Minnesota Wild

Last year: 46-25-11, 3rd in the Central Division (Lost in the first round to the Dallas Stars in six games)

Projected: 3rd in the Central

Full rankings: 1. Colorado Avalanche | 2. Dallas Stars | 3. Minnesota Wild | 4. Winnipeg Jets | 5. Nashville Predators | 6. St. Louis Blues | 7. Arizona Coyotes | 8. Chicago Blackhawks 

*Rankings calculated by KEVIN, a predictive learning model created by THN's Rachel Doerrie.

Three keys + a bonus

Marco Rossi and Brock Faber shine: The Wild enter this season with a similar lineup as last year with Pat Maroon being Minnesota's lone offseason addition. But the Wild have two rookies on entry-level contracts in Rossi and Faber, who will be relied on to play a major role this season.

Faber has the responsibility of replacing Matt Dumba on the second pair alongside Jonas Brodin after having an impressive playoff showing against the Stars in April. Rossi's assignment is to supply secondary scoring and his defensive acumen down the middle on the third line with Marcus Foligno and Freddy Gaudreau.

How the first-year players perform and handle their new role and environment will impact the Wild’s trajectory this season. Even though a full-season will be a big test for them, both have shown indications that they can handle it. Rossi and Faber shining in their rookie years would go a long way for the Wild and their hope of landing a top-3 spot in the Central. — Heckmann

Marcus Foligno, Ryan Hartman rebound: Both Foligno (23-19-42) and Hartman (34-31-65) had career years offensively in 2021-22, but both dealt with injuries and saw their scoring cut in half last season. With both of them earning multi-year extensions over the past two weeks, the Wild need them to be healthy and rebound this season.

Hartman is once again slated to center Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello on the top line. So the hope is he will get back to what he did two seasons ago and show them why they gave him that role and responsibility in the first place. 

Equally important for the Wild is Foligno returning to form this season after re-signing for four more years. The Wild need Foligno to return to playing his two-way game, where he provides secondary scoring and is one of the toughest forwards to play against with his blend of strong defensive play and physicality. — Heckmann

Filip Gustavsson solidifies himself as a No. 1: Gustavsson outperformed expectations last season in Year 1 with the Wild by all accounts. The 25-year-old — who the Wild acquired from the Ottawa Senators for Cam Talbot in a one-for-one trade last July — finished second in save percentage (.931) to eventual Vezina Trophy Winner Linus Ullmark last season. Gustavsson also had a strong playoff showing with a .921 SV%. 

Now Gustavsson, who earned a three-year extension this summer, needs to prove his emergence last season in the crease as their No. 1 wasn’t a fluke. He will have ample opportunity to do so as he's anticipated to have more starts this season after splitting the net with Marc-Andre Fleury close to evenly a year ago. — Heckmann

BONUS: Calen Addison, Jon Merrill and Alex Goligoski silence the critics: One of the biggest questions coming into this season is how the Wild's defense will shape up. Their forward group is the strongest considering the Wild know what to expect out of all the forwards considering they were all on the team last year except Maroon.

But in the playoffs last season, the Wild sat Goligoski and played Merrill in just two of the six playoff games. They also traded for John Klingberg, which pushed Addison out of the lineup. This year all three will be returning and will now play every night to start the season until Jared Spurgeon comes back from injury.

All three of them spent time last season as a healthy scratch, so one would expect the confidence level of playing them is low, which is why it will be interesting to see how they play. Wild head coach Dean Evason did say Addison has improved and they are fully comfortable giving Goligoski top minutes without Spurgeon, while also believing Merrill can still play as a shutdown defender.

There's no doubt that if the Wild want to make the playoffs and go far, they need those three defenders to step up and silence the critics. — Loucks

The Scenarios

Most-likely Scenario: The Wild make the playoffs for the fifth season in a row on the strength of their young talent and rookies, coupled with their strong defensive core, 1-2 punch in goal and bounce back years from the likes of Foligno and Hartman. —Heckmann

Worst-case Scenario: The Wild experience set backs from injuries and young rookies not stepping up along with an aging core that struggles to become what they used to, culminating to the Wild missing the playoffs for the first time since 2018-19 and second time since 2011-12. — Loucks

Required Reading

• Jared Spurgeon expected to miss a few weeks + opening night roster

• Wild top prospect, Marat Khusnutdinov, traded to HC Sochi

• Wild extend Ryan Hartman, Marcus Foligno and Mats Zuccarello

• Wild's third line could do some damage this year 

• 'His speed and shot are elite': Hunter Haight strives to be 'a name they need to talk about'