After Mikael Granlund signed his new three year contract, he was quick to focus on the team, rather than his own personal success. Granlund, knows that the early playoff exit still stings and it will serve as a rallying point for the 2017-18 Wild team.

Zach Parise talked about his the struggles he faced in 2016-17 due to injury and illness, limiting him to just 69 games, with many of those at less than 100%. Parise, too is looking for bigger and better things from the Wild in the upcoming season, entering the new season 100% healthy this time around.

Parise has averaged just 70 games per season over the last four seasons, and plays a hard nosed style of game that puts tremendous wear and tear on his 5'11" frame. The years are catching up to Zach, who just turned 33, but he is still a very effective player and needs to be a key contributor for the Wild.

Nino Niederreiter, also armed with a brand new five year contract, is ready to build on his career best season. Niederrreiter is part of the new Wild nucleus and at 24 is poised to take the next step in his progression, not only in the statistics department, but also as a leader in the locker room. Niederreiter's comments concerning the "No Trade" part of his contract,or should we say lack there of, says all that you need to know about Nino. He is committed to letting his performance dictate his worth to the Wild. The focus on team over self is what defines a leader.

We all know that 2016-17 saw some really good highs, including the 12 game record setting win streak, the franchise best 106 points and 49 wins, just to name a few. While the lows of the early playoff exit in five dismal games to division rival St. Louis along with the March skid are etched more in the recent memories of the Wild fanbase.

The fact is that no one remembers who finishes 2nd, period. Winning during the regular season is only good enough to get a team into the playoffs. Teams that win in the playoffs are the ones that are typically playing well down the stretch. So wins in October through January count just as much in the standings, but mean very little when the games matter most.

That is what the Wild brass is focused on and everything that they are doing is to position this team for March 2018 and beyond. Yes, there are a lot of games to be played prior to then and they are important for sure, but no achievement either personal or team related is going to be the focus of the 2017-18 Minnesota Wild. This team must make a deep playoff run and nothing short of that will be acceptable.

That should be exciting to the State of Hockey faithful, as there is no shying away from the fact that this team is geared up to win and to win now.

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