No First Round Exit This Year - WILD WEDNESDAY
After the 5-2 loss against Colorado last night, the Minnesota Wild are officially eliminated from the playoffs. This will be the second time the Wild will miss the playoffs since 2013, with the last time being the 2018-19 season. This marks the 124th consecutive season that a major Minnesota sports team will not play for a championship since the Twins won the World Series in 1991.
There is no doubt the Wild have talent on their team, but there are many issues the Wild faced this season that did not make them a playoff caliber team. The Wild’s penalty kill is ranked 30th in the league by allowing 64 goals in 249 short-handed chances. The Wild’s goaltending has also not been anywhere near as strong as it was in the 2022-23 season. Filip Gustavsson has a 3.11 GAA and a .898 save percentage in 44 games. Last season, Gus had a 2.10 GAA and .931 save percentage in 39 games.
After the latest loss against Colorado, the Wild are now 0-10-1 against the top three teams in the Central division – the Stars, Avalanche and Jets. When comparing the Wild to these teams, they are missing a lot of the speed, size and depth these teams have that make them so successful.
“When you look at the top teams in the Central, they’re big teams, they’re fast teams, they’re deep teams. And they play a heavy game,” Coach John Hynes told the Athletic after the game against Colorado.
Luckily, Wild fans still have Kirill Kaprizov to watch dominate almost every night. Kaprizov is having another incredible season with the Wild and leads the team with 90 points, (42 goals and 48 assists).
Kaprizov has scored five goals in the last three games and is just five goals shy of matching his career high of 47 goals. With four games left and Kaprizov scoring at this rate, there is an outside chance the Wild could see their first ever 50 goal scorer.
With the season coming to an end, the Wild called Jesper Wallstedt up to let him close out the season with a few more NHL starts. In his second NHL start on Sunday, Wallstedt posted a 24-save shutout against Chicago in the 4-0 victory. Even though it was against the lackluster Chicago Blackhawks, Wallstedt looked much more comfortable than he did in his debut where he gave up seven goals in a 7-2 loss against Dallas on Jan. 7.
The Wild close out the season with their last four games on the road against Vegas, San Jose, LA and Seattle. I assume Fleury will start on Friday against Vegas and Wallstedt will be in net on Saturday against the San Jose.
The Wild also recalled forward Liam Öhgren from Iowa today, so he will have his NHL debut on Friday. Öhgren was drafted 19th overall in the 2022 draft and was Sweden’s captain in the 2024 World Juniors Championship.
So even though the playoffs are not in the picture for the Wild this season, the Wild will take advantage of these last few games to get a closer look at some of the younger talent within the organization.
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