MN was to join a host of Minnesota brothers – 10 of the 58 players starting camp call the state home and another 6-10 hail from neighboring Midwest states as well – to take a run at bringing the Mug to the land of lakes.

It’s that ‘Now or Never’ mentality that could finally push the Wild over the top and the team seems to be loaded to make the run.

The 266 goals put up by the Wild in 2016-17 was second best in the league behind only the Penguins and the 208 goals allowed was seventh best and just eight goals away from a top three-spot.

On paper, this team has all it needs and with Cullen on the roster and Ryan Malone in camp as a PTO, looking to return after sitting out the previous two seasons, the potential is there for an even bigger offensive juggernaut.

Forwards

There are 34 players in camp and nine of them played for the Wild last season while five others – Marcus Foligno from Buffalo, Landon Ferraro, from Chicago, Cullen from Pittsburgh, Tyler Ennis from Buffalo and Daniel Winnick from Washington were regulars on other NHL rosters. There are no guarantees, but it is going to be hard for a rookie forward to crack the roster this season.

Charlie Coyle, Mikko Koivu, Zach Parise, Eric Staal, Jason Zucker, Nino Niederreiter, Cullen and Mikael Granlund should ease their way into the roster, barring anything unforeseen and with the NHL experience behind them, the battles will be fierce.

Luke Kunin, 19, a First Round (15^th Overall) pick by the Wild in 2016, looked good with the University of Wisconsin where he collected 70 points (31g, 29a) in 69 games over the previous two seasons before making his intentions known, playing a dozen games with the Iowa Wild of the AHL at the end of last season. He likely will return to Des Moines this Fall, but management will likely give him a good look before sending him anywhere.

Defense

Ryan Suter passed that 30-year-old plateau a couple of seasons ago, but he hasn’t stepped back in terms of time on ice. Perennially among the busiest in the league, last season Suter played an average of 26:55 minutes per game, ranking third behind only Drew Doughty (27:08) and Dustin Byfuglien (27:26).

Jared Spurgeon is a regular partner for Suter playing over 24 minutes with Matt Dumba over 20 minutes as well while Jonas Brodin is just under the 20-minute mark.

Another minute-muncher, Erik Haula, will be among the key defenders on the Vegas Golden Knights after being claimed in the expansion draft. The Wild added Kyle Quincey over the summer to replace Haula

Goaltenders

Devan Dubnyk started 63 games for the Minnesota Wild and he was among the league’s best and most consistent keepers. His primary backup, Darcy Kuemper is gone though, signing with Los Angeles as a free agent.

That opens the door for Alex Stalock, a veteran that played in just one game with the team last year. Steve Michalek, played in 30 games with Iowa last season and could challenge in camp as well. There are six goaltenders all together in camp for the Wild.

The Wild will begin pre-season play on Monday (Sept. 18) at Winnipeg and will play seven games in total – Home and home with Winnipeg, Colorado and Dallas as well as a neutral site game in Kansas City against the Blues. Regular season starts on Oct. 5 with the Wild kicking off a three-game season opening road trip as the first team to play as a guest in regular season action at the new Little Caesar’s Arena in Detroit.