Hockey Wilderness
A Minnesota Wild Blog that WON'T make you sick and kill you!
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The Wild Should Offer Quinn Hughes the Max
The hockey world has been waiting for the elite defenseman market to be completely reset all summer. We got a hint of what was to come when the Chicago Blackhawks extended Bowen Byram for eight years at $12.5 million AAV, the highest at the position. But Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes were going to be...
We Might See A Quinn Hughes Extension Very Soon
Elliotte Friedman reported on Thursday that a contract extension between the Colorado Avalanche and Cale Makar is coming. Whether it is hours or days from now, it is expected to happen and at a fairly large number. Now we know who really blinked first. It was a big stand-off between Makar and M...
Kaprizov Will Be Fine In His Post-Zuccarello Era
One of the many huge questions of the Minnesota Wild's offseason is who will ride shotgun with Kirill Kaprizov? The Wild's superstar has spent his first six NHL seasons almost tied to winger Mats Zuccarello. The two weren't just off-ice besties, but fed off each other's games. Kaprizov average...
The Wild Fanbase Isn't Satisfied Anymore
The Minnesota Wild just advanced past the first round of the postseason for the fourth time in 25 years. Over that quarter-century, fans have wondered how a team that spends to the cap in a solid hockey market can manage so little success. It's not like they haven't had big names. Kirill Kaprizov, M...
Wild Name EBUG Under New Rules, Give Him Another Job
The NHL's new CBA is officially starting on September 15 and with it, comes a new rule for the Emergency Back-Up Goalie (EBUG) position. And the Minnesota Wild are the first team in the league to make their decision official. Previously, every NHL arena would host an EBUG that could play for ei...
Hunter Haight Has A Lot To Prove This Training Camp
August is coming to a close, and training camp is right around the corner. The preseason is a crucial time for teams to evaluate how their young players are coming along and whether they’re ready to make the NHL roster. Several prospects will look to make their mark this September, but Hunter Haight...
Charlie Stramel Is Raising His Ceiling
When the Minnesota Wild drafted Charlie Stramel 21st overall in 2023, one word we didn't hear much was "upside." His best attributes were size and two-way play, and his scoring numbers in his freshman season at Wisconsin (five goals, 12 points in 33 games) didn't hint at more to come. His three goal...
Could Maxim Shabanov Replicate Zuccarello’s Production On Kaprizov's Line?
Maxim Shabanov has a legitimate chance to earn time next to Kirill Kaprizov, but expecting him to immediately duplicate Mats Zuccarello’s production would be unfair. However, he may offer the Wild a different and potentially more dynamic version of top-line support. Still, replacing Zuccarello’s poi...
The Wild Foundation Had A Record-Breaking 2025-26 Season
The Minnesota Wild’s 2025-26 season was largely defined by what happened on the ice. The Quinn Hughes trade, a playoff run that reached the second round, and the offseason decisions that followed. However, while the team was making headlines, the Wild were making an impact off the ice. The Minn...
Matt Boldy Needs To Do It Again
What do Jamie Benn, Matt Duchene, Eric Staal, and Thomas Vanek have in common? They're four of the 52 players who have made the 40/40 Club in the Salary Cap Era. There's also another thing they share: They've only done it once. This is probably why these four are (likely) not making the H...
Wild Fans Feel Just Alright About Their Front Office
That's Wild The annual tradition of fans of teams voting on how confident they are in their front offices has been completed. Thousands of fans got to speak up and now there's a big ranking of just who is the most well-perceived management group in the NHL. And, well, the Wild finished 16th...
John Hynes Is Entering A Watershed Moment Next Year
When the Minnesota Wild hired John Hynes during the 2023-24 season, the team was mired in the NHL’s mushy middle. The Wild were reliable at making the playoffs, appearing in seven of the previous eight postseasons, but were never a real threat. Minnesota's inability to build a true contender resulte...
Jesper Wallstedt Named As One of NHL's Top Goalies
The Minnesota Wild have had some luck having some pretty good goalies have pretty good seasons, but now they might just have their best goaltending that they've really ever known. And, he's getting recognized. As the NHL Network puts out their list of top players by position in the most dead pe...
Can Danila Yurov Solve the Wild's Center Woes?
The Minnesota Wild should give Danila Yurov a legitimate opportunity to win the first-line center job rather than automatically returning Ryan Hartman to Kirill Kaprizov’s line. Hartman is a useful NHL player, but Yurov offers the developmental upside Minnesota has spent years searching for down the...
Kaprizov and Boldy On the Same Line Would Balance the Wild's Attack
By putting Matt Boldy and Kirill Kaprizov on the top line, the Minnesota Wild would have one of the most dangerous wing pairings in the NHL. Boldy and Kaprizov are elite puck handlers who can finish and force defenses to collapse toward them. The question isn’t whether the pairing has enough t...
The Wild's Cap Situation Is Better Than It Seems
The Minnesota Wild famously do not have that much cap space. Basically, they have none as we're just a month away from training camps starting around the NHL and no further necessary business. But, it really is a better cap situation than it appears. According to one little website named Benchr...
5 Questions That Could Define the 2026-27 Season
The Minnesota Wild open the 2026-27 season on October 1 in Nashville, with a home opener against the Boston Bruins two days later. Last season was hopeful, historic, and just unfinished enough to feel like something the Wild can build on. They went 46-24-12 last year, made the second round for...
The Wild's Offseason Has Been One Big Gamble
For years, the measure of success for the Minnesota Wild was getting past the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Not anymore. After a decade of never seeing the second round of the postseason, the Wild finally broke through. Yet, it was not enough. The Colorado Avalanche ousted the Wild i...
Can Max Shabanov Can Follow Jonathan Marchessault's Footsteps?
The Minnesota Wild are about a month from training camp opening. Time is running out for teams to make any sort of impact offseason deals, and free agents are more or less picked over. With every day that passes, the Wild are sending the signal that they're confident opening the season with Maksim S...
The Wild’s Defense Poised For Another Top 5 Finish
The Minnesota Twins’ defense enters the 2026-27 season with a combination of continuity and blockbuster additions that should keep them among the NHL’s elite defensive units, provided they stay healthy. The Wild finished last season ranked 5th among all NHL clubs in team defense, allowing only 2.63...
Does Quinn Hughes Owe The Wild A Contract Extension?
We're in the middle of August and Quinn Hughes is still heading into the final year of his contract and is set to hit unrestricted free agency next summer. The Minnesota Wild are still chipping away to try to get a deal with one of the two best defensemen in the world, but we're getting small little...
David Perron Is A Perfect PTO Target For the Wild
For over a decade, David Perron was everything you wanted in a complementary second-line winger. Perron's profile leaned more toward playmaking, but he was a threat to pot 20 goals in any given year. His right-shot made him an ideal option to set up for one-timers on the power play. He was rarely sp...
Has Brock Faber Reached His Ceiling?
When the Minnesota Wild acquired Brock Faber in 2022, they knew they were getting a high-value defensive prospect. Yet, even the most optimistic of scouts didn’t envision the second-round pick becoming a foundational piece of the franchise. The blueliner’s profile has risen with each passing y...
Do the Wild Have Any Future Hall-of-Famers?
That's Wild It's the middle of August, what else is there to do? The Athletic looked at active NHL players and put them in a big tiered list for how much of a lock they are for the Hockey Hall of Fame. Spoiler alert: The Minnesota Wild had none in the "can retire now and get in" tier, but th...
The Wild’s Early Schedule Adds Pressure To A Roster In Transition
Much of the offseason discussion has centered on the roster: Filip Gustavsson’s hip surgery, Quinn Hughes’ extension and who ultimately centers Kirill Kaprizov. But a demanding opening schedule adds another layer to those decisions. The demands of an opening month that offers little room for adjustm...
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