One of the more surprising teams to miss out on the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs is the Minnesota Wild. The Wild were officially eliminated from the postseason with a loss on April 9 to the Colorado Avalanche in which they surrendered five goals.
It’s the first time since 2018-19 that the Wild won’t be in the postseason, but they’ve been relatively unsuccessful runs having not made it past the first round since 2014-15. While there’s a lot to be excited about when it comes to the Wild, here’s a look at what went wrong during their season, how it could’ve changed and what they have to look forward to beyond 2023-24.
Where the Wild’s Season Went Wrong
For starters, the Wild were one of the earlier teams to fire their head coach — Dean Evason. He was relieved of his duties on Nov. 27 after the team went seven games without a win (0-5-2) and were struggling in all aspects of the game.
The team was struggling on the penalty kill and even with one game left in the regular season sit 30th overall in penalty kill percentage at just 74.6 percent killed. They were the fourth most penalized team, averaging 11:30 in minutes per game — a recipe for disaster when you think about it.
On top of that, outside of Kirill Kaprizov who has 93 points in 73 games this season, Matt Boldy was second on the team in scoring with 66 points in 73 games. Still, not back for a third-year NHL player, the Wild would surely like to see someone a little closer to Kaprizov in overall points.
Add to that their goaltending woes this season between Filip Gustavsson and Marc-André Fleury and it just wasn’t in the cards for the Wild.
Injuries, Inexperience Affected Wild
Let’s not forget it’s still a young core. They buyouts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter are influencing this team, but it’s a team that needed to head in a different direction. This season, they were a good blend of veterans and youngsters. Players like Joel Eriksson Ek and Mats Zuccarello helped newcomers like Brock Faber and Marco Rossi adapt to more NHL time.
That said, when it came to shutting down the opposing team and locking down in close games, this team had some inexperience in that department — at least at the NHL level.
On top of that, the team had to deal with season-ending injuries to Jared Spurgeon in January and Marcus Foligno in March that surely affected their run to the playoffs. While you can’t assume that these types of injuries will happen, they do hurt a team’s chances down the stretch.
Youth Movement in Minnesota is Promising
We already mentioned Faber, Rossi and Boldy as members of this team’s young core. Even Kaprizov is only 26 years old. The future is bright for the Wild.
Fleury is expected to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, and while it’d be nice to have him back for the Wild, Gustavsson and Jesper Wallstedt seem to be the future for the team in between the pipes.
They hold just six picks in the upcoming 2024 NHL Draft, but they already have a bright future for the next couple of seasons with their core in place. With the hopes that these players can take another step in their development next season, the Wild should be contenders for the playoffs in 2024-25. That said, when it comes to the 2023-24 edition of the team, they can rest in peace for now.
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