All Things 2025-26 Minnesota Wild Season Thread

[TRF Guy]

Grade: B


Minnesota Wild

Preseason over/under: 94.5
Current points pace: 99.8

What has gone right? Being able to consistently field the same roster. Injuries took the Wild from having one of the best starts of any team last season to one that had to fight just to grab a wild-card spot.

To be clear, this season has had its challenges. But it comes with the context that they've had eight players appear in every game, and 13 of their skaters have played in 20 or more of their first 23 games. The impact of that has been reflected in the Wild's defensive core: Three of the top four defensemen in terms of average ice time have played in every game, and Jonas Brodin has sat out only one.

What has gone wrong? They need to score more goals. Anyone who follows the Wild knows how this all works; they struggle to consistently score goals but can often rely or in some cases rely too much on their defensive structure and goaltending to win games.

This season has seen its share of disconnects with that approach. Minnesota's underlying numbers suggest it should be scoring more goals. The Wild are in the top half of the NHL in scoring chances per 60 and shots per 60. They are also 18th in high-danger chances, only to be in the bottom 10 of goals per game. To to get in a more secure playoff position -- they've been jockeying between third place in the Central or a wild-card spot -- they'll need to ramp up the scoring.

Who's making the grade, and who's failing at the NHL quarter mark? Grades for all 32 teams

From multiple A's down to two F's, here's what has gone right (and wrong) for every club.

www.espn.com

 

[Ogie Ogilthorpe]

There slide began when #97 went down. Hopefully that doesn’t happen again

Absolutely.

Again, a large portion of the West is just plain off to a middling, lethargic, disinterested start to the season. The Wild need to be taking advantage of that and for the most part, they have done a pretty good job of that. One would think some of these teams are going to start getting things rolling before too long but right now, it's just a big pack of teams where nobody really seems to want to assert themselves except Colorado, and then probably MIN and DAL.

Is Johansson really going to keep producing at a 65+ point rate all season?

 

[TRF Guy]

And the hot goalies are no longer hot and offense is bleak hence back to back losses to 2 not so good teams

 

[upnorthkid]

And the hot goalies are no longer hot and offense is bleak hence back to back losses to 2 not so good teams

that actually would've been a very interesting fade option to miss the playoffs when they were streaking. the goal differential is still terrible and they have one of the worst offenses in the league. the space between in and out is not all that large so far this year due to a ton of OT games, which we've certainly benefited from with 11 OT games (6-5 record) helping to ramp up those points

 

[TRF Guy]

 

[TRF Guy]

 

[Ogie Ogilthorpe]

Going out on a limb and hammering a handful of Wild players on scoring a Power Play Point tonight against the Kraken. The Kraken have the worst PK in the NHL at Home, although they allow don't give up very PPs overall. The Kraken and the Wild are among the league leaders in fewest PPs allowed, but the Wild are 2nd in the NHL in drawing PP's (the Wild do draw MUCH more PP at home than on the road though).

Hard to pass up a team like the Kraken who are as shitty as they are on the PK; 67.6% at home. Wowzers.

I got action on KK97, EEK, Boldy, Buium, and even Tarasenko.

Let's go WILD!!!

 

[gophersfan]

Wild over the Kraken 3-1.

 

[upnorthkid]

Wild over the Kraken 3-1.

Don’tshorten vladdy his big goal

 

[TRF Guy]

Don’tshorten vladdy his big goal

Yeah that open netter was epic

 

[Slim Tubby]

Trading a good player and FRP for a 30-something pending UFA seems right up Guerin's alley:

The Minnesota Wild have reportedly “shown significant interest” in Vancouver Canucks veteran forward Kiefer Sherwood, according to The Athletic’s Michael Russo and Joe Smith.

Sherwood, a pending unrestricted free agent, is widely expected to be dealt by the Canucks before the trade deadline next year. According to Russo and Smith, “The Canucks have shopped him around the league and originally wanted a good, young prospect.”

Smith and Russo now cite league sources who tell them the Canucks “have since changed gears” in their expectations, and “now want a good roster player and have also asked teams for a first-round pick.”