Central Division Preview: 3 burning questions for the Minnesota Wild

The Minnesota Wild feel like the same team every season. They scratch and call over 82 games to get into the postseason, only to make a quick exit. They haven’t won a playoff series since 2015, bowing out in the opening round in eight straight postseason appearances. They have only won four playoff series in franchise history, and half of those came during their run to the Western Conference Final in 2003. Playing in the Central Division certainly doesn’t help them reach the next step, as they aren’t quite good enough to compete with the upper-echelon teams.

Minnesota Wild Vitals

2024-25 Record: 42-30-7, 97 points (4th in the Central Division, lost in First Round to Vegas)
Goal Leader: Matt Boldy (27)
Assist Leader: Matt Boldy (46)
Point Leader: Matt Boldy (73)

Additions

Vladimir Tarasenko, RW
Nico Sturm, C

Departures

Marc-Andre Fleury, G (Retired)
Gustav Nyquist, RW (WPG)
Justin Brazeau, RW (PIT)
Devin Shore, C (Czechia)

To get more insight into the Wild for the upcoming season, I asked three burning questions to Gone Puck Wild site expert Justin Godfrey.

What are your thoughts on Kirill Kaprizov’s record-setting contract?

So, despite our sometimes less-than-optimistic posts, I always felt they would find a way to extend his contract. Honestly, I thought it would be for a much shorter length (three or four years) and around $16 million. Am I surprised that the Wild wanted him for eight years, considering he'll be 29 years old when the extension kicks in? Yeah, kind of. He doesn't exactly have the track record of being the healthiest player on the team. Still, it was important that they did keep him past this season, and if that meant an extra million a year and an eight-year deal, so be it. It's not like Bill Guerin hasn't dealt with dead money on his salary cap in the past. 

The fact that it was signed prior to the season is huge as well. The Wild head into an extremely important season with zero distractions. Guerin was able to get his biggest restricted free agent (Marco Rossi) under contract, as well as his most important player, Kaprizov. The Wild now have a core group of young to young-ish players under long-term deals in Kaprizov, Rossi, Matt Boldy, Joel Eriksson Ek, and Brock Faber. That's a pretty good group to build around.

As for Kaprizov. With no disrespect intended to Marion Gaborik or Jason Zucker, Kaprizov is the most talented offensive player this franchise has had in its 25-year history. Moving forward, he has to live up to his price tag. This is the highest AAV ever awarded to an NHL player (at least for now), and his performance is going to be judged on that price tag. As I mentioned earlier, he doesn't have the greatest track record of staying on the ice. After missing just two games in his first two seasons, he missed 15 games in 2022-23, 7 games in 2023-24, and a whopping 41 games in 2024-25. When he's on the ice, he's electric, but he's going to have to find a way to stay healthy over the life of this contract.

Minnesota was always in a position to offer him the most money, and it's also the best fit for him on the ice. Even with his record-setting deal, they will have room to continue to build around him, and they have a crop of young talent (which equals affordable for a few years) coming up that will replace some of the higher-priced veterans at the end of the deals (Mats Zuccarello, Jared Spurgeon, etc). That's the formula for a Stanley Cup-caliber team. Had they let Kaprizov go in free agency or traded him during the season, it would have been a massive reset on Guerin's vision. 

With Marc-Andre Fleury out of the picture, is Gustavsson a trustworthy, true number-one goaltender?

The short answer is yes. He made 58 starts last year and finished sixth in the voting for the Vezina Trophy. The 27-year-old posted career-bests in wins (31) and finished fifth in the league with a .914 SV%. The big question is whether he can keep up that level of play. So far, it’s been a topsy-turvy tenure in Minnesota—a solid first season, sketchy second year, and then a strong third year.  

Even with Fleury enjoying retirement, Gustavsson can’t rest. There was a feeling at one point that Gustavsson was a stopgap solution until Jesper Wallstedt was ready to assume the number one mantle. Now, after the younger Wallstedt had a bit of a struggle with injuries and performance, the idea of Gustavsson signing a long-term deal to stay in Minnesota isn’t so far-fetched. 

Figuring out who his number-one goaltender will be moving forward is the second biggest decision Bill Guerin has to make this fall/winter. Gustavsson has been better than expected overall in his three seasons with the Wild, and could be the number one goaltender on the free agent market this summer. Keeping him in Minnesota could cost quite a bundle, but letting him walk and relying on an even more unproven goalie in Wallstedt could throw the Wild’s hope for a Stanley Cup out of the window.

The Wild were 25th in the NHL last season with 2.74 Goals Per Game. Outside of Kaprizov, where are the goals going to come from?

Oddly enough, the initial answer I would give you is that the missing offense itself is going to hopefully come from Kaprizov, and to a lesser extent, Joel Eriksson Ek. To keep it simple, those two have to stay healthy. Kaprizov appeared in 41 games last season, while Eriksson Ek played in just 46. Having two top-six scorers miss half of the season is going to cut a big chunk out of any offense, especially if they’re both out at the same time, which they were from the end of February until early April.

If you look at the Wild’s scoring from February 23rd until April 8th, a span of 21 games without Kaprizov and Eriksson Ek, they scored a whopping 2.07 goals per 60 minutes (GF/60) according to Natural Stat Trick. Not only was that dead last in the league, it was last by a substantial margin as Nashville was 31st in scoring at 2.29 GF/60. 

Prior to that, they were 18th in the league with 2.87 GF/60. Not exactly the 1980s Oilers in terms of scoring, but decent enough with their defense to be contenders. Considering Kaprizov missed a portion of that stretch (he was out of the line-up from December 23rd to January 23rd, played a few games, and then was out of the line-up again starting on January 26th), it’s not a bad bit of offense.

So, the offense should see a boost if both of those players stay healthy. Outside of that, I think there is some room for more offense from both Marco Rossi (who had 24 goals last year) and Matt Boldy (27 goals). Liam Ohgren and Danila Yurov are two younger players who could see a big role on the third line this season, which could provide secondary offense as well.

Ohgren had two goals in 24 games last season, but might have an expanded role in the top-six if Mats Zuccarello misses time early in the season. Yurov is getting his first taste of North American hockey after some solid seasons in the KHL with Metallurg Magnitogorsk. 

Don’t count out some blueline offense from rookie Zeev Buium as well. He was a prolific scorer at the University of Denver (24 goals, 74 assists in 98 games). He got his feet wet in the NHL last season, debuting in the waning days of the regular season before appearing in four games in the playoffs.