The Minnesota Wild squeaked into the playoffs by clinching a Wild Card spot with one point to spare, but the team faced yet another first-round exit, leaving some unasnwered questions as we approach the 2025-26 season.
Can the Wild's young players continue trending in the right direction?
The greatest reason for optimism for the Wild is definitely its young squadron of skaters at all positions. The talent pool is deep when it comes to players who are consistently in the lineup but are still developing, each with a high ceiling for potential. However, there is always a risk associated with having a core that's finding their footing, and the chance for some player regression is ever-looming.
The talent begins up front with Matt Boldy and Marco Rossi, who are growing into stars for Minnesota. That duo finished first and second on the team in scoring, respectively, with Boldy leading the way at 27 goals and 73 points in 82 games. As he enters his fifth NHL season, Boldy stepped up in a huge way in the absence of Kirill Kaprizov to injury, but when Kaprizov is healthy, that is a duo that's hard to stop.
Rossi, on the other hand, just signed an extension with the Wild worth $5 million per season, and he certainly earned every penny of that. The 24-year-old center has the potential to be the team's No. 1 guy down the middle and has continued to build on his offensive output in each of his two full NHL seasons thus far, with new career highs in goals (24), assists (36), and points (60) during this past season. However, Rossi is anything but your traditional playmaking center being somewhat undersized and playing a more reserved game offensively, so it's yet to be seen whether he is up for the challenge of anchoring Kaprizov and Boldy on the top line.
The trend continues on defense with Brock Faber and now, rookie Zeev Buium. This could be the pairing of the future in Minnesota. Faber, at age 23, is coming into his own and taking on massive workload that sees him skating 25 minutes per night, doing so effectively in all situations. With the injury to Jonas Brodin, even more pressure will be on Faber at the start of the season to hunker down on the blue line and also contribute offensively, which is an area that he took a step back in his sophomore season last year.
Buium on the other hand consistently ranks among the NHL's top young prospects, and he is poised to snatch a roster spot for opening night. EliteProspects previously described his style of defense as "intelligent, deceptive, skilled, even creative in a part of the game where being efficient would suffice." He offers not only capable offense and puck movement, but the ability to quarterback a power play -- something Minnesota desperately needs after a poor showing on special teams last season.
With this group of up-and-comers, there is plenty of reason to be hopeful for the Wild's future, but whether or not they can rise to the occasion as soon as is going to be necessary is still yet to be seen.
Will Kirill Kaprizov re-sign with Minnesota?
This is the burning question that is clouding everyone's view of the upcoming season for the Wild. Minnesota's top forward has been eligible to sign a contract extension since July 1, but has yet to do so and even reportedly turned down an offer that would have made him the highest-paid NHL player of all time.
That plants another seed, which is whether or not the Wild are going to trade Kaprizov before he is set to hit free agency in the summer of 2026. There's no question that this would change the course of the franchise, as losing Kaprizov would be like losing the engine on your car: it's an expensive replacement and could be hard to find the right one.
The good news? The return on a Kaprizov trade would be exorbitant, leaving the Wild with a wealth of draft picks, prospects, and/or current stars that could slot in the lineup immediately.
In the end, it will all come down to how well the team performs in the first half of the season leading up to the deadline next spring. If the Wild get out to a blazing-hot start and go on a nice tear, Kaprizov could very well be enticed to put pen to paper.
Have there been enough improvements to make it past the first round?
At present, the biggest problem for Minnesota is depth scoring, and little has been done to address that during the offseason. Vladimir Tarasenko is joining the team which should add a boost to the bottom six, but his 33 points last season would have ranked seventh-most on the Wild -- that's quite a low point total to be finishing that high on the list. There is a steep dropoff in offense beyond the team's newfound core four, and it's a given that the most competitive NHL teams have a solid supporting cast to help lift up their superstars.
The Wild enter the season facing a familiar crossroads: are they true contenders, or just another team caught in the NHL's middle tier? On one hand, the Wild boast a mix of veteran leadership and emerging young talent that should give them a chance to compete night in and night out. But questions remain about whether they have the scoring depth and star power to push past the league’s elite.
This season will go a long way in defining the Wild’s identity, either proving they’re ready to take the next step or cementing their status as a team stuck between rebuilding and contending.