Minnesota Wild: Training Camp Stories To Follow

Training camp is officially underway for the Minnesota Wild; and that meant first medicals and then time for Bruce Boudreau’s skating test.

Already, this camp has created intrigue; first up, the new boss is there, Minnesota Wild General Manager Paul Fenton. Secondly, there are players returning from season-ending injuries; are they going to make training camp let alone opening night.

Finally, there’s going to have been youngsters partaking in the gruelling skating and fitness test that Boudreau has made his trademark. Will they have all passed with flying colours or have some  of them been slacking off with the summer gym work?

At this time of year, there’s always a sense of intrigue about line pairings; does the coach stick with what worked last season, does he experiment with something new?

Does a rookie steal the limelight and force his way onto the Minnesota Wild opening night roster?

All of these questions make this possibly the greatest time of year for a hockey fan. Gone is the long summer and as winter nears, hockey season inches ever closer.

One thing hasn’t differed too much for Minnesota and that’s the core make-up of the team; Fenton hasn’t been working the phones that intently yet. Last season’s roster has had a couple of tweaks, but the simple hope will be that everyone stays healthy as that was the primary undoing last time out.

What other stories are coming out of camp early on?

Has Everyone Passed Their Medical?

The big question on everyone’s lips; did everyone make it back to the Minnesota Wild in full health during the off-season. Ryan Suter was shut down with a broken right ankle last season, whilst youngster Luke Kunin suffered a torn ACL; neither would’ve been easy injuries to rehab.

News out of camp is that Ryan Suter did indeed pass muster and will be competing in scrimmages at training camp. He won’t however be involved in pre-season games with Boudreau preferring to keep him fresh for regular season action.

Per NHL.com, Boudreau said Thursday he believes Suter is one of the few players in the NHL who could step right into regular-season action without playing a preseason game.

This may seem like a bold move but you’ve got to assume the coach knows best. If we see a rusty Suter for the first few games of the season; you’d suggest the coach has made the wrong call.

If, however, he’s straight back to peak performance – maybe pre-season isn’t as important as some make out.

The bad news for the Minnesota Wild; worse for the player himself of course, is that Luke Kunin has not yet been cleared to get back to full-contact practice.

We talked about exercising patience on his return and maybe that’s exactly  what the Minnesota Wild coaching staff are doing.

For the player though, it’s likely to feel like a bit of a blow to his NHL ambitions. Here he is after what was no doubt an emotionally and physically gruelling recovery and he has to watch on as his teammates fight it out for a chance at an NHL roster spot.

As reported by Michael Russo of The Athletic (subscription required), Kunin is taking it in his stride.

He should be happy he got to skip out on the fitness test! Joking aside, chances are he’s not back until at least October and it’ll be a slow progression from the Iowa AHL team back to the Minnesota Wild if his performance is up to scratch.

A New Home For Practice

There’s not that many new faces on the ice with the Minnesota Wild this year. Up top, there’s a bit of turnover with the arrival of new General Manager, Paul Fenton but otherwise it’s as it always was.

On the ice though, it’s a different story. The ice itself is new. The practice facility is new. It’s all pretty befitting of a team striving to take that step further.

Whilst the Minnesota Wild did have limited access to the facility across the latter half of last season, this year they have full access.

The TRIA Rink at Treasure Island Center is drawing some big compliments from Minnesota players, with Jared Spurgeon commenting:

This is awesome. They thought of everything. – Jared Spurgeon (NHL.com)

Eric Staal is particularly excited at the prospect of wearing less fines within the team:

We always get in trouble for walking on the logo, so you put it on the roof and it’s a little bit easier for everybody, not to get any team fines. That’s pretty sweet, for sure. – Eric Staal (NHL.com)

These all probably seem quite trivial to you and I but for elite sportsmen, a couple of seemingly simple tweaks to facilities suddenly makes their job so much easier.

And for Staal, maybe the prospect of not losing little amounts of his paycheck for walking on the team logo is enough for him to replicate last year’s performance.

It is more than anything a sign that the Minnesota Wild ownership means business. You don’t go constructing such a facility without being somewhat invested in your team’s ongoing performance.