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Minnesota Wild: Weekly Roundtable, Bold Predictions for the Season

ByCody Defoe|
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - FEBRUARY 20: (L-R) Ryan Carter #18, Mike Reilly #4, Nate Prosser #39 and Matt Dumba #24 of the Minnesota Wild stand in position at an auxiliary rink during practice for the 2016 Coors Light Stadium Series game between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Minnesota Wild at TCF Bank Stadium on February 20, 2016 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - FEBRUARY 20: (L-R) Ryan Carter #18, Mike Reilly #4, Nate Prosser #39 and Matt Dumba #24 of the Minnesota Wild stand in position at an auxiliary rink during practice for the 2016 Coors Light Stadium Series game between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Minnesota Wild at TCF Bank Stadium on February 20, 2016 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images)
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Minnesota Wild
WINNIPEG, MB – APRIL 20: Matt Hendricks #15 of the Winnipeg Jets shakes hands with Jordan Greenway #18 of the Minnesota Wild in the tradtional handshake line following a 5-0 Jets victory in Game Five of the Western Conference First Round during the 2018 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Bell MTS Place on April 20, 2018 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The Jets won the series 4-1. (Photo by Jonathan Kozub/NHLI via Getty Images)

Cody Defoe: Minnesota Wild will Finish with More Points than Winnipeg Jets

Perhaps this isn’t so much a prediction for the Wild as much as it is against the Jets. Sure, they had a fantastic year and a run to the Western Conference Finals last year. But that doesn’t mean much in today’s NHL.

The last 3 teams to make it to the Western Conference Finals and lose, failed to fulfill expectations in the following years .This Winnipeg Jets team appears to be the next to fall in line.

In all honesty, this Jets team reminds me a lot of the Edmonton Oilers team from 2016-17. They were each backed by an outstanding year from their goalies, despite the Offense/Defense stats nor the rosters of their skaters not having any drastic changes.

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The Oilers regressed majorly last year, when their goalie was unable to carry the weight of a second season of heavy usage. 18 months ago Connor Hellebuyck was in a 3-man goalie rotation, and could not be relied upon as a starter in this league. There’s no reason to believe his Vezina-finalist season was anything more than a one-off.

That brings me to our Minnesota Wild. Most experts around the league are writing off a team that has been to 6 consecutive playoff appearances behind 3 different coaches who are bringing back almost the entirely same team from last year.

The Wild have finished with 100 points or more in 3 of the last 4 seasons. They also managed that 101 points last season in spite of 114 man games lost to injury among players in the top 6 forward rotation and the top 4 defense.

Everybody is back at 100% health for the 2018-19 season. 9 different players on the Minnesota Wild roster have recorded 50 points or more in at least one of the last 3 seasons. The 6 defensemen likely to start the year can all lay claim to being capable of Top 4 for the majority of other teams around the league.

To top all of that off, Devan Dubnyk has consistently been among the top regular season goaltenders at his position for the entirety of his time since joining the Minnesota Wild.

Bruce Boudreau, in his entire career as an NHL coach, has only ever missed the NHL playoffs one time. That was the year he was fired by Washington and hired by Anaheim in the middle of the season.

The only team I expect to take a step back this year, is the Winnipeg Jets. Sports experts and prognosticators are projecting Winnipeg to potentially be a Stanley Cup Finalist, I’m projecting they will be a Wild Card team at best or even out of the playoffs at worst. Meanwhile, the Minnesota Wild will continue to fight their way to consistent playoff appearances.

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