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What is the Wild’s long-term outlook?

By Adam GretzApr 8, 2020, 4:51 PM EDT

With the 2019-20 NHL season on hold we are going to review where each NHL team stands at this moment until the season resumes. Here we take a look at the long-term outlook for the Minnesota Wild.

Pending Free Agents

The Core

The Wild are kind of drifting toward that middle ground where they are not a true contender and they are not exactly awful, either. They have good players, but they also have some pretty significant flaws.

One of the biggest might be the fact they have a lot money tied up in players that are on the wrong side of 30. Mikko Koivu is a free agent after this season, and no one really knows what his future is at this point, but Zach Parise, Mats Zuccarello, Eric Staal, Ryan Suter, Jared Spurgeon, and Devan Dubnyk are some of their biggest contracts beyond this season and Spurgeon is the only one younger than 32 years old. It is not a stretch to believe that every single one of those players has already played their best hockey. Parise was also the subject of trade rumors on deadline day with the New York Islanders, something that could be revisited later.

Beyond that, the Wild do have some intriguing younger players making up a second-wave of talent.

Kevin Fiala has been an outstanding pickup and is having an outstanding year, while Luke Kunin, Jordan Greenway, and Joel Eriksson Ek are other younger players the Wild are hoping can become bigger contributors.

The most intriguing young player in the organization, though, has yet to even play a game in North America. That player is Kirili Kaprizov, the 22-year-old winger that has dominated the KHL for the past few seasons. He was a fifth-round pick by the team a few years ago and his arrival in Minnesota has been anticipated for some time now.

Long-Term Needs

Really what the Wild need is a difference-maker. A game-changing forward that can be the focal point of the offense and carry it. A franchise cornerstone to build around both in the short-and long-term.

They do not really have that player right now, and the ones that most closely resemble that player on the roster right now are older and on the downside of their careers. They are also not really well positioned to get one without a lot of luck going their way in the draft lottery. It is a tough spot to be in.

Their biggest hope for that sort of presence might be with the aforementioned Kaprizov. For as intriguing and exciting as his potential is, it is still just exactly that — potential. Even if he does eventually become that top-line standout player, it may not happen as soon as he arrives next season. There could be some growing pains and an adjustment period along the way.

Long-Term Strengths

When they are all healthy their defense has some intriguing players and can be really good with Suter, Spurgeon, Mathew Dumba, and Jonas Brodin are all signed through the end of next seaon, with the former three names all being signed to long-term deals. When it comes to scoring chances against and expected goals against the Wild have been one of the league’s top teams this season. The only thing that has held them back from being an elite defensive team has been inconsistency in net.

The addition of Cale Addison in the Jason Zucker trade also adds another intriguing blue-liner to the long-term outlook.

If Fiala can duplicate his 2019-20 performance he could also turn into a pretty big strength. He has been one of the league’s most productive 5-on-5 players on a per-minute basis this season and is still signed for another year at a very manageable salary cap hit.

The presence of him, Kaprizov, a still productive Zuccarello and hopefully improvements from players like Kunin, Greenway, and Eriksson Ek could give the Wild a formidable group of forwards.

MORE WILD:
• Looking at the 2019-20 Minnesota Wild
• Minnesota Wild surprises and disappointments so far

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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.

NHL Fantasy Hockey: Parise, Laughton among this week’s top adds

Fantasy Hockey
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By Ryan DadounMar 9, 2020, 12:44 PM EDT

Welcome to our weekly Adds/Drops column, where I focus on highlighting players you should consider grabbing or be concerned about in fantasy leagues. As always, the goal here isn’t to recommend 10 players you must add and five players that need to be dropped. Context is everything and the context of each league is different. What this is instead is a guideline so that if you’re looking to make a change, you have potential players to target and if you see players I’ve suggested to drop, you can evaluate your potential alternates.

Players Worth Adding

Dustin Brown, Kings – RW: With 17 goals and 35 points in 64 contests, Brown is probably going to end up falling behind his 51-point 2018-19 campaign. He might end the season on a pretty high note though. He excelled on Saturday, scoring a hat trick and registered an assist and has been pretty hot lately with eight points in his last six contests.

Zach Parise, Wild – RW: Parise had a really rough start to the season with three goals and no assists in his first 13 contests, but if you just ignore that then you’ll find that he’s otherwise had a pretty strong campaign. He has 22 goals and 43 points in 56 contests dating back to Nov. 2nd. Over that span he also hasn’t been held off the scoresheet for more than three games in a row, so he’s been pretty consistent. Despite that, he’s only owned in 37% of Yahoo leagues, so if you’re lacking on the left wing then he’ll probably be an option for you.

Alex Iafallo, Kings – LW: Iafallo has a goal and 10 points in his last 11 games, so he’s been very effective lately, but he’s been excelling for a while now. From Dec. 21st onward, he’s scored 11 goals and 26 points in 31 contests. It’s taken Iafallo a little while to get going, but he’s very underrated at this point given that he’s only owned in 6% of Yahoo leagues.

Scott Laughton, Flyers – C/LW: Like Iafallo, Laughton is another young-ish forward who is coming into his own. With 13 goals and 27 points in 48 games, this is by far his best campaign from a points-per-game perspective. He’s particularly hot lately, scoring three goals and nine points in his last seven contests. So he’s a decent player to gamble on right now, but he also isn’t such a bad player to hold onto for the rest of the season.

Pavel Buchnevich, Rangers – RW: The Rangers in general have been red hot lately and Buchnevich is among those leading the charge. He’s on a five-game point streak, scoring a goal and seven points over that span. He’s been a consistent for a while now too. Dating back to Jan. 21st, he has eight goals and 19 points in 19 games. This is his best season to date with 15 goals and a career-high 44 points in 66 contests, but that makes sense given his continued development and the fact that he’s averaging 16:52 minutes, which is a meaningful boost from his previous campaigns.

Andrew Mangiapane, Flames – LW/RW: Mangiapane had 10 goals and 19 points in 56 games through Feb. 12nd, but he only averaged 13:04 minutes over that span. The Flames have given him a much bigger role lately, putting him out there for an average of 16:38 minutes in his last 12 games. He’s rewarded them with seven goals and 13 points in those 12 contests. He’s an interesting pick up given how hot he is and how the Flames have been using him lately.

Luke Kunin Wild, C/RW: Kunin had a prolonged cold spell from Jan. 22-Feb. 15, registering just two assists over the span of nine contests. Lately though, he’s been a regular contributor with three goals and five points in his last six games. He has 15 goals and 31 points in 63 contests, which is decent, but not good enough to warrant owning him all the time in standard leagues. That said, he’s worth a situational pickup while he’s hot.

Richard Panik, Capitals – LW/RW: Panik will attempt to extend his four-game point streak when the Capitals face Buffalo on Monday. He’s scored two goals and six points over that run. He’s not a good player to hold onto at all times. He has nine goals and 22 points in 58 games this season, which is actually pretty solid given his average 11:20 minutes per game. So don’t hesitate to drop him once he slows down, but in the short-term he has some value.

Zack Kassian, Oilers – RW: Kassian has a goal and three points in his last four games, so he’s doing good right now, but that’s not the only reason to own him right now. First off, he’s a significant contributor in terms of hits with 152, so he brings more to the table than offensive contributors. The Oilers in general are also a solid team to have players for at the moment. Edmonton has four games slated for this week and they’ll play in eight contests from March 9-20. With that full schedule, there are a lot of opportunities for the Oilers players to contribute and he’s one of the better ones whose available in most leagues. Kassian is owned in just 19% of Yahoo leagues.

Jordan Staal, Hurricanes – C: While Staal has enjoyed some good offensive seasons, for the most part he’s been at best a solid secondary scorer. This season has been a step back for him though with just eight goals and 27 points in 67 contests. Perhaps he can finish on a positive note though. He’s certainly trending in that direction with a goal and eight points in his last 11 contests.

Players You May Want To Drop

Logan Couture, Sharks – C: This has been a disappointing season for Couture. After setting a career-high last season with 70 points, he’s been limited to 16 goals and 39 points in 52 games. Given that he only has center-eligibility, which makes him a rather borderline option in standard leagues. On Sunday he was unfortunately struck in the head and evaluated being evaluated for a concussion. Given his struggles this season and with him now potentially being injured with so little of the campaign left, I think it’s fair to drop him. That said, if your alternative centers are lacking, then it would be worth it to wait until more information about Couture’s injury comes out before coming to a decision.

Alexandar Georgiev, Rangers – G: Igor Shesterkin missed a couple weeks because of a ribs injury stemming from a car accident. During that time, the Rangers were leaning heavily on Georgiev, but now that Shesterkin is back, Georgiev is going to be used significantly less. Georgiev has been an okay, but not great goaltender this season with a 17-14-1 record, 3.05 GAA, and .910 save percentage in 33 contests.

Andreas Athanasiou, Oilers – C/LW/RW:  When Athanasiou was acquired by the Oilers, the hope was that he would be a good match for Connor McDavid. Athanasiou is a speedster and the prospect of pairing McDavid up with someone who can actually keep up with him was an exciting prospect. Perhaps that will still work out next season, but it seems that pairing hasn’t found chemistry early on. Athanasiou has just a goal and an assist in seven games since being acquired by Edmonton while averaging a mere 12:36 minutes. He did get a chance with McDavid, but at this point he’s primarily skating on the third line.

Nick Foligno, Blue Jackets– C/LW/RW: Foligno was great from Feb. 20-March 4, scoring four goals and seven points in seven games. He’s been held off the scoresheet in each of his last two contests though and he hasn’t scored a goal in five straight games, so the hot streak is probably over. Foligno isn’t an ideal player to hold onto when he’s not hot. His 10 goals and 31 points in 67 contests is fairly mediocre when it comes to standard fantasy leagues.

Andre Burakovsky, Avalanche – LW/RW: Burakovsky hasn’t played since Feb. 28th and it’s not clear when he’ll return. He missed his sixth straight game on Sunday and he wasn’t even with the team in San Jose. Because he hasn’t been traveling with the Avalanche, he obviously won’t play on Monday in Los Angeles either. He was enjoying a breakout season, but without much time left and no clear timetable for his return, it might be best to investigate your other options.

If you’re looking for fantasy hockey information, Rotoworld is a great resource. You can check the player news for the latest information on any player and insight into their fantasy outlook.

Every week Michael Finewax looks ahead at the schedule and offers team-by-team notes in The Week Ahead. I have a weekly Fantasy Nuggets column where I basically talk about whatever’s captured my attention that week. Gus Katsaros does an Analytics columns if you want to get into detailed statistical analysis. If you’re interested in rookies and prospects, there’s a weekly column on that written by McKeen’s Hockey.

WATCH LIVE: Blues visit Wild on NBCSN

By Sean LeahyFeb 23, 2020, 6:30 PM EST

NBCSN’s coverage of the 2019-20 NHL season continues with Sunday’s matchup between the St. Louis Blues and Minnesota Wild. Coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN. You can watch the game online and on the NBC Sports app by clicking here.

The Blues enter Sunday’s matchup off a dominant 5-1 win over the division rival Stars Friday night. With the top spot in the conference on the line, St. Louis opened their lead to 4-0 early in the second, chasing Ben Bishop on their way to a third straight win – during their current win streak, St. Louis has outscored opponents 9-1.

The Blues have appeared to find their form following a season-worst 5-game losing streak that capped a 2-7-3 run from mid-January to mid-February. Friday’s win also opened a small gap between the Blues and their Central Division rivals (Dallas and Colorado). With the win over the Stars, St. Louis ensured they’ll be on top of the Western Conference at least heading into Sunday night’s matchup.

From Jan. 15 to Feb. 16, the Blues were 2-7-3 (seven points), arguably their worst stretch under Craig Berube. During that same period, St. Louis allowed 3.92 goals/game, the worst mark in the NHL.

The Wild are just over a week removed from firing head coach Bruce Boudreau and promoting his assistant Dean Evason to the interim head coach position, his first head coaching stint of any kind in the NHL. After losing their first game under Evason, Minnesota has now won two straight and are 2-1-0 under their interim coach.

Evason is in his second season on the Wild bench after spending the previous six seasons (2012-18) as head coach of the Milwaukee Admirals, the Predators’ AHL affiliate. Prior to that, he had spent seven seasons (2005-12) as a Capitals assistant. He played 13 seasons in the NHL from 1983-1996. A hard-nosed player who racked up 1,002 penalty minutes in his career, Evason has not overhauled the system, but has brought an accountability to Minnesota as the team looks to make a Blues-like run up the standings and avoid missing the playoffs for a 2nd straight season.

Minnesota will also come into Sunday night’s game off a big win, defeating the Oilers 5-3 in Edmonton on Friday night. That win finished off a two-game Western Canada swing, during which the Wild beat Vancouver and Edmonton.

[COVERAGE BEGINS AT 6:30 P.M. ET ON NBCSN]

WHAT: St. Louis Blues at Minnesota Wild
WHERE: Xcel Energy Center
WHEN: Sunday, Feb. 23, 6:30 p.m. ET
TV: NBCSN
LIVE STREAM: You can watch the Blues-Wild stream on NBC Sports’ live stream page and the NBC Sports app.

PROJECTED LINEUPS

BLUES
Jaden Schwartz – Ryan O'Reilly – Brayden Schenn
Zach Sanford – Robert Thomas – David Perron
Alex Steen – Oskar Sundqvist – Jordan Kyrou
Sammy Blais – Ivan Barbashev – Mackenzie MacEachern

Carl Gunnarsson – Justin Faulk
Marco Scandella – Colton Parayko
Vince Dunn – Robert Bortuzzo

Starting goalie: Jordan Binnington

WILD
Zach Parise – Eric Staal – Kevin Fiala
Alex Galchenyuk – Luke Kunin – Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Foligno – Joel Eriksson Ek – Jordan Greenway
Victor Rask – Mikko Koivu – Ryan Hartman

Ryan Suter – Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin – Mathew Dumba
Carson Soucy – Greg Pateryn

Starting goalie: Devan Dubnyk

Chris Cuthbert will call the action from Xcel Energy Center alongside analyst Pierre McGuire. Sunday’s studio coverage on NBCSN will be hosted by Liam McHugh with analysts Keith Jones and Mike Milbury.

WATCH LIVE: Wild visit Penguins on NBCSN

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By Sean LeahyJan 14, 2020, 6:00 PM EST

NBCSN’s coverage of the 2019-20 NHL season continues with Tuesday’s matchup between the Minnesota Wild and Pittsburgh Penguins. Coverage begins at 6 p.m. ET on NBCSN. You can watch the game online and on the NBC Sports app by clicking here.

The Penguins come into this game on a three-game win streak after sweeping a trio of games against three teams currently in playoff position in the Western Conference. Pittsburgh won by a 4-3 scoreline at Vegas, at Colorado (OT) and at Arizona (SO) during their road trip.

The Penguins have now won 14 of their last 18 games (14-3-1), all without Sidney Crosby. Despite their rash of injuries, Pittsburgh became the 4th team in the NHL to reach the 60-point plateau on Sunday (WSH, BOS, STL).

On the other end of the spectrum, the Wild come into this week on a three-game losing streak (0-2-1). Minnesota lost 4-1 vs Vancouver on Sunday after dropping both ends of a home- and-home series with the Flames earlier last week.

Minnesota has now lost five of their last six games (1-4-1). They haven’t dropped four straight since starting this season 0-4-0.

After games last Sunday (Jan. 5), before taking on the Flames at home, the Wild sat three points behind the Jets for the second Wild Card spot in the Western Conference. Now, after losing three straight over the past week-plus, Minnesota is seven points off the playoff pace with a brutal schedule ahead.

[COVERAGE BEGINS AT 6 P.M. ET ON NBCSN]

WHAT: Minnesota Wild at Pittsburgh Penguins
WHERE: PPG Paints Arena
WHEN: Tuesday, Jan. 14, 6 p.m. ET
TV: NBCSN
LIVE STREAM: You can watch the Wild-Penguins stream on NBC Sports’ live stream page and the NBC Sports app.

PROJECTED LINEUPS

WILD
Jason Zucker – Eric Staal – Mats Zuccarello
Zach Parise – Mikko Koivu – Kevin Fiala
Marcus Foligno – Joel Eriksson Ek – Luke Kunin
Jordan Greenway – Ryan Donato – Ryan Hartman

Ryan Suter – Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin – Matt Dumba
Carson Soucy – Greg Pateryn

Starting goalie: Devan Dubnyk

PENGUINS
Jared McCann – Sidney Crosby – Domink Simon
Dominik Kahun – Evgeni Malkin – Bryan Rust
Alex Galchenyuk – Andrew Agozzino – Patric Hornqvist
Zach Aston-Reese – Teddy Blueger – Brandon Tanev

Jack Johnson – Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson  – John Marino
Juuso Riikola – Chad Ruhwedel

Starting goalie: Tristan Jarry

Tuesday night’s studio coverage will be hosted by Kathryn Tappen alongside Keith Jones and Anson Carter. John Forslund and AJ Mleczko will call the action from Pittsburgh.

WATCH LIVE: Avalanche host Wild on NBCSN

By Sean LeahyDec 27, 2019, 7:00 PM EST

NBCSN’s coverage of the 2019-20 NHL season continues with Friday’s matchup between the Colorado Avalanche and Minnesota Wild. Coverage begins at 7 p.m. ET on NBCSN. You can watch the game online and on the NBC Sports app by clicking here.

The League returns from the Christmas break with 11 games on the schedule, including this Central Division matchup – the third of five regular-season meetings between the Wild and Avalanche. Each team has won at home against the other with the Avs winning, 4-2, on Oct. 5 (second game of the season for both clubs) and the Wild pulling out a 3-2 victory on Nov. 21.

Colorado, looking to return to the postseason for the third straight year, sit second in the Central, while Minnesota is in the thick of the Wild Card hunt – two points back of Calgary for the second position – and certainly not out of the race for a division spot, just three points behind Winnipeg. The Wild missed the playoffs a season ago after making six consecutive appearances from 2012-13 to 2017-18.

Nathan MacKinnon was voted an All-Star captain for the second straight season. Having another MVP caliber season (was the Hart Trophy runner-up two seasons ago), the No. 1 pick in 2013 has played in all 37 games this season and leads the Avs in most major statistical categories – goals (21), assists (34), points (55), shots (168), power-play goals (7), power-play points (20).

Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk missed over a month with a family issue, playing on Nov. 16 and then coming back on Dec. 19. He’s played in three games since his return (two starts). He allowed five goals at Arizona in a win in his first game back and then had the shutout against Calgary on Monday.

The consistent line of Landeskog-MacKinnon-Rantanen is now fully healthy and the second line of Andre Burakovsky–Nazem Kadri–Joonas Donskoi, which is entirely new this season, has been just as productive a trio. After MacKinnon (21), it’s Burakovsky and Donskoi (13 each) and Kadri (12), who are tops on the team in goals this season.

[COVERAGE OF BEGINS AT 7 P.M. ET – NBCSN]

WHAT: Minnesota Wild at Colorado Avalanche
WHERE: Pepsi Center
WHEN: Friday, Dec. 27, 7 p.m. ET
TV: NBCSN
LIVE STREAM: You can watch the Wild-Avs stream on NBC Sports’ live stream page and the NBC Sports app.

PROJECTED LINEUPS

WILD
Zach Parise – Eric Staal – Mats Zuccarello
Ryan Donato – Joel Eriksson Ek – Kevin Fiala
Jordan Greenway – Nico Sturm – Luke Kunin
Marcus Foligno – Victor Rask – Ryan Hartman

Ryan Suter – Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin – Carson Soucy
Brad Hunt – Mathew Dumba

Starting goalie: Devan Dubnyk

AVALANCHE
Gabriel Landeskog – Nathan MacKinnon – Mikko Rantanen
Andre Burakovsky – Nazem Kadri – Joonas Donskoi
Matt Nieto – Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – Matt Calvert
Tyson Jost – J.T. Compher – Valeri Nichushkin

Cale Makar – Sam Girard
Nikita Zadorov – Ryan Graves
Ian Cole – Erik Johnson

Starting goalie: Pavel Francouz

Kathryn Tappen will host Friday’s coverage on NHL Live alongside analysts Mike Milbury and Keith Jones. Chris Cuthbert will handle play-by-play duties alongside Pierre McGuire at Pepsi Center in Denver, Colo.

Episode 2 of the three-part docuseries “Road To The NHL Winter Classic” will air on Friday, Dec. 27, at 6:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN. The season finale will be presented on Monday, Jan. 6, at 10:30 p.m. ET immediately following Oilers-Maple Leafs on NBCSN. 

The series will chronicle the Stars and Predators as they prepare to meet outdoors in the 2020 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic on January 1 at Cotton Bowl Stadium at 1 p.m. ET on NBC.