It’s Hockey Season

You can’t win the Indianapolis 500 on the first lap, but you can lose it on the first lap. You can’t win the Stanley Cup in October, but you can lose it in October.

The latter applies to all NHL teams – including the Minnesota Wild – opening their seasons this week. Yes, hockey season has arrived. Don’t let Minnesota’s forecasted high temperatures in the 80-degree range fool you. The Minnesota Wild will open their season Thursday night with a game against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

The Wild come off a season that ended without a playoff berth for the first time in five years. They finished with a 39-34-9 record and 87 points, only good enough for sixth place in the Central Division. Their abysmal 5-10-4 start got then-coach Dean Evason fired and replaced with John Hynes.

Last October, the Wild went 3-4-2 and were 7-10-4 by the end of November. With Thanksgiving as an unofficial benchmark for playoff teams, a below .500 record didn’t put the Wild in a good spot.

But it’s time to turn the page to the 2024-25 campaign. It’s a new season, a fresh start. The first-day-of-school vibes. This will mark the first full season for Hynes behind the bench with the Wild.

Wild players gather and celebrate during a preseason game Oct. 1 against the Chicago Blackhawks. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Minnesota will undoubtedly look to get off to a good start, and they’ll have to get there mostly on the road. In what always seems to be some kind of schedule quirk, the Wild starts with a pair of home games against Columbus and Seattle before hitting the road for the rest of October. The Wild have seven consecutive road games from Oct. 13-29. They return home Nov. 1 to host the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Looking at the roster, it’s a lot of familiar faces. Wild fans don’t have a lot of new jersey numbers or names to memorize. Kirill Kaprizov is still the stud and star of the team. He led the team in goals (46) and points (96) last season. Just a few tallies shy of reaching a 50 goals, 50 assists season. That should be an attainable bar for this season.

Joel Eriksson Ek comes off a career-high 30-goal season. With a grain of salt, he was tied for the team lead in three preseason games with eight points. Winger Mats Zuccarello also returns to the squad; he recorded a team-high six assists in three preseason games. Zuccarello led the Wild with 51 assists last season, reaching that mark for the second time in his career.

Health and injuries are always a story somehow. Matt Boldy has dealt with injury in the preseason but should be ready for the regular season. He finished last season a goal shy of the 30-goal mark and notched 40 assists for 69 points. When Boldy is on, he’s on, and his offensive play is quite impressive. Consistency should be the name of the game for Boldy as he starts his fourth season in the NHL. He’s improved his point totals each year so far, and his goals and points often come in bunches.

On the blue line, there’s Brock Faber, fresh off signing his big, eight-year, $68 million contract extension this summer. No, he didn’t win the Calder, but he was spectacular for the Wild last season. He seemed to fit in seamlessly as a rookie in many ways. He led NHL rookies with his 24:58 time-on-ice average per game and 150 blocked shots. He scored eight goals and 39 assists. He helped run the power play. He even played the end of the season with broken ribs.

Captain Jared Spurgeon is also back after an injury-riddled season last year limited him to only 16 games. Three goaltenders have roster spots: The veteran Marc-Andrew Fleury, Filip Gustavsson and Jesper Wallstedt.

Thursday’s opener marks a homecoming, of sorts, for Evason. He returns to Xcel Energy Center as a head coach, but this time as the head coach of Columbus. Evason went 147-77-27 in 251 games as the Wild’s head coach from 2020-23 in parts of five seasons.

Another familiar face? Niklas Backstrom. The former Wild goaltender is now a goalie coach with Columbus. Backstrom played 409 career games with the Wild from 2006-15, going 194-142-50 and holding the Wild franchise record in games played and wins.

Wild fans waved their LED rally towels during last season’s home opener against the Florida Panthers. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Tidbits:
For the fans: All fans attending the season opener will receive a light-up LED rally towel. The Wild also gave out the rally towels at last year’s home opener.

For the fans, part II: The Wild has invited fans to the Green Carpet Player Arrival and Pregame Party from 3:30-6:30 p.m. at the next-door RiverCentre ahead of Thursday’s game. Fans will get to watch players arrive and walk the green carpet.

Foligno: Assuming Marcus Foligno suits up for these first two games, he’ll reach 800 career NHL games played.

Eriksson Ek: A similar note for Joel Eriksson Ek. He’s two games away from 500 career NHL games.