In St Paul, the Minnesota Wild stood pat, for the most part, in the off season.
There were departures for sure, but the arrivals were nothing near earth shattering or newsie.
Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov will be leaned on more than usual this season. – Photo by Jack Lima
The loses to the roster included Gustav Nyquist, Oskar Sundqvist, Ryan Reaves, Matt Dumba, and John Klingberg. Not an insignificant list of players and talent leaving the Wild.
The Wild responded with the acquisition of Pat Maroon, and the signing of Vinni Lettieri, late of the Boston Bruins organization.
“I would have loved to have been more active (in free agency),” Wild general manager Bill Guerin said on NHL.com. “At certain times of the day you get frustrated, but then you look at your board and you realize that most of your team is already intact. … for the most part, our team is together and we’re happy with that.”
No changes were made, or anticipated in net, with Filip Gustavsson being the likely number one this season. He will be backed up by Marc-Andre Fleury to start the season.
The Wild are looking to to bring in Jesper Wallstedt in the 2024-25 season in the net. He iced for the Iowa Wild in the AHL last season. In 38 games, Wallstedt posted a 18-15-5 record with a 2.68 GAA and a .908 save percentage
“I think just having [Gustavsson] and [Fleury] right now does give Jesper time,” Minnesota general manager Bill Guerin said. “We have the luxury of not having to rush him. That being said, if Jesper’s playing great and he’s ready to make the jump, hey look, having good goalies is a luxury and we’ve got three of them, so we’re very happy about that.”
Last season, the Wild finished third in the Central Division, and lost to the Dallas Stars in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
This season they are going to be looking for better results with the same basic roster. It is next season, 2024-25, when the Wild may look completely different.
Four prospects are being held back until next campaign, including arat Khusnutdinov and Danila Yurov who play in the KHL again this season.
“We are never trying to rush these guys to get here,” Wild director of player development Brad Bombardir said. “Of course, we want them to get acclimated to North America as soon as we can, but he’s over there playing competitive, competitive hockey. And we are excited to see that continue to develop there this year.”
Defenseman Carson Lambos is also slated for next season.
“Physically, he’s strong enough, skates very well,” Bombardir said. “For him, it’s learning at this level that sometimes less is more. Go back and retrieve pucks — clearly go north and support that way. That’s the foundation we’re working with him (on). On his junior team, he was playing over 30 minutes a night. It’s a matter of having his confidence as a player to use his assets, but also understand the type of player he needs to be to build that foundation. Let some things grow in his game.”
In addition, Liam Ohgren will ice in the Swedish Hockey League this season before making a run at the Wild in St Paul.
Can the Wild make another run at the playoffs this season. Their late season fade had them fighting for that third spot in the division, but they were sapped and the Stars dispatched them in six games in the first round.
It will be a tough road to hoe if any of the pieces don’t click, especially in net.
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