Matt Boldy's first practice back ST. PAUL - Wild forward Marcus Johansson finished the 2023-24 season with two goals and one assist in the final 20 games of the season. He was playing on the Wild's second line in the middle of the team trying to make the playoffs. He admitted he struggled last year and that isn't the type of player he thinks he can be. "Yes, definitely some kind of revenge in there too," Johansson said after his two points on Thursday night. "I didn’t feel like myself last year and struggled. It was fun to play tonight. I felt like I had my legs back a little bit. It was a tough year last year, so it felt good to go out there and play hockey and have some fun and feel good." Johansson, 34, had 11 goals, 19 assists, and 30 points in 78 games for the Wild last year. He got a lot of blame in the midst of the Wild falling out of the playoff race because he was getting top-six minutes and wasn't producing offensively. The biggest thing the Wild coaching staff and management talked with Johansson about was playing harder. To engage in more puck battles, be physical, and use his speed more. "Well, we had quite a few (conversations) at the end of the season, and then he's come back with a fresh mindset, knows how he needs to play and what we expect him to do," Wild head coach John Hynes said. "I thought the last couple games of the preseason, you could see the competitive nature coming up. I mean, he's such a great skater and he has the ability to make plays. But you know, there are times in the games where you have to be in battles, win battles and stay on pucks. Things like that. "I think he's making a concerted effort to do that, so that's what we need from him. And when he does them, then he's a productive player, because he's certainly smart, skilled and can make plays. But you got to combine that with the hard part of the game, and he's done a nice job with that." To start the year last year, Johansson had six goals, 16 assists, and 22 points in the first 41 games. They were respectable numbers from the Wild's second line left winger but with a team hovering around a playoff spot, more production was probably needed. He played 38 games of the next 41 and recorded five goals, three assists, eight points, and was a minus-13. The Wild ultimately fell out of a playoff race and finished the year outside the playoffs for the first time since 2019 and the second time since 2012. "I mean, I think we all have from last yar. It’s not what we wanted, and I know I got a lot better. I’ve shown that before," Johansson said. "It’s a tough game. So, when you’re not feeling good…it’s tough to turn it around. So, it’s fun to get off to a good start and we just got to keep building off of that. We know what we can do in here. Our line knows what we can do, we’ve shown that before, so try and build off of that." With a lot of expectations on Johansson and the team, the 6-foot-1 forward and his line mates helped boost the Wild to a 3-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on opening night. Johansson had two assists, Matt Boldy had one goal and two assists, and Joel Eriksson Ek had one goal. "Yeah. I mean, we know what we can do and we know what we have in each other," Johansson said of his line. "There’s some good hockey players on that line, so we just got to keep. Building off of that and work hard together and we’ll have some fun." The biggest thing for the Wild is having more than just one line producing. Last year it was the Eriksson Ek, Boldy, and Kirill Kaprizov line that would produce nightly but none of the other lines would show up. This resulted in loss after loss. But this year, the emphasis has been on depth scoring. The Wild's second line winning them the game on Thursday was a great sign. “It’s hard to score. I’m sure that they’ll be ups and downs for everyone. It’s not easy," Boldy said on the second needing to produce. "To be able to have guys like Kirill and Zuccy together, who are just one of the best duos in the whole league, they’re hard to beat. So, being able to kind of have multiple lines going, third line was great, fourth line was awesome. So, yeah, you need four lines to win.” Nonetheless, a big year out of Johansson would certainly make this team more dangerous and could help the Wild grab a playoff spot by seasons end. Make sure you bookmark The Hockey News' Minnesota Wild page [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/minnesota-wild/] for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns and so much more. OTHER WILD NEWS
