NHL Central Division Predictions for the 2024-25 Season

7. Minnesota Wild

Minnesota finished sixth in the Central with 87 points last season.

Over the offseason, Minnesota has added Jakub Lauko and Yakov Trenin while also adding some AHL depth. They didn't lose much in the offseason. Guys like Alex Goligoski, Vinni Lettieri and Jake Lucchini all played a decent amount of games for the Wild last season have left. In Goligoski's case, he retired after playing 1,078 in the NHL (All basic statistics from NHL.com).

As you can see from the incoming and outgoing players this season, the Wild are running back a very similar roster from last year.

They had very strong seasons from Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy, Joel Eriksson Ek as well as their rookie phenomenon Brock Faber.

Faber was a lot of people's Calder trophy pick last season after Bedard was held out of 14 games due to an injury. Faber played all 82 games last year, posting eight goals and 39 assists for 47 points. The great rookie year earned the 22-year-old defenseman an eight-year deal with an average annual value of 8.5 million dollars (All salary stats from PuckPedia.com). The Wild will look for him to take another step in his development this season. 

When I look at the roster, I think there are some nice pieces. I already mentioned Kaprizov, Boldy, Eriksson Ek and Faber but other players like Marco Rossi and Mats Zuccarello are solid players in the league.

In terms of their goaltending, Filip Gustavsson had a tough year overall last year, posting a 0.899 save percentage, -5.99 goals saved above average, and -7.51 goals saved above expected. Maybe they get some improvement from him. Fleury is also aging and had a tough season last year as well. I'm not a fan of their situation although I could see a better year from Gustavsson.

The problem with Minnesota is I don't see where the improvement last year is coming from aside from potentially a bounce back from Gustavsson. Zuccarello could have a healthier year after posting 63 points in 69 games. The problem with that is he is 37 and even if he is healthy, I doubt he keeps the same point pace. Perhaps the improvement comes from their young guys like Rossi, Boldy and Faber taking another step. Even if that is the case, they missed the playoffs by 12 points last season and I can't see how the steps from their young guys are good enough for a 12-point improvement.

Minnesota didn't get better this offseason and I think the teams around them did.