The Minnesota Wild will officially open the Bill Guerin era on on Oct. 3, in Nashville against the Predators. The season opener against the Predators will be the first of four games the Wild play to open the season against teams that made the playoffs last season.
Following their trip to Nashville the Wild will head to the Rocky Mountain range to take on the Colorado Avalanche. The Avalanche are one of the early favorites to win the Stanley Cup this season according to Vegas Insider.
The Wild will then travel north of the border to take on the Winnipeg Jets. The Jets lost a competitive six-game series in the opening round against the eventual Stanley Cup champions, the St. Louis Blues.
Following a tough three-game road trip to open the season the Wild will play their home opener against Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Oct. 12. It will be Guerin’s first chance for his new team to square off against his former employer. If the Wild are going to get back to the postseason, they’ll have to be better at home than they were last season. Last season the Wild went 16-18-7 on their home ice.
After the home opener the Wild will then hit the road again for a three-game road trip that will start with the Ottawa Senators. The matchup with the Senators will be the first opponent of the season that didn’t reach the postseason the season prior.
The second game of that road trip will be against the Toronto Maple Leafs, another opponent that made the playoffs last season. According to Vegas Insider the Maple Leafs have the third best odds of hoisting the Stanley Cup this season.
The Wild had a disappointing season in 2018-2019, missing the playoffs for the first time since the 2011-2012 season. General manager, Paul Fenton was fired at the end of July, ushering in the Guerin era. The Wild, like any team wants to get off to a fast start, but no team needs a good start to the season more than the Wild. With a difficult slate of games to start the season the Wild will likely find out a lot about themselves as they look to put the 2018-2019 season behind them.