Welcome to this three-part series looking at five questions facing the Wild, five predictions for the upcoming season and five major takeaways from the offseason
The Minnesota Wild had a relatively quiet summer outside of re-signing goaltender Filip Gustavsson and forward Brandon Duhaime (who both were arbitration eligible) and trading for left winger Pat Maroon from the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The only remaining piece of business for the Wild, who have about $1.65 million in cap space left, is to re-sign defenseman Calen Addison. The slow offseason was anticipated because of the Wild's financial reality due to the buyouts. Defensemen Matt Dumba and John Klingberg and forwards Ryan Reaves, Gustav Nyquist, Oskar Sundqvist and Sam Steel all signed with different teams in free agency.
With it being Sept. 1 and summer in the rearview window, it's time to make five predictions for the upcoming 2023-24 season:
Faber flourishes on second pair in rookie season
Brock Faber made a statement with the Wild after his arrival from the Minnesota Gophers. It wasn't all that surprising for those who watched him defend some of the best college players in the country with ease. Faber, who finished as a +29, recorded four goals and 27 points in 38 games during his senior season.
Faber, who turned 21 on Aug. 22, didn't miss a beat after drawing in the Wild's lineup at the end of last season. He seamlessly fit into the lineup with his smooth skating ability and defensive acumen. That's especially true with his Jonas Brodin-esque stick defending. The right-shot defenseman played in two regular season contests and made six postseason appearances.
Faber looked like a composed NHL regular in the postseason, where he finished with a 55.53 percent expected goals rate at five-on-five. And with Faber on the ice, the Wild outscored the opposition 5-0 in those eight combined regular season and playoff games.
The Wild sure hope it's a prelude to what he will accomplish in his rookie season in 2023-24. And there's plenty of reasons to believe he will flourish, especially with him expected to be alongside Brodin on the second pair. He rarely made a mistake and proved playoff hockey wasn't too big of a stage for him to succeed.
Rossi moves up the depth chart, hits 40 points
Whether Marco Rossi, 21, proves he's ready to be a full-time NHLer is one of the major questions this season surrounding the Wild who lack depth down the middle. From all accounts, Rossi's put the work in, and that started before this summer. Rossi scored 16 goals and 51 points with AHL Iowa last season after getting sent down in November.
Rossi is poised to make the team out of training camp again this fall and should get an opportunity in a top-six role this season at some point. That will likely be with Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello unless the Wild decide to break up the Marcus Johansson-Eriksson Ek-Matt Boldy line. While having Rossi — who has the tools to be a productive top-six center — hit 40 points next season may be one of the bolder predictions, he regained his confidence in Iowa and looks like a player ready to take the next step.
At least two of the three big pending UFA's re-sign
The Wild have seven players who will be on the final year of their contract in 2023-24: forwards Marcus Foligno, Ryan Hartman, Zuccarello, Duhaime and Maroon, defenseman Alex Goligoski and goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.
This makes for an interesting storyline for two reasons:
1) While Maroon was Minnesota's lone offseason addition, this group looking for their next contract should be extra motivated, which should give the Wild an extra boost.
2) The salary cap is expected to rise for 2024-25, which will help, but the Wild will still be subject to about $14.75 million in dead cap from the buyouts — so which players from this group can the Wild afford to keep?
The spotlight, though, will be on the trio of Zuccarello, Foligno and Hartman. All three of them have been critical pieces to the Wild's puzzle, so it wouldn't be surprising to see the Wild re-sign at least two of them, if not all three.
The Wild's three young guns hit career highs
The Wild are returning with a familiar team this season and will need their three young stars in Kaprizov, Boldy and Eriksson Ek to play their best hockey yet. Both Boldy and Eriksson Ek set career highs last season. Boldy scored 31 goals and 63 points after finishing with 39 points in 47 games in 2021-22 during his rookie year. After scoring a career-high 26 goals and recording 49 points in the 2021-22 campaign, Eriksson Ek scored 23 goals and notched a career-high 61 points last season.
Kaprizov hit the 40-goal plateau for the second time in his career last season despite missing 15 games due to injury. He recorded 75 points in 67 games after scoring 47 goals and 108 points (the fifth-highest in the league) in 2021-22. All three seem poised to hit career highs this season and if they do, it will set the Wild up for success despite them not making any significant additions this summer amid cap restraints.
Gustavsson hits 30 wins
Gustavsson earned a three-year contract extension with the Wild on July 31 after his emergence as a composed, capable starter last season. The 25-year-old Swede finished with a 22-9-7 record and .931 save percentage while stopping 24.54 goals above expected.
Gustavsson and Fleury in goal should be a strength for Minnesota this season. Gustavsson should have a higher workload in 2023-24, though, which is why he could record 30 wins — something nine goalies did last year. The only thing not in his favor is that he isn't depended on as much because of the Wild's 1-2 punch.
All Data Via Evolving-Hockey, Natural Stat Trick and Hockey-Reference