Minnesota Wild: 3 key players for next season

The Minnesota Wild are caught in every NHL general manager’s worst nightmare: being caught in the middle of the standings.

In the modern-day NHL, having an average NHL team is one of the worst positions imaginable. The team is not good enough to make a postseason appearance, but also not bad enough to draft high. Unfortunately for the Minnesota Wild, they are stuck right in the middle.

For the third season in a row, the Wild suffered a first-round playoff exit. Granted, they have made it to the postseason for six straight seasons, but they have nothing to show for it.

Minnesota is one of the oldest teams in the league, with their average age being 28 years old. With older age comes injuries. In fact, a big reason why they had such a mediocre season was because of the constant wave of injuries their players had to deal with. Many things have to go right for the Wild if they want more postseason success, and it starts with these three players.

3. Nino Niederreiter

Last season was an underwhelming one for forward Nino Niederreiter. He missed a chunk of the season to deal with a high-ankle sprain and managed to only play 63 games. In terms of production, he recorded 32 points, the worst numbers since he started playing full-time in the NHL.

Before last season, his points were on a steady rise each year (36/37/43/57) which makes the Wild optimistic that it’s just a bump in the road. He plays on the second powerplay unit and is an important player on the Wild’s top six. A full healthy season of Niederreiter will be crucial for the team if they want to have playoff success.

2. Matt Dumba

The Wild had two defensemen finish with 50+ points and one of them was 24-year-old Mathew Dumba. Last season, he recorded 14 goals and 36 assists, while averaging almost 24 minutes a night. With Ryan Suter averaging almost 27 minutes a night at 33 years old, the Wild will be looking at players like Dumba to share the load.

The new extension he signed worth $30 million shows how much he means to this Wild organization.

“He played almost 24 minutes a game last year,” said general manager Paul Fenton, via The Hockey News. “It’s hard to find a right-handed defenseman with game-breaking ability. I love the competitiveness that Matt brings to the game, along with the offense.”

With Minnesota trying to inject youth back into their lineup, Dumba is an important piece to the puzzle.

1. Zach Parise

The 34-year-old forward missed the first half of the season because he was recovering from a back surgery. Zach Parise managed to play 42 regular season games as well as three playoff games before he broke his sternum. Parise is ready to go for the 2018-19 season and hopefully, the Wild get a full healthy season from him.

In the last 18 games of the regular season, he scored 12 goals and in his three playoff appearances, he scored three times. Despite his age, his scoring touch is still there and the Wild will need it for next season.