3 burning Wild questions entering 2026-27 NHL season

The most burning question around the Wild is the future of Quinn Hughes. The superstar defenseman will be with the Wild for the 2026-27 season, barring something unforeseen. He is signed through the end of the 2026-27 campaign.

However, he is an unrestricted free agent on July 1. He will hit the open market with a rising salary cap and a slew of teams in need of his services. The Wild will need to make a huge push to keep him around the State of Hockey.

Matters were made worse for Minnesota when the Colorado Avalanche extended Cale Makar. Makar is going to be the NHL’s highest-paid player in 2027-28, earning $20.4 million per season. With the market for an elite, superstar defenseman set, Hughes has no incentive to take a discount if he doesn’t want to.

The superstar rearguard has not committed to remaining in Minnesota. Can the Wild find a deal that keeps their franchise defenseman around? Or is Hughes making his stop with the Wild a short stay?

Can Minnesota replace lost goals?

The Wild did well to add Coleman, a veteran scoring winger, this summer. However, the summer hasn’t been without some departures from the roster. Minnesota lost a decent amount of goal production this offseason.

Vladimir Tarasenko, Marcus Johansson, and Mats Zuccarello are no longer with the Wild. Tarasenko remains a free agent, and could still return. Johansson signed with a team in his native Sweden. And Zuccarello took a one-year contract with the Los Angeles Kings.

Three of Minnesota’s top seven goal scorers from 2025-26 are not on this team. This is 53 goals in total, which could be tough to replicate. Do the Wild have enough manpower to carry the slack? Or will Minnesota need to get creative to add more scoring punch to the lineup?

Is this the year of Jesper Wallstedt?

The Wild have one of the most impressive goaltending tandems in the NHL. Filip Gustavsson and Jesper Wallstedt were rock solid for Minnesota in 2025-26. Things faltered a bit in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but that experience could prove to be beneficial in the future.

Wallstedt, in particular, will be an interesting player to watch. He is one of the brightest young goaltenders in the league. In 35 games, he played to a sparkling .916 save percentage in the regular season last year.

Wallstedt is seen as a potential franchise goaltender. Is this the year he takes up that mantle? If so, the Wild will surely be in contention for the Stanley Cup once again in 2027.