Despite a blockbuster trade for Quinn Hughes and a dominant opening round against the Dallas Stars, the Minnesota Wild's Stanley Cup dreams vanished. What comes next?
In recent years, the Minnesota Wild have put together a clearly excellent hockey team.
Wild GM Bill Guerin deserves credit for assembling a deep, well-balanced squad – not to mention pulling off the NHL's biggest blockbuster trade this year, acquiring superstar defenseman Quinn Hughes from the Vancouver Canucks.
The Wild finished third in the ultra-competitive Central Division with a 46-24-12 record, and they beat the league's third-best team, the Dallas Stars, in Round 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
There's a lot to like about what Guerin has assembled in Minnesota, including one of the NHL's biggest superstars in left winger Kirill Kaprizov, and a terrific goaltending tandem in rookie Jesper Wallstedt and Filip Gustavsson.
Unfortunately for the Wild, they ran into a buzzsaw team in the Colorado Avalanche in the second round.
The Avs eliminated Minnesota in only five games. That shows that, while the Wild have come a long way toward being a legitimate contender, Minnesota still has a fair way yet to go before it can earn the Stanley Cup
What Went Wrong For The Wild?
The Wild allowed the fourth-fewest goals against in the regular season. But in their series against the Avs, Minnesota conceded 24 goals, 20 of which were with a goalie in the net. That's an average of four goals against without including empty-netters. It doesn't matter who your opponent is if you aren't able to stop them from scoring nearly at will.
In the deciding Game 5 on Wednesday, Minnesota led 3-0 after the first intermission, but they blew it as Colorado scored three unanswered to tie it, and shutdown defenseman Brett Kulak scored the overtime-winner.
Despite having a defense corps that was arguably the league's best after the acquisition of Hughes, the Wild were unable to stem the Avalanche's tide.
While goaltending wasn't the reason why Minnesota lost to the Avs, Wallstedt and Gustavsson produced a combined team save percentage of .859 in the series. Even if the goals came from the best offensive team in the league, you'd ideally want to see that save percentage be significantly better.
Ultimately, although the Wild showed they could beat very good teams this year, they still need to take that next competitive step as a franchise. Minnesota hasn't got past the second round since the 2002-03 campaign, and that could change with this generation of the team. But their loss to the Avalanche showed there are still steps to take before they're on the level of the very best in the league.
What's Next For The Wild?
Guerin has managed his player salaries responsibly, as the Wild have a projected $13.5 million in cap space to use this summer and eight pending UFAs. Their top forwards and defensemen and both goalies are under contract at least through the 2026-27 season.
There will be a financial reckoning for Hughes when he becomes a UFA in the summer of 2027, but the expected rise in the cap ceiling for the foreseeable future means they'll be able to keep Hughes around – if he wants to stay.
That said, Hughes should want to stay in Minnesota. He's going to have his best chance at winning a Cup with the Wild, and not with his brothers, Jack and Luke, with the New Jersey Devils. The Wild took a notable step forward this season, but winning a championship is still very much a process. And although Minnesota couldn't get over the hump against a divisional rival in Colorado, the reality is they don't have many holes for Guerin to fill this summer.
It's no comfort for Wild fans to hear, but the truth is the Avalanche and Stars will be very good for a long time, and the Utah Mammoth are pushing up from below in the Central. So while it's going to be difficult for Minnesota to get beyond Round 2 in the 2027 playoffs, with the right tweaks by Guerin and a bit of puck luck, the Wild could evolve further and push into the Western Conference final and beyond.
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