The Minnesota Wild enter the 2017-18 season with a lot of the same question marks as they did a year ago, coming off a second straight 1st round playoff exit.
We will hear and read that the Wild have good regular seasons but once the Spring gets here they are a non factor. Combine that with their coach Bruce Boudreau's tremendous regular season track record, but disappointing playoff history, the topic will be written about and talked about to death.
In reality none of that matters to what is before us. The slate is clean, the road to the playoffs is long, windy, and bumpy. The experiences of the past will only serve this Wild team, coach, general manager, and owner to work harder to achieve the ultimate goal.
The so called experts are making their predictions as they always do at this time, and the Wild have been slotted all over the board, anywhere from 1st to 5th in the tough Central Division. Most of those prognosticators base their opinions off of past performance primarily. They really don't dive into the nuts and bolts and intangibles, when making their bold predictions.
The Wild are absolutely a pre-season contender heading into the 2017-18 NHL season. They have made the playoffs five straight seasons and have the experience, depth, coaching, front office, and owner support to drive this team to new heights.
That said, how are they going to get there?
The Wild have been built on team defense and goaltending from the very start and this year is no different. Devan Dubnyk is poised and ready to have a great season, behind the deepest Wild team he has ever played with. The Wild defense corps is one of the very best the league has to offer led by workhorse Ryan Suter.
What makes this Wild team different from Wild teams of the past, begins with a burning desire to win and take the lessons learned from past failures to overcome the demons of playoffs past.
It begins at the top with owner Craig Leipold, who is dedicated to bringing the Stanley Cup to the State of Hockey. He took the most recent playoff loss very hard, and has vowed that this year the goal is very clear. This team must compete for the Stanley Cup.
We all know that the NHL season is an 82 game grind of survival. There will be peaks and valleys, injuries, slumps, line juggling, travel, breaks, etc. Every team will face their own set of challenges along the way, but the only thing that matters is getting into the playoffs. We have seen that the teams that win in the playoffs are the ones that are playing well at playoff time.
Wins in October, November, and December all count the same and are necessary, but in the grand scheme of things it only matters how a team performs when it counts, down the stretch and more importantly in the playoffs.
So with that in mind we take a look at the 2017-18 Minnesota Wild and how they are constructed heading into the new season.
As we have already established this is the deepest Wild team assembled to date. Training camp was more of a formality for the Wild this season with most of the roster determined before anyone took to the ice.
That said though, there were still battles but more importantly there are stronger candidates waiting in the wings to get their shot should someone slip up or take their position for granted in even the slightest manner.
Zach Parise is the only question mark heading into the season, it is confirmed he will not travel with the team for either of the first two games of the season due to his ailing back. It is uncertain as to when he will be ready, but keeping him out at the beginning of the season and taking this slow is the right course of action.
It is a long season and we all know what makes Zach the player he is, and that is his tenacity and fearless effort that he gives every time he is on the ice. He cannot change that style, that is what defines him as a player, and in order for him to be successful the Wild need him as close to 100% as he can be before putting him in the lineup.
The NHL is no longer a top six forward league with the third line checkers and fourth line grinders, it is a league that demands teams to be able to get contributions from the entire lineup.
Last season the Wild had 10 forwards (excluding Martin Hanzal, who scored 20, but 16 came as a Coyote) that scored double digit goals. They were the second highest scoring team with 263 goals scored while the 7th best defensive team allowing just 206 goals against.
The forward group this season is actually better than the team had a year ago, of course at least on paper. Gone from the forward position are Jason Pominville (13 goals, 47 pts) and Erik Haula (15 goals, 26 pts). The additions in their places are Marcus Foligno (13 goals, 23 pts) and Tyler Ennis (5 goals, 13 pts in 51 games).
Foligno brings a presence to the Wild lineup of size and toughness in which the Wild teams of the past have been sorely lacking from on the top three lines. Ennis on the other hand is a skill player that has suffered through a couple of injury riddled seasons these last two years, but is a three time 20 goal scorer in this league and at 27 is in the prime of his career.
Last season's breakout line of Mikko Koivu, Mikael Granlund, and Jason Zucker is back together tolead the Wild once again. Granlund is looking to better his career best numbers (26 goals,69 pts) from a year ago when he blossomed into the player that the Wild thought they had drafted with the 9th pick back in 2010.
Zucker bounced back last season after a tough 2015-16 campaign, scoring new career highs with 22 goals and 25 assists, and will be looking to build on that output utilizing his speed and craftiness to complement the playmaking of his Finish linemates, Koivu and Granlund.
Eric Staal had a resurgence to his career coming over to the Wild last season, due in large part to his being the number one center from day one and not having to look over his shoulder all season. He came into camp in tremendous shape and worked very hard to be that number one center the Wild have been missing. His emergence helped slot Koivu into the number two center role and the results were fantastic.
Now do I think Staal is going to repeat his 28 goal, 65 point output from a year ago? Maybe not, but on this team I don't believe he has to with the depth the Wild have. He does however, need to continue to be a force in all three zones, and especially in the faceoff circle. Staal is both a leader on the ice and off and that is what this Wild club needs the most.
The addition of Foligno, along with the continued maturation of Nino Niederreiter and Charlie Coyle, will take some of the offensive pressure off of veterans Staal, Koivu, and Parise.
Niederreiter is signed to a new deal as is Granlund, but Nino really made a statement about what he expects of himself when he opted to not have a no movement clause as part of his new contract. He has stated that if he doesn't play well enough for the Wild to want him around, he is not goin to stand in their way of making the team better. That is a player that is driven to be the best on the ice and to add to that he has set his sights on being a 30 goal guy this season.
The Wild defense is very strong and mobile which makes the offense all that much better. The major subtraction from last season is of course Marco Scandella, who was sent to Buffalo along with Pominville, for Foligno and Ennis. Scandella gave the Wild a luxury of having 5 defenseman that are all capable of playing top four minutes keeping competition for ice time at an all time high.
With Scandella gone, Chuck Fletcher signed Kyle Quincey to a one year deal on July 1st, to give the Wild another veteran presence. The biggest training camp battle was between Gustav Olofsson and Mike Reilly as to who would be paired with Quincey on that final D pairing.
Reilly outplayed Olofsson in camp, and earned his way onto the big club. Reilly can be sent to Iowa without having to clear waivers, whereas the Wild do not have that same luxury with Olofsson. They will both begin the season in Minnesota.
Reilly looks like a totally different player now in his third year with the Wild organization, he is poised to become a regular in the lineup and take his game to a new level.
The top four Wild defenseman, is as good or better than almost every team in the league. Ryan Suter is steady as a rock leading the team in his yeoman like manner. Never flashy, just doing everything and making it look effortless, that is Ryan Suter.
This season Suter will start the season with Matt Dumba as his defensive partner, shifting longtime d mate Jared Spurgeon to play with Jonas Brodin.
These pairings make a lot of sense as Dumba brings the most offensive upside and having the defensive conscience of Suter can only enhance his game allowing Dumba to realize his true potential in this league.
Spurgeon (10 goals, 38 pts, and a +33) really established himself last season as an elite defenseman in his own regard last season. Pairing him with Jonas Brodin, who at times has been the Wild's most consistent defenseman the last few years, may even make them both that much better.
The Wild goaltending position ever since the acquisition of Devan Dubnyk, two and half years ago, has been a one man show. If Dubnyk was not in the net, the Wild chances of winning took a major hit. This has put a tremendous strain on both Dubnyk as well as the coach Boudreau, and Mike Yeo and John Torchetti before him.
The lack of a capable and reliable backup goaltender has forced Dubnyk to play far too many games and the wear and tear takes its toll. This season Alex Stalock has earned the backup job, after a solid season in Iowa last year and a couple good performance with the Wild a year ago.
Niklas Svedberg was brought in this year to give the Wild some better organizational depth at the position and will start the year in Iowa. Svedberg spent the last 2 seasons in the KHL, but does have some NHL experience playing 19 games with the Bruins over the course of 2 seasons.
It is no secret that Boudreau does not want to play Dubnyk nearly as much as he did last season, so the backup goalie position is a critical one indeed.
The season is upon us, the offseason work of management and players is done. The 2017-18 Minnesota Wild are a team loaded and ready to take on all comers as they look to become a force in the Western Conference and take aim at the league's biggest prize.