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Puck Daddy's 2016-17 NHL Preview: Minnesota Wild

Yahoo
Yahoo

Last Season: 38-33-11 (87 points); 5th in Central; 2nd Wild Card spot in West

The first two-thirds (ish) of the season wasn’t an easy one for the Minnesota Wild.

The team was constantly dancing around the ‘will they, won’t they’ question of firing head coach Mike Yeo. Fifty five games into the season, a 23-22-10 record, and an eight game losing streak later, Yeo was sent packing.

Taking over was then-Iowa Wild (AHL) head coach, John Torchetti. He dug the team out of the cellar of the Central Division. In the final 27 games, the Wild were 15-11-1 and clinched a playoff spot shortly before the end of the season.

Facing the Dallas Stars in the first round of the playoffs, the Wild lost in six games. Yet their playoff loss would end up being their long-term gain. Since the Anaheim Ducks lost in the first round as well and decided to fire Bruce Boudreau, Minnesota swooped in and won the bidding war by offering Boudreau four years to the Ottawa Senators three.

2015-16 Season, In One Picture

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AP_16131659495197

The Great Round Hope for the State of Hockey.

Did They Get Better, Worse, or Are They About The Same?

The addition that will have the largest impact on the franchise is coach Bruce Boudreau (pun not intended). Both the Ducks and the Washington Capitals experienced the Boudreau-bump once he took over the team. The way the relationships with those two team ended notwithstanding, the Wild will see a positive impact based on the coach.

Roster wise, there were only a few changes.

The team bought out the contract of Thomas Vanek. He was healthy scratched throughout the season and never seemed to mesh with whomever was behind the bench of the Wild. On the team, Vanek was seventh in points (41) fourth in goals (18), and fourth in power play points (14).

Boudreau recruited Chris Stewart from his time in Anaheim to come play for him in Minnesota. Stewart played in 56 games with the Ducks, scoring 20 points and recording 73 penalty minutes.

Zach Parise helped to convince free agent Eric Staal to join the Wild. Splitting last season between the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Rangers, Staal played 83 games – yes, 83 – with 13 goals and 39 points.

Five Most Fascinating Players

1. Eric Staal. The center is embarking on his thirteenth NHL season and is only 31 years old. It’s not like his career is done, but he’s certainly not the player he used to be. The benefit to Staal in moving to Minnesota is the responsibility is lessened somewhat. He’s not expected to be the guy all the time.

2. Ryan Suter. What will be fascinating to watch this season is Suter’s ice time. At even strength, Boudreau likes to roll his three pairing consistently, keeping the partners together as much as possible. We know Suter can handle heavy minutes; yet, how much will he benefit from getting a little more rest during the game?

3. Matt Dumba. He has yet to really evolve into that dominate defenseman the Wild took seventh overall in 2012. As a part of Boudreau’s staff this year is assistant coach and Hall of Fame defenseman Scott Stevens. Dumba, and the wealth of young d-men in Minnesota, can only benefit from learning from Stevens.

4. Mikko Koivu. The captain is the second oldest on the team. Boudreau has mentioned throughout the offseason that goal is to utilize Koivu in a similar shut-down role as Ryan Kesler. Koivu led the team in scoring last season 17 goals, 56 points due in large part to Zach Parise missing 12 games. A shutdown role doesn’t lend much to goal scoring, but with the a healthy Parise

5. Jason Pominville. Which Pominville is going to show up this season? He has three years left on his contract with a $5.6-million cap hit per year and a no move clause. Last season, he had his lowest non-lockout season point total (36) since his rookie year in 2005-06 (30). If Boudreau can get his buy-in, he could find a second win in his career, and if not, possibly a buyout at the end of the season.

Mascot Hijinks Video Break

Nordie, the Wild Mascot, wanted to make the Vancouver Canucks feel like they were at home by dressing up as one of the Green Men.

Can We Trust Them At Even Strength?

Per Corsica, Minnesota’s 5-on-5 score and venue adjusted CF% was 47.98; that is 22nd in the NHL. Nino Niederreiter led the team in the same statistical category at 54.58%; whereas, Ryan Suter was the highest CF% defenseman at 50.18%.

The saving grace for the team is again the Boudreau influence. Using the Ducks as an example, by implementing Boudreau’s system the team’s CF% from 49.25% (after taking over the team from Randy Carlyle) to 53.03% at the end of his tenure. Each year the team saw an incremental increase in possession as the team was built to fit his system.

Minnesota allowed the sixth least amount of goals-against at 5-on-5 (129). They were in the middle of the pack at 17th when it comes to goals-for at 5-on-5 (140).

Charlie Coyle led the Wild with 19 even strength goals. Nino Niederreiter was tops on the Wild in even strength points at 38; Parise and Coyle were close behind at 35 each.

Can We Trust Them On Special Teams?

Ehh, it’s going to take some reworking to get the special teams on the right track.

The power play ranked 15th in the NHL at 18.5-percent. Suter (21), Koivu (20) and Parise (18) were the the top three power play point scorers. Koivu’s 10 power play goals was best on the team.

The penalty kill was dreadful at 77.9-percent, ranked 27th in the NHL. Naturally, Suter logged the most time on the PK over the season (160:21). The next closest in ice time was Jared Spurgeon with 25 minutes less than Suter (135:32). Eric Haula led the team with four shorthanded points.

Can We Trust Their Goaltending?

The good news for Boudreau is that he doesn’t have a goaltending dilemma; at least not in training camp.

Devan Dubnyk is a full season removed from his Vezina nomination. The Wild leaned on him often playing him in 67 games; a career high for Dubnyk. The netminder ended the year 32-26-6 with 2.33 GAA and .918 SV%. Backing up Dubnyk is Darcy Kuemper. This past year, Kuemper played in 21 games, starting in 16, and amassed a 6-7-5 record, 2.43 GAA and .915 SV%.

To give Kuemper a bit of competition the team brought in Alex Stalock. The Minnesota native had spent his entire NHL career with the San Jose Sharks before signing a one year, two-way deal with the Wild. In his career, Stalock is 24-19-7 with .911 SV% and 2.37 GAA.

Player Most Likely To Be In Vegas Next Season

Eric Staal. If the center doesn’t have a career renaissance in his first year in Minnesota, he and his $3.5-million cap hit could be moving again this offseason.

Coach Hot Seat Rating (1-10, 10 being scorching hot)

One. If our scale allowed for negative numbers, we’d go there.

Prediction

The Wild will see a significant improvement over last season. The only thing against them is the fact they’re in the vicious Central Division. The team will make the playoffs. From there it’s a crap shoot as to if the playoff demons followed Boudreau to Minnesota.

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Jen Neale is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow her on Twitter!