It took a little extra time, but the Wild got the two points it desperately needed in a 3-2 overtime victory over the division rival Dallas Stars on Sunday at Xcel Energy Center. Here are five rules recapping their latest win:

1. Marco Rossi finished a highlight-reel play in overtime for his 24th goal of the season.

Only 13 seconds into overtime, Matt Boldy was tripped up by Stars’ goal scorer Jason Roberston to put the Wild on a power play.

That gave the Wild a 4-on-3 advantage. Boldy and Mats Zuccarello cycled the puck beautifully, with Zuccarello’s shot tipped in on the back door by Rossi at 58 seconds of overtime.

“Try to be open, and Zuccy is going to find you,” said Rossi, who also recorded an assist in the game.

Boldy offered more on how the winner developed, calling it “an unbelievable play by Zuccy.”

“Great battle on the zone entry,” Boldy said. “They played that about as good as they possibly could. The best I’ve ever seen any 4-on-3 play it. Great battle won there and then to get set up. You give the puck to the best playmaker on the team, and he makes no mistake.”

The Wild’s top line accounted for all three goals. Yes, that’s the top line of Marcus Foligno and Boldy on the wings with Rossi at center.

“Today was a good start to a big week for us,” said John Hynes.

2. Matt Boldy whacks his way to a three-point game.

Dallas took a 1-0 lead early in the game on Robertson’s 34th goal of the season. The score remained the same at the second intermission. But the Wild talked afterward about how they played well, even if the results didn’t always show up on the scoreboard.

“We had a really good game,” Rossi said. “Even the first and second period was good. Maybe the puck bounces didn’t go our way. But we played the right way and obviously go out goals in that third period.”

That started with Boldy tying the game about three minutes into the third period when he whacked the puck into the net as he was falling to his knees in the slot. He got up and emphatically celebrated his team-leading 26th goal of the season.

“Just kind of a bouncing puck that found some free ice, and I just tried to hit it as hard as I could,” Boldy said. “Got lucky it went in.”

Less than two minutes later, Foligno punched in a goal in the crease to give the Wild a 2-1 lead five minutes into the third. Boldy had the second assist on the play, as he did on Rossi’s winner.

It’s the sixth game this season in which Boldy (26-41—67) has scored three-or-more points in a game.

“I thought mentally we were in this game right from the start,” Boldy said.

3. The Wild’s penalty kill did its job.

The penalty kill has taken its fair share of lumps and criticism this season. There was a point where skating down a man might as well have come with an automatic goal for the opposing team, and quickly. Teams won faceoffs in their offensive zones and scored within the first 10 seconds of power plays against the Wild.

By the numbers, the Wild’s penalty kill is still one of the worst. Its 72.2% (54 goals allowed on 194 attempts) mark coming into Sunday’s game ranked 31st in the NHL. That ranking is the same on home ice at 69.1% (25 goals on 81 attempts) before Sunday.

The PK came into play on its New York road trip Friday against the Islanders. The Wild trailed just 2-1 headed into the third period but allowed a goal on the kill for a two-goal margin.

But against Dallas, with a road power play ranked ninth in the NHL coming in, the Wild went 4-for-4. Hynes commented on the Wild’s urgency in the play on the kill, along with strong attention to detail.

“I thought we got saves at the right times from Gus,” Hynes said. “We were strong on our clears. That’s the recipe.”

First, the Wild needed to kill a Boldy boarding penalty only eight seconds into the game. They also killed off two tripping penalties in the third period with 9:05 left in regulation. The Wild’s killers didn’t allow much for the Stars with the man advantage.

“The guys are being smarter with shares and things like that in our zone with the penalty kill,” Foligno said. “So, I just feel like it’s a lot of confidence.”

Unfortunately, about 10 seconds after that first penalty in the third period expired, the Stars tied the game with a shot off Zach Bogosian’s leg. A tie game with 3:27 left in regulation, and this time Brock Faber went to the box for tripping. But the Wild killed that one off, too, and eventually skated into overtime after securing a point.

“The PK guys stepped up when they needed to,” said Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson. “Three minutes on the clock is not an easy task to do. We needed to have a kill, and everyone did it.”

4. Filip Gustavsson made 23 saves on the way to winning his 30th game of the season.

Gustavsson improved to 30-18-6 this season. He’s remained consistent with his game during this recent stretch the last month or so, as the Wild have relied on him heavily.

While the Wild have struggled to find success on home ice this season, Gustavsson is 17-11-1 at Xcel Energy Center in 2024-25. He’s also the fifth goaltender in franchise history to win 30 games in a season. Devan Dubnyk did it four times, Nicklas Backstrom twice, and Cam Talbot and Manny Fernandez also each won 30 games in a season.

“I wish I could play every game,” Gustavsson said. “It’s something I love to do, and I wish I can continue doing it.”

5. The victory broke a four-game winless streak for the Wild.

Since the start of March, the Wild stepped onto the ice Sunday with a 7-7-3 record, earning 17 points in 17 games as they fight to keep pace in the standings and hold onto a wild card spot.

But a rough road trip out east this past week left the Wild with an 0-2-2 stretch even since their inspired victory over the Washington Capitals on home ice March 27, a game known more for its finish when Alex Ovechkin – who made history by scoring his 895th career NHL goal Sunday – made sure his team shook hands with Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury after the game.

From there, the Wild lost 5-2 to New Jersey, then in a shootout at the Devils’ home, followed by an overtime loss at the Rangers. A rough 3-1 loss at the Islanders on Friday generated some pointed and candid comments from the Wild locker room postgame.

But as Foligno said after Sunday’s game, the Wild needed to stop talking about what they need to do and just show up and play during this crucial time of year, which now has four games remaining in the regular season.

“We’ve just got to show up and play,” Foligno said. “Just sick of the meetings, sick of the motivational speeches. We know we have it in here. It’s just getting our head around it and doing it for a full 60.”

The Wild have 91 points in the second wild card spot in the Western Conference. St. Louis is just ahead with 93 points; the Blues can’t lose lately, having won 12 games in a row. Calgary is chasing the Wild with 85 points. The Wild play at home again Wednesday vs. San Jose.

“It’s been a grind, but we’re excited we’re in the driver’s seat still,” Foligno said. “Our fate’s in our hands.”

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No, not “booze,” although that was perhaps a pregame (and postgame) focus for many Minnesota Wild fans taking part in St. Patrick’s Day weekend festivities on West Seventh Street in downtown St. Paul.

First, fans directed boos at the scoreboard Saturday when the starting lineup for the visiting St. Louis Blues was announced, notably when former Wild defenseman Ryan Suter’s name came up. Then Wild fans – among the 800th sellout crowd at Xcel Energy Center – let the boos rain down when the Blues went up 3-0 on the Wild in the second period.

The Wild got on the board 25 seconds later, but it was an overall lackluster and sloppy effort from Minnesota as it fell 5-1. The loss dropped the Wild to 1-2-1 on this seven-game homestand and 3-6-1 in the last 10 games.

March Madness? More like March Sadness for Wild fans this season.  

“We definitely need more jam in our game, especially at this time of year,” said defenseman Jake Middleton, who scored the Wild’s lone goal Saturday. “We were just kind of waiting, I thought.”

Waiting for a hero to save them? No, Chad Kroeger. Middleton said they’re waiting for the next guy on the team to score. But it takes a team effort.

The Wild are obviously missing its superstar Kirill Kaprizov, who’s played only three games since Dec. 23 and is out for an unknown timetable with a lower-body injury that required surgery. Jonas Brodin and Joel Eriksson Ek are out injured, too.

“The guys we got in the lineup, we just got to figure out a way to bring it every night and compete,” Middleton said. “I think we have more than we had tonight.”

But in its most grueling part of the schedule late in the season, the Wild are floundering and failing to put pucks in the net. Getting a goal a game as a team isn’t going to cut it (that 1-0 victory, no doubt a solid win, March 2 in Boston aside).

Next man up?
Earlier in the season, the Wild preached the cliché of a “next-man-up mentality” when they were consistently shorthanded in the lineup because of injuries. They’ve had their fair share up and down the roster since October. For a while, the Wild weathered that storm by getting wins, points and goal production from guys not named Kaprizov.

It’s just not happening lately. In six of the last 10 games, the Wild have scored only one goal through regulation time. They’re 2-4 in those games. There’s the 1-0 victory against the Bruins and a 2-1 shootout victory against Colorado on March 11.

The Wild had to rally for a pair of third-period goals Thursday against the New York Rangers, or it would have been four consecutive games with just one goal. That Rangers prevailed 3-2 in overtime. Marcus Johnasson scored in that game, marking his first goal since Jan. 7. The Wild played strong defensively in that game, leading coach John Hynes to give his players credit in his postgame comments Thursday.

“I think we’re playing extremely hard and strong attention to detail, playing the way you really need to win this time of year there,” Hynes said, after the loss to the Rangers. “They’re highly competitive games.”

Top-line drought
But despite the playoff-type atmosphere that some of these games take on, there are other goal droughts on the team. Matt Boldy and Mats Zuccarello have played on the first line with center Marco Rossi. They’re just not producing.

Boldy hasn’t scored since just after the break in the Feb. 22 game at Detroit, a 4-3 overtime victory for the Wild. That’s zero goals in 10 games for him, and only five assists. He still leads the team this season with 21 goals and 55 points.  

Rossi’s goal drought pushed to nine games after Saturday, with only three assists in that span. He had the overtime winner in Detroit in that Feb. 22 game. The Wild had just 18 shots on goal Saturday, one each for Boldy and Rossi.

Zuccarello snapped a 10-game goalless streak with a goal Feb. 28 at Colorado. He has three goals and two assists across his last eight games.

“That’s no secret that we’re struggling to score goals as of late,” Zuccarello said. “We got to find a way to do it. They score on their chances, and we don’t.”

Zuccarello also acknowledged that losing 5-1 at home is not acceptable, adding “everyone in here knows it’s embarrassing for us to play like that, but what are we going to say? You’ve got to take it on the chin right now, and it’s not good enough.”

The Wild have consistently been a better road team this season, going just 15-15-2 at home. They’ve had some rough losses, lopsided ones, on home ice this season. A 7-1 loss to Edmonton on Dec. 12 that started a five-game homestand. A 6-1 loss to Florida later in that same home stretch. Another 6-1 loss vs. Colorado on Jan. 9.

The 5-1 loss Saturday could be added to the list, though this one comes when the Wild are playing nearly every other day throughout a busy month of March.

“It’s a competitive time of the year,” Hynes said. “Tonight, I thought there (were) some certain circumstances in the game where I think our attention to detail wasn’t where it needed to be.

“We didn’t have it tonight. … We’re in a tight race. Our team reacts, responds, works, competes all the time.”

The Wild have 79 points and are still in the first Wild Card spot for the postseason.

The Wild have another shot to right the ship, which keeps taking on water at Xcel Energy center this season, on Monday when Los Angeles visits.

“We’ve got to continue to have the belief that it’ll come,” said defenseman Zach Bogosian. “You know, we’ve had our share of looks in these past few games. Unfortunately, they’re not going in right now. But we have to continue to keep directing pucks at their net and you know eventually they’ll go in.”

The post Wild Scoring Woes appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

But Kaprizov did not join his teammates five days later as they reconvened to travel to Dallas for a game that night. Kaprizov had been battling a lower-body injury and the decision was made to shut him down before it got worse.

The Wild suffered another significant loss on New Year’s Eve when defenseman Jared Spurgeon was taken out by a slew foot from Nashville rookie Zachary L’Heureux and had to be helped off the ice.

The Wild had gone 1-1 in their first two games without Kaprizov and beat the Predators after Spurgeon’s lower-body injury. The Wild then went on the road and won back-to-back games against two very good teams in Washington and Carolina before returning to Xcel Energy Center for a 6-4 victory over the Blues.

That put the Wild at 5-1-0 without Kaprizov and 3-0 without Spurgeon. It was the latest impressive accomplishment by a team that had exceeded nearly everyone’s expectations, and had the Wild only two points behind Central Division-leading Winnipeg.

Blue-line depth being tested
But that Blues win came at a steep price. Defenseman Brock Faber took an elbow to the head from the Blues’ Jake Neighbours early in the game and played only five more shifts before leaving. Defenseman Jonas Brodin saw additional time with the minutes-eating Faber out and logged a career-high 33 minutes, 2 seconds. It was late in the game that Brodin remained on the ice for 2:41 and blocked three shots. One of them came off the stick of the Blues’ Colton Parayko and left Brodin hobbling.

He downplayed it after the game but hasn’t played since. Neither has Faber. Not surprisingly, the Wild hasn’t been the same since.

A 6-1 loss to Colorado at home was followed by a 3-1 victory at San Jose. Last Sunday, the Wild lost 4-1 at Vegas and then blew a 2-0 lead in a 5-3 loss on Wednesday to the Edmonton Oilers in St. Paul. The Wild lost second-line winger Marcus Johansson to a concussion in that one when he took an elbow to the head from Oilers superstar Connor McDavid.

There will be no case made that anyone should feel bad for the Wild. Every team loses key players to injury and must find a way to overcome it or get buried in the standings. Wild players have walked the fine line of acknowledging the magnitude of not having Kaprizov and three top defensemen, but not trying to hide behind that as an excuse for now being seven points behind the first-place Jets, only one point ahead of third-place Dallas and three up on the Avalanche.

It’s clear that John Hynes has established what he wants the message to be from his locker room. The Wild coach is very skillful at avoiding any criticism of his players but making it clear there is a standard they are expected to meet.

What’s difficult is judging which players are struggling and which are simply being asked to do more than they are capable of because of the hit to the depth chart. There also are players who are thriving, such as center Marco Rossi. Rossi has been paired with Matt Boldy and Mats Zuccarello on the Wild’s first line and has five goals and 11 points in those 10 games.

Causes for concern? 
As important as Kaprizov is to the Wild, they lost only one game without him but have now dropped three of four without Brodin and Faber. Not surprisingly, goalie Filip Gustavsson hasn’t looked anything like the guy who spent much of the first half of the season near the top of the NHL in goals-against average and save percentage.

Gustavsson registered a 21-save shutout against Carolina in the last full game that Brodin and Faber played. He was lifted in the second period of the Wild’s come-from-behind victory over the Blues after giving up four goals on 18 shots. Gustavsson has given up 15 goals in his past three starts (all losses) for an ugly .850 save percentage. If you include the Blues game, Gustavsson has surrendered 19 goals in four games for an .839 save percentage. His save percentage has gone from .926 to .914 in that time.

Cause for concern or an inevitability when guys like Zach Bogosian, Declan Chisholm Travis Dermott, Jon Merrill and rookie David Jiricek are forced to play elevated minutes because of key losses?

There are a couple of pieces of good news for the Wild. The first is that Kaprizov, Faber and Spurgeon all practiced on Friday, and bottom six forward Jakob Lauko (lower body) could be ready to return from a 13-game absence Saturday against Nashville. Brodin doesn’t appear as close, but the return of Kaprizov, Faber and Spurgeon would provide a huge boost.

The other thing the Wild have going for them is their fantastic start to the season. They went 5-1-1 on a seven-game road trip in October and had 44 points through their first 30 games.

Their start didn’t assure the Wild of a playoff berth, but it gave them a nice head start on making it. Given the current state of their roster, those early-season points might be what get the Wild into the postseason.

The post Injuries Stack Up appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Minnesota, already leading the St. Louis Blues 2-0 after getting two goals in the opening 2 minutes, 12 seconds, lost one of its best defensemen when Brock Faber departed halfway through the first period because of an upper-body injury. The Blues took advantage.

Pavel Buchnevich beat Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson at 13:26 of the first. St. Louis’ Jordan Kyrou, Jake Neighbours and Robert Thomas scored early in the second to chase Gustavsson and quiet the building.

A year ago, that would have been it for the Wild.

Already without superstar winger Kirill Kaprizov (lower body) and defenseman Jared Spurgeon (lower body), the loss of Faber and the four Blues goals would have been the perfect excuse to give up.

The Wild did the opposite.

Players stepped up
Joel Eriksson Ek, who missed 11 games earlier this season because of injury, scored before the second period ended. Defenseman Jake Middleton, returning from an 11-game absence, tied the score 1:16 into the third period and Matt Boldy scored off a Mats Zuccarello pass less than two minutes later to give the Wild the lead.

Marcus Johansson added an empty-net goal to end a three-minute sequence in which Johansson, Eriksson Ek, Ryan Hartman and defensemen Zach Bogosian and Jonas Brodin had to stay on the ice because of multiple icings but managed to fight their fatigue, block numerous shots and hold off the Blues for a 6-4 victory.

Their willingness to continue to battle in front of goalie Marc-Andre Fleury was one of the team’s most impressive stretches of hockey this season.

“A year ago this time, we probably didn’t have players step up the way they’ve stepped up this year,” coach John Hynes said. “That’s a credit to the players. The players are really playing hard for each other, for the team and doing what’s required to win, whether that’s blocking a shot or trying to score a goal or playing a 50-50 shift, whatever that is. The guys are committed to playing the right way for each other, and we’re finding ways to win.”

The victory over the Blues was just the latest test of the Wild’s resolve. The challenges began with a seven-game trip early in the season. in which Minnesota went 5-1-1. The Wild were 20-6-4 on Dec. 15 when they lost the first of four in a row, including a 6-1 home loss to Florida and a 5-0 defeat in Winnipeg. The Wild didn’t fold and, instead, won their next game over Chicago before starting the Christmas break.

The Wild returned without Kaprizov, who was tied for second in the NHL in goals (23) and eighth in points (50) at the time. Center Marco Rossi, Boldy and Zuccarello have played on the top line without their Russian star and the team has gone 5-1. The Wild will take a four-game winning streak into Thursday night’s game against the Colorado Avalanche at Xcel Energy Center. That includes impressive wins last week in Washington and Carolina.

The Wild (26-11-4) are at the halfway mark of their season and are two points behind the first-place Jets in the Central Division. They are an incredible 15-3-3 on the road, leaving room for improvement on an 11-8-1 mark in downtown St. Paul. Last season at this time, the Wild were in the midst of a four-game losing streak and were 17-19-5.

Headed in right direction with Hynes
The roster is largely the same, but the mindset and resilience make this a very different team. Hynes has plenty to do with that. He took over after Dean Evason was fired 19 games into last season, but didn’t get the chance to put all of his systems and philosophy into place until training camp opened in September.

It didn’t hurt that many Wild players were embarrassed by how easy they were to play against and the fact they missed the postseason.

What the Wild are doing isn’t easy. Being willing to block shots earns the appreciation of teammates, but it also takes a toll. Brodin was limping as he came into the Wild’s main locker room late Tuesday to talk to the media. He was smiling and said he was fine, but logging 33:02 of ice time isn’t a recipe to feel your best.

That is how games are won, and many Wild teams haven’t been willing to pay that price. This doesn’t mean the season is a success. There are still 41 games remaining and the intensity will grow as the season progresses.

Then you have the postseason, in which time and space disappear and sacrificing one’s body and playing through injury becomes the expectation. The Wild, who missed the playoffs for only the second time in 12 seasons last spring, haven’t advanced past the first round since the 2014-15 season.

That will be the real test for a franchise that hasn’t been to the Western Conference finals since 2003. Until the Wild wins a round, or two, there will be a healthy amount of skepticism about how different this team really is. The good news is it appears Hynes has things heading in the right direction.

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The post Halfway Mark appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Fifteen players on each active roster for the Wild and Senators were born in that decade, including two of the three Wild goal scorers. Those two scorers also came from the Wild’s productive fourth line in a 3-2 victory to secure two points as Minnesota is still technically not out of the playoff hunt.

Defenseman Zach Bogosian set up left-wing Mason Shaw perfectly with a cross-ice pass to the slot in the first period for a 1-0 lead. Shaw directed the puck into the net for his first goal since March 21, 2023, in New Jersey. It was a meaningful moment in multiple ways for Shaw, a player who’s come back from multiple significant injuries.

The goal was a big relief, even if he would have liked to get that first goal a little sooner since his return.

“Anytime you can help the team on the scoresheet this time of year it feels good,” Shaw said. “That’s probably one I’ll remember for sure. That was special.”

The goal was the eighth of the 25-year-old’s NHL career.

On the play, Bogosian brought the puck in with speed and said he saw Shaw “kind of creeping in on their backdoor a little bit.” The setup was something Bogosian said they work on in practice.

“Bogo must have had a little marinara sauce on there,” said fourth-line right-wing Vinni Lettieri. “It was great. It was an awesome pass, right on the tape – and Shawsie made no mistake.”

Mason Shaw scored his first NHL goal in more than a year this week. He’s dealt with multiple ACL injuries before returning to the NHL ice. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Bogosian talked about what a good person and teammate Shaw is in the Wild locker room. Even before Shaw was called up and Bogosian, who’s relatively newer to the Wild team, said he heard teammates talk about Shaw quite a bit, something that’s rare.

Shaw getting the goal Tuesday was huge for him and the team.

“I know it’s been a long road for him and a long journey back,” Bogosian said. “We’re pumped for him.”

Shaw has become a bit of an inspirational story within the organization. He’s had four ACL surgeries in total and has torn an ACL three times while with the Minnesota Wild Organization. The Wild selected Shaw in the fourth round of the 2017 NHL Draft. He worked his way back to the NHL ice, with the Wild signing him on Feb. 15. He’s played in 13 games this season, also adding an assist in the March 3 game against San Jose.

Wild rookie defenseman Brock Faber noted the long road it’s been for Shaw, mentally and physically, so he was happy to see his teammate get a goal.

“I’m sure not many people thought he was going to play another NHL game, much less score in an NHL game,” Faber said. “So, nothing but happy for him. That’s really cool to be able to share that with him.”

Not the Wild’s greatest game
Despite the feel-good moment for Shaw, the Wild didn’t have their best game, getting consistently outshot each period and failing to capitalize on the power play while Ottawa – which came in with a power play scoring at a 17.5% clip ranking 26th in the NHL, and 16% (25th rank) on the road – pumped in both of its goals with the man advantage. Not much Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury could do to stop either of those shots by Drake Batherson and Jakob Chychrun.

Defenseman Brock Faber was happy for his teammate, Mason Shaw, on scoring a goal after his long road back to the NHL. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Still, the Wild took a 2-1 lead into the third period. Matt Boldy scored in the high slot only 49 seconds into the second period. Lettieri scored his fourth goal of the season and first since Dec. 18 with a backhand shot for the eventual game-winner with about seven minutes to play in the third period.

One of the Wild’s patterns this season is taking a slim lead into third periods but not being able to close out victories, letting opponents back in for either the victory or forcing overtime. Tuesday, the Wild got the job done thanks to its fourth line, getting the go-ahead goal when they needed it and holding on for the one-goal margin of victory instead of defeat this time, as happened over the weekend with a 2-1 overtime loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.

But Wild coach John Hynes didn’t seem overly pleased with how his team reversed the trend against the Senators.

“I think we scored the goal, but I still think our game in general needs to be tightened up in a lot of areas going into Colorado,” Hynes said. The Wild host Colorado in St. Paul on Thursday evening.

He added that his team “found a way to get a goal” in the third period, while also getting some key saves from Fleury, particularly on a shorthanded breakaway chance for Ottawa and then nearly two minutes of 6-on-5 at the end of regulation when the Senators pulled their goaltender.

“We’ve got to continue to grow in that area of understanding playing winning hockey and what it takes to win regularly and at times we stray from it,” Hynes said. “We stray from it sometimes in games, and I thought tonight we strayed from it in a lot of different areas throughout the game.”

The post Sweet For Shaw appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Safe to say, things didn’t go as planned.

Maroon departed Minnesota on Friday in one of three trades that didn’t signal a fire sale as much as a soft surrender in a disappointing season. Guerin dealt Brandon Duhaime to the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday, getting a 2026 third-round pick for a bottom-six winger who will be an unrestricted free agent after the season.

Maroon, who remains sidelined following back surgery in early February and is expected back near the end of March, was shipped to Boston for a conditional 2026 draft pick (he has to play in a playoff game for the Wild to get it) and minor league forward Luke Toporowski.

Guerin’s final deal sent bottom-six center Connor Dewar, a pending restricted free agent, to the Toronto Maple Leafs for a 2026 fourth-round draft pick and minor leaguer Dmitry Ovchinnikov. Dewar, Duhaime and Maroon had combined for 18 goals and 38 points and Duhaime had only four goals and eight points in 62 games.

The departures, especially those of Dewy 1 (Duhaime) and Dewy 2 (Dewar), were because Guerin didn’t plan to bring back Duhaime and he also wanted to clear room on the roster for guys like Russian forward Marat Khusnutdinov, who left his KHL team and reportedly will join the Wild in the coming days.

“It’s not great,” Guerin told the Athletic, of being a seller. “To be honest with you, it’s not great. You say goodbye to some guys you really care about and did great things. They played hard for us, and they sacrificed a lot. So to just move guys, it’s not great. I’d rather add. But we’re just not there.”

He’s right about that.

Contract extensions handcuff trades
The Wild’s win over bottom-feeder Arizona on Thursday, which followed a victory over bottom-feeder San Jose on Sunday, put Minnesota seven points out of a wild card spot in the Western Conference with 19 games remaining in the regular season.

What was interesting about Guerin’s comments on being a seller was the fact he could have put himself in a position to make more trades, if not for some decisions made last spring and summer. That was when Guerin decided to give out contract extensions to five veterans.

That list included forwards Mats Zuccarello, Marcus Foligno, Ryan Hartman, Marcus Johansson and Freddy Gaudreau, who not only got extensions but also have trade protection in their deals. All five wouldn’t have been shopped, but a couple certainly would have been prime candidates to move to a Cup contender.

Guerin added to the list of veterans to get extensions this week by signing 33-year-old defenseman Zach Bogosian to a two-year, $2.5 million contract. This one reportedly did not come with any type of protection from being dealt.

It will be interesting to see if Guerin attempts to move off any of the above forwards this offseason as he prepares for one more season of salary cap issues caused by the 2021 buyouts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter’s contracts. Johansson, who is injured, and Gaudreau have had very disappointing seasons and, in Gaudreau’s case, he has a 15-team no-trade list so he could be moved.

Those who wanted to see Guerin hit a reset of any sort had the Wild’s recent skid to thank. Minnesota lost five times in an eight-game stretch, including three in a row.

“We’re not in the best spot, but that doesn’t change anything,” Guerin told The Athletic. “I still expect the team to push for the playoffs and I still expect that type of effort every single night. But again, on the flip side, it’s my job to think about down the road as well.”

Right now, down the road is all that should matter to the Wild’s decisionmakers.

The post Wild Trades appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

The Wild’s 5-10-4 start had gotten coach Dean Evason fired and now Minnesota was in a 1-7-1 slide that dropped it from being on the verge of a playoff spot to again looking like a team that could begin booking tee times for April.

Guerin, though, claimed he wasn’t giving up hope.

“If you look at our roster like when we are healthy,” he said, “I think it’s a good team. I want to keep the expectations high. … I expect us to compete for a playoff spot.”

Guerin’s competitive nature certainly played a role in his continued confidence, but you had to wonder if his real motivation was making sure the guys in his locker room wouldn’t feel as if he was punting on the season.

That’s exactly what he should do.

The word associated with this is tanking, but that’s such an ugly term. It insinuates an entire team is giving up and, as we know, most coaches and players are too competitive to do this. A more palatable word would be acceptance.

Accepting that even if you sneak into the playoffs, you aren’t getting out of the first round and accepting that an already bright future could get brighter by adding draft picks before the March 8 trade deadline, while also potentially putting yourself in the NHL draft lottery. (Eleven of the 16 teams that miss the playoffs are eligible for the first pick in the draft.)

The two things that should influence Guerin’s thinking are:

1) The depth this team has built up through the draft in recent years. Jesper Wallstedt, the team’s top goalie prospect, has been up a few times this season but is likely to take over as the Wild’s top goalie in 2024-25. Russian Marat Khusnutdinov, a speedy two-way center and forwards Liam Ohgren (Sweden) and Danila Yurov (Russia) are included in a prospect pool that has been replenished in recent years. That doesn’t include rookies Marco Rossi and Brock Faber, the latter of whom is a candidate for the Calder Trophy.

2) Next season will be the final one in which the Wild will carry a combined $14.7 million in dead salary-cap money because of the buyouts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter. That figure will drop to $1.7 million in 2025-26, meaning that team will have plenty of space to pursue a free agent as well as offer star winger Kirill Kaprizov a long-term extension.

Marco Rossi is part of the Wild’s bright future, and he’s already left a positive mark on the NHL club. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

This plan might not appeal to owner Craig Leipold, who lives and dies with every game and wants his team to be competitive, in part because of the extra cash generated by even a few home playoff games, but Guerin has an opportunity he should embrace.

Wild has plenty no-move, no-trade protection players
The elephant in the room when it comes to the Wild’s potential trade candidates is the fact that in today’s NHL far too many players are afforded either no-move or no-trade protection that gives them a say in whether they want to uproot themselves and their families and go elsewhere to chase a Stanley Cup.

The Wild’s roster has nine players with some type of no-trade protection: Mats Zuccarello, Marcus Foligno, Frederick Gaudreau, Marcus Johansson, Ryan Hartman, Pat Maroon, Jonas Brodin, Alex Goligoski and Zach Bogosian. Foligno, Johansson, Hartman, Brodin and Goligoski have complete protection.

There are some guys who aren’t going to be shopped, even though they don’t have no-trade clauses, including Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek. Perhaps the most interesting chip on whom Guerin could take bids is goalie Filip Gustavsson.

Gustavsson has had an up-and-down season, but the 25-year-old could be very appealing to a contender. He’s in the first season of a three-year, $11.25 million contract he signed in July, meaning his average annual salary is a very reasonable $3.75 million per. Teams that could be in the market for a goaltender include Carolina, Colorado, Edmonton, Los Angeles and New Jersey.

Guerin’s ability to create a bidding war among those teams could make what seems like a difficult decision (trading Gustavsson) too lucrative not to do. If there’s internal confidence that Wallstedt will be ready to take over as the Wild’s top goalie next season, getting a first-round pick and needing to find another goalie for next season could be the prudent plan. And that’s assuming Marc-Andre Fleury does not return.

It was interesting that before the game against the Islanders — one the Wild won 5-0 en route to going on a 4-1 run — Guerin did not close the door on making moves at the deadline, if things were not on the right track.

The fact the Wild then lost back-to-back home games against Western Conference rivals Nashville and Anaheim, the latter of which is a bottom feeder, should have given Guerin a push in the right direction entering a 10-day break for the bye and the All-Star Game.

“I don’t think I can sit here right now and say, ‘If it goes sideways, we’re going to do X, Y and Z,'” Guerin said in mid-January. “But we could.”

Actually, the word “could” needs to be amended to “should” because while there is hope for the future of the Wild, the present isn’t worth preserving.

The post Time To Punt appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

In the baseball world, Tuesday was the much-anticipated announcement of which former Major League Baseball players would be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2024. For Minnesota Twins fans, that meant learning former catcher and St. Paul native, Joe Mauer, received a call for the Hall. Mauer is a first-ballot Hall of Fame player after the Twins already retired his No. 7 at Target Field back in 2019.

A couple of hours after the announcement, another Minnesota native wearing a No. 7 jersey made sports history, too, on the Xcel Energy Center ice sheet in St. Paul. Rookie Minnesota Wild defenseman Brock Faber scored his fourth goal of the season only 1 minute, 37 seconds into the game against the Washington Capitals for a quick 1-0 lead.

“Pretty lucky bounce,” Faber said. “It just kind of landed on my stick. It worked out. That’s always fun when you get bounces like that.”

Now that’s a rebound #mnwild pic.twitter.com/nrPRRZLL2X

— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) January 24, 2024

Not even five minutes into the game, the Wild grabbed a 2-0 lead thanks to a bit of a baseball-looking play from Marcus Foligno. Matt Boldy passed the puck out from along the wall to Foligno in the crease. But the puck went airborne, leaving Foligno to bat it down with his glove before hitting the puck into the net with his stick.

Well played, Marcus.

The Wild players talked Tuesday morning about the possibility of Mauer getting into the Hall of Fame, Foligno said.

“That was perfect – a little baseball move,” Foligno said. “I told the guys, and there was a bet in here, I think last year, we got cocky and said, ‘I can probably catch 10 out of 10 pop flies in the outfield.’ So, there’s a good example right there.

“That’s a cool moment, obviously really happy for Joe (Mauer) and obviously a legend.”

It’s just some fun with numbers, but here’s how the rest of the scoresheet shook out for the Wild when it came to the number seven in what turned out to be a 5-3 Wild victory over Washington:

Faber: No. 7 jersey

Foligno: No. SEVENteen jersey

Marcus Johansson: Scored his 7th goal of the season, assisted by Zach Bogosian for his 7th assist of the season

Joel Eriksson Ek: No. 14 jersey (which is 7+7)

Johansson, again: Nickname is JoJo, and Mauer’s first name is Joe. So there.

The Wild also earned their 21st victory of the season, which is 7×3 and reached forty-SEVEN points for the season

Young rookie leaving his mark in Wild history
Faber, who was playing with the University of Minnesota Gophers last season, has drawn plenty of attention this year for his on-ice play. It’s not just locally, but his name has been thrown around as a possibility for the Calder Memorial Trophy, awarded to the NHL’s top rookie.

Faber sees plenty of ice time, and once again led the Wild with a team-high 24:50 time-on-ice in Tuesday’s game against Washington. His goal was also notable as part of Wild franchise history, extending his active point streak to five games (2 goals, 6 assists for 8 points). It’s the longest scoring streak by a rookie defenseman in Wild history.

The goal also brought his points total for the season to 28 (4 goals, 24 assists). That brought him into good company with two other notable Wild defensemen in the team’s archives. He tied Kurtis Foster (10-18—28 in 2005-06) for the third-most points in a season by a Wild rookie defenseman. Filip Kuba leads the list with 30 points in 2000-01, the team’s inaugural season, and Calen Addison recorded 29 points last season for second on the list.

After the game, a humble Faber said there are pros and cons to the way he’s played, even though he’s getting points lately.

“But I still know that I have to build on my consistency and my decision-making in the D zone,” Faber said. “Which, I’ve been far from perfect defensively the past, this month, really.

“But again, just trying to find that happy medium where I’m jumping in plays where I’m skating, where I have the puck on my stick a lot of the game.”

Wild coach John Hynes has been impressed with Faber’s ability to always be part of the offensive side of the game, and he added that it was nice to see the youngster get rewarded for his efforts on Tuesday.

Being a young player in the NHL, playing on the blue line, is a really hard position to play, Hynes said. Faber has also been put in a position of a top-defensive pairing, due in part to injuries to Wild blue liners like Jared Spurgeon this season.

“His effectiveness, his consistency level has been really impressive,” Hynes said. “So, I think the way that he’s played and the situations that he’s played in, he’s certainly deserving of that type of talk.”

Though Faber didn’t grow up in St. Paul, like Mauer and three other National Baseball Hall of Famers, he’s still a Minnesota native. He’s also earned the respect of his teammates, something he certainly has in common with Mauer.

“First of all, off ice, unbelievable guy,” Foligno said. “He cares about everyone in here. And now to see what he does on the ice, he’s a leader in my mind. He’s definitely a future leader of this team.”

The post Well played, Wild appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

It was no surprise that Foligno took the lead and the next night the Wild rallied from a 3-0 deficit against the visiting New York Rangers for a 5-4 victory in a shootout. The Wild then opened a three-game East Coast swing on Nov. 7 with a 4-2 victory over the New York Islanders.

Folgino, and by extension Evason’s message, had been received or, at least, that was the hope.

But after losing the next two games of the trip, against the Rangers and Buffalo Sabres, the Wild put on an embarrassing display in an 8-3 loss Sunday to the Dallas Stars. The team deserved every boo it received from its dissatisfied fan base.

The Stars scored five power-play goals on eight opportunities against the Wild’s atrocious penalty kill, and from top to bottom the Wild played like a checked-out group that had quit listening to its coach. 

“I’m not going to call out a lot of guys in front of you guys, but there’s some guys that sucked tonight,” said Evason, who rarely criticizes his team.

He wasn’t talking about the fourth line either. Among those on Evason’s unnamed list was superstar winger Kaprizov, who hasn’t looked like himself all season.

There had been some thought that the return of standout defenseman Jared Spurgeon would help stabilize things, but the captain has been back for two games and the Wild have lost both of them.

So what’s next?

Matt Boldy on the ice against the Dallas Stars during last year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs. Boldy has one goal and seven assists in eight games this season. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

The Wild departed Monday night for a trip to Sweden and a nearly week-long break from games. They will play Ottawa and Toronto on Saturday and Sunday, respectively, before returning home and not playing again until Nov. 24 against Colorado. It’s exactly what the Wild doesn’t need.

The break between games will give other teams a chance to widen their lead in the standings, and it’s no secret that teams that aren’t in a playoff position at Thanksgiving often struggle to make the playoffs. The Wild also need to get their act together and sitting around a hotel room, touring Sweden and having a few practices isn’t the way to do it. It would be better for the Wild to get back into action and put the Dallas debacle behind them.

The other interesting thing about the Wild’s 5-8-2 start — their second consecutive slow start to a season — is how much patience owner Craig Leipold and general manager Bill Guerin will show with Evason.

Evason was a hard-working player during his NHL career and always has prided himself on having a team that is willing to do the necessary work to win games. But in his fourth full season in Minnesota, Evason isn’t getting the necessary buy-in from his players.

That’s a major concern because the reason the Wild find themselves in salary-cap hell is because of Guerin’s desire to get Zach Parise and Ryan Suter out of the locker room. Guerin wanted to establish a new culture and yet this team is showing many of the same signs that Guerin thought he had eliminated.

As far as Kaprizov, he has five goals and 15 points in 15 games but has become a turnover machine and is a team-worst minus-11. He was given practice off Monday morning for a maintenance day and Evason said he’s “a little banged up.”

Filip Gustavsson is 2-4-1 this season. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

That might explain some of why Kaprizov hasn’t looked like himself, but it doesn’t explain why wingers Matt Boldy and Marcus Johansson have only one goal apiece.

The Wild’s goaltending duo of Filip Gustavsson (4.64 goals-against average in eight games) and Marc-Andre Fleury (3.41 GAA in eight games) also has performed below expectations.

The list of underachievers is a lengthy one and Guerin has made a few moves, including dealing defenseman Calen Addison and acquiring veteran defenseman Zach Bogosian, in hopes of sparking his team. But only so many players can be moved and it’s unlikely there are any major trades coming.

That makes Evason the easy target if Leipold and Guerin decide a significant shakeup is needed. Both the owner and GM have made it clear they don’t see the Wild’s salary-cap issues as a reason to give up hope on a playoff berth or even a postseason run.

If that’s the case, you have to wonder how much longer they will tolerate watching losses and lifeless performances. Could two losses in Sweden spell the end for Evason?

In a season that is circling the drain, it has to be considered a possibility.

The post The End For Evason? appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.