The forever boring Minnesota Wild once again lived up to their reputation and had a boring off-season.
Welcome to Oilersnation’s summer series called Off-Season Review, in which we’ll take a dive into what’s going on with the other 15 teams in the Western Conference. So far, we’ve looked at every single Pacific Division team, along with five of eight Central Division teams.
In this article, we’ll look at the Minnesota Wild.

The Minnesota Wild 2023-24 Season in a Nutshell

Of the 32 teams in the National Hockey League, which team do you forget exists? For me, it’s the Minnesota Wild. The team is always solid defensively and usually makes the postseason, but have only made it out of the second round once (and were promptly swept). Since the 2015-16 season, they’ve made the postseason seven times in the nine seasons but fell in the first round each time.
Last season was the second time since the 2012-13 season they failed to make the postseason, finishing with a 39-34-9 record for 87 points, 11 back of the final Wild Card spot. They made several trades at the trade deadline, but nothing earth-shattering. 
The Wild traded Brandon Duhaime to the Colorado Avalanche for a 2026 third-round pick, traded former Oiler Patrick Maroon to the Boston Bruins for Luke Toporowski and a 2026 sixth-round pick. Moreover, they traded Connor Dewar to the Toronto Maple Leafs for a 2026 fourth-round pick and Dmitry Ovchinnikov and acquired Turner Elson from the New York Rangers for Nic Petan.
Their trade deadline wasn’t necessarily standing pat, but they didn’t improve their future chances of winning a cup, as all picks they acquired are in 2026, nor did they improve their current situation by trading roster players away. Toporowski could help them in the coming years, but he scored 12 goals and 28 points in 66 American Hockey League games last season.

Some Notable Statistics

The Wild have their first star since Marián Gáborík, as Kirill Kaprizov has quickly become one of the best scorers in the league. While he didn’t hit his 47 goals and 108 points he had two seasons ago, the 2015 fifth-round pick scored 46 goals and 96 points, the third straight season with 40 or more goals.
Moreover, Matthew Boldy looks like a legitimate talent, as he scored 29 goals and 69 points, the latter being a career-high, in 75 games. The season prior, he scored 31 goals in 81 games, so expect the 23-year-old left winger to hit the 30-goal plateau often in his career.
Joel Eriksson Ek also had a career year, scoring 30 goals and 64 points in 77 games, while veteran Mats Zuccarello scored 12 goals and 63 points. Now 36, the Norwegian-born forward has only gotten better since arriving in Minnesota for the 2019-20 season.
Youngster Marco Rossi scored 21 goals and 40 points in his first full season, while Ryan Hartman scored 21 goals and 45 points. The former is only going to get better, as the Austrian-born centre is only 22.
The Wild also have a solid defence core, led by Brock Faber. Last season, the rookie defender scored eight goals and 47 points, finishing second in Calder Trophy voting behind generational talent, Connor Bedard. Jonas Brodin had a solid season, scoring seven goals and 27 points, while Jacob Middleton scored seven goals and 25 points. Jared Spurgeon only played 16 games this past season, but had 11 goals and 34 points the season prior.
Between the pipes, the Wild have all-time great Marc-André Fleury, who started 40 games last season. The 39-year-old posted an .895 save percentage and a 2.98 goals-against average last season, the worst marks of his career. Filip Gustavsson started 45 games, and had an .899 save percentage and a 3.06 goals-against average in 45 games.
Jesper Wallstedt is considered by most to be the best goaltending prospect in the league (the Oilers could’ve had him, never forget), and he played three games for Minnesota. Overall, he had an .897 save percentage and a 3.01 goals-against average in three games, but picked up a shutout. Expect him to make more starts in 2024-25.

Off-Season Transactions

The Wild’s cap situation is… unique. At one point, the Wild had a fantastic off-season, signing both Zach Parise and Ryan Suter to long-term deals worth $98 million during the 2012 off-season. In the summer of 2021, both were bought out and both have a cap dead cap hit of $7.372 million this season. Yes, about $14.744 million of Minnesota’s cap hit goes to players not on the active roster.
It shouldn’t be much of a shock that the Wild haven’t done a whole lot this off-season. Their most notable signing was agreeing to terms with Yakov Trenin to a four-year, $14 million deal. Last season, Trenin scored 12 goals and 17 points in 76 games between the Nashville Predators and Colorado Avalanche. Travis Boyd signed a one-year, two-way deal. Two seasons ago, he scored 17 goals and 35 points with the Arizona Coyotes.
Speaking of the Coyotes, the Wild signed Cameron Crotty to a one-year, two way deal, one of many depth signings. Other signings of the two-way variety include Troy Grosenick, Ben Jones, Devin Shore, Reese Johnson, Joseph Cecconi, and Brendan Gaunce. The Wild also re-signed Jacob Middleton to a four-year deal worth $17.4 million, while re-signing depth players Adam Raska, Samuel Walker, and Graeme Clarke.
The biggest move the Wild made was in late July, as they signed Brock Faber to an eight-year, $68 million deal worth $8.5 million annually. Thankfully for the Wild, this contract will come into effect after Suter and Parise’s dead cap is $833,333 annually.
Trade-wise, the Wild traded up a pick in the first round of the draft, while also acquiring the aforementioned Graeme Clarke from the New Jersey Devils for Adam Beckman. On the second day of the draft, the Wild also acquired Jakub Luko and a 2024 fourth-round pick from the Bruins for Vinni Letieri and a 2024 fourth-round pick, 12 selections after the Wild’s pick.
The Wild’s departures in free agency were minimal. Jacob Lucchini signed with the Nashville Predators, Dakota Mermis signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and Mason Shaw signed with the Winnipeg Jets. Notable 2023-24 Wild players that remain unrestricted free agents are Alex Goligoski and Jujhar Khaira.
If you enjoy my content, you can follow me on Twitter @Ryley_L_D.