It’s early days for the Minnesota Wild. The regular NHL season hasn’t even gotten underway yet, but I figured why not predict the most likely candidates for the end-of-season awards, based on expected player improvement and last year’s performances.
It may seem bold to throw predictions out there before we’ve so much as seen a pre-season game involving the Minnesota Wild, but I figure why the heck not?
There’s clear methods to judge what a players’ performance may be like. Have they been a consistent performer across their hockey career?
Are they a youngster that has expectations of blossoming into the next level of player?
Maybe they’re a wily veteran that we’ve seen great performances out of previously and are looking to repeat that in a contract year?
There are endless possibilities as to why a player may take a step up and place themselves in contention for end-of-season awards. And there’s enough variety in the award categories that you can envisage a Minnesota Wild player at least being nominated for most.
Obviously, we don’t have any idea as to how this season pans out. The Wild could flame out and slump into Draft Lottery contention. They could be dominant and somehow usurp the guys at the top of the division. Who knows; that’s the fun of speculating and making these predictions.