Minnesota Wild News

Home

Quizzes

Newsletter

Yakov Trenin, Minnesota Wild (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)

Wild 2024-25 Report Cards: Yakov Trenin

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Mariah E. Stark | Last updated Jun 2, 2025 9:15 AM ET

We’ve made our way through a handful of report cards for the Minnesota Wild, and it’s time for another, and this time it will be on just one player instead of shared. This player came to the Wild last summer as a free agent signing, and that was Yakov Trenin. Many questioned why the team picked him up last offseason, and that question continued as the season went on.

He played in both the regular and postseason, but he struggled to find his right spot in the lineup, with the exception of staying on the fourth line. In this article, we’ll look at his performance throughout the season and decide what kind of grade he deserves, starting with how he stepped up or struggled to perform in the regular season.

Trenin Needed to be Better

Trenin is an interesting case because he did put up some okay numbers for being on the fourth line, but he was expected to make more of an impact. While he did make a bit of an impression in the postseason, the Wild could’ve used his efforts earlier to help with the void in their lineup due to injuries. He played in 76 games and scored seven goals plus eight assists for 15 points; however, those seven goals were scored sporadically throughout the season. His first one didn’t come until over two months into the season.

Again, he’s not expected to be a huge goal scorer, but once he showed his talent for scoring, they could’ve used more of his efforts. Plus, in those 76 games, he had just 85 shots on goal, something he could’ve definitely improved on. On the defensive side of things, he had 241 hits, just 12 behind team leader Marcus Foligno, who had 253. That was no surprise as Trenin has a big body, and he did use it quite a bit.

He contributed 32 blocked shots, which was a decent number for a forward and is always a number that can be improved on by almost every player in the lineup. However, the next number he has to be better at this next season, and that was his 51 giveaways and just 12 takeaways. Some of the Wild’s top forwards have more turnovers, but like I pointed out in another report card, those top players make up for it with their top points.

Trenin Showed Up

Trenin wasn’t always noticeable in the regular season, except for a big hit or a handful of breakaways he was lucky enough to have. In the postseason, it was a bit of a different story as he was noticed, and his entire line was. They stepped up quite often throughout their series against the Vegas Golden Knights.

His line had three goals in the six games they played, and he assisted on two of the three. While he had more points, he had fewer shots with just three in six games. The stat he didn’t falter on was his hits; he had 34 throughout those games, and he also had five blocked shots, which was another improvement over the regular season. It may not be a higher number, but he had more points in a smaller number of games, so overall his percentages were better, and he was impactful.

His stats continued to improve from there as well; he had zero giveaways and one takeaway. Again, he was noticeable when it counted, during the postseason, but if he’s with the Wild next season, he has to find a way to have this kind of impression all season.

Trenin’s Overall Grade

Looking back at Trenin’s performance in the regular season, his grade isn’t the greatest, as he earned a C-. Some may be wondering why his grade is so low when he had points, and he contributed a lot of hits. However, those numbers don’t make up for some of the mistakes that were made and the lack of stepping up when needed. While he was on the fourth line, he could’ve been better, and they needed him to be. His grade isn’t lower because he did find ways to contribute in his own style, compared to nothing at all.

As far as the postseason, his grade was higher; a B+ because he found a way to be present and make contributions. Without him and his line, the Wild wouldn’t have been able to stay in several of those games. His grade wasn’t higher either because again, he has room to improve, and he has to in order to help the team succeed.

For his overall grade, he earned a C+ after combining his C- and B+. Trenin found ways to step up in the most important part of the season, and he earned a bit of extra points for that. However, he has a long way to go, and hopefully next season he’ll be able to take those crucial steps and be a consistent presence in the lineup.