The Minnesota WIld are trending closer to the start of the 2026-27 season, which means fans have a good idea of how the roster will look when they open the season against the Nashville Predators on Oct. 1. But while the season is roughly a month and a half away, it’s hard to tell whether they are a better team than they were a year ago.
A fan survey by The Athletic confirmed those concerns when asking for opinions on the Wild’s offseason so far. Based on their additions of Blake Coleman, Olli Maatta, Calvin Pickard and Maxim Shabanov and the departures of Mats Zuccarello, Jacob Middleton, Vladimir Tarasenko and Marcus Johansson, 59.7 percent of the over 4,700 respondents gave the Wild a “C.”
14.6 percent of the poll went as far to give the Wild a “D” and while it was less than the “B” responses (23.0%), it leaves a big question as Minnesota looks to take another step toward a championship this offseason.
The Wild may not be a better team after their offseason moves
There are more concerns that the Wild have going into the year, especially as they continue to negotiate a contract extension with star defenseman Quinn Hughes. But going into the year, it’s hard to tell if the Wild improved their roster from a year ago.
Part of the equation is addition by subtraction. Zuccarello, Tarasenko and Marcus Johansson were each in their mid-to-late 30s and it can be argued it was time to inject some youth into the lineup. In the case of Zuccarello, it was also a stylistic choice as The Athletic’s Michael Russo reported earlier this offseason that they felt he dragged linemate Kirill Kaprizov into “an East-West game” instead of a downhill, attacking style.
Getting rid of Middleton could also be seen as a positive after he was on the ice for 13 goals during the team’s playoff series against the Colorado Avalanche. But there are also concerns about replacing him and the rest of the lineup.
Between the three forwards, the Wild lost 150 total points from last year’s team. Some of that will be on Shabanov and Bobby Brink to fill those roles, but there’s no guarantee that will happen after being average players throughout their NHL careers.
Even in the case of Middleton, it feels like the Wild got older and slower, adding Maatta and bringing back Zach Bogosian on a one-year deal.
This would look a lot better if the WIld could have successfully pulled off a trade to acquire Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin and fill a void at top-line center that’s seemingly been there since the franchise began play in the 2000s. But with the Red Wings sorting out their own drama, that deal does not appear to be imminent, putting Minnesota in a strange position entering next season.
An improved Central Division could shed light on the Wild’s underwhelming offseason
Wild fans aren’t in a complete panic as 62.4 percent of the respondents believe they’ll finish with 100 to 109 points last year, similar to the 104-point campaign they had one year ago. They also expect their core of Quinn Hughes, Matt Boldy, Kirill Kaprizov and Brock Faber to do most of the heavy lifting while Jesper Wallstedt holds down the fort while Filip Gustavsson recovers from offseason hip surgery.
This all lines up for the Wild to have another good season. But this offseason was supposed to turn them into a great team.
If last year’s playoff run proved anything, it was that the Wild weren’t quite ready to win a championship. Their lack of depth was exposed in the series against the Avalanche and even if Joel Eriksson Ek or Jonas Brodin returned from injury or the Wild didn’t blow a 3-0 lead in Game 5, there’s no guarantee they would have made a magical run to a championship.
That fact validated some of the moves that Guerin made this offseason, but there are few decisions that made the Wild a better team compared to their Central Division rivals.
The Avalanche added some key role players to their lineup including Jaden Schwartz and the Dallas Stars could have a highly-motivated Jason Robertson ready to wreak havoc and earn a new contract. Even the teams behind the Wild made improvements with the Utah Mammoth signing Anders Lee in free agency and the Nashville Predators completely overhauled their forwards, perhaps leading them to challenge the top three in the division.
With Bowen Byram joining Connor Bedard and a young nucleus with the Chicago Blackhawks, there are a lot of new faces in the Central and it’s hard to tell whether the Wild have the same advantage that they did a year ago with two good goalies, a pair of 40-goal scorers and an elite version of Hughes. And because Hughes is waiting on a contract extension, he could be asking the same things as the Wild get ready to back up the Brinks truck for his next contract.
Whether the Wild did enough to improve will be revealed over the course of next season. But if the answer is no, Minnesota has set itself up for an offseason that will have plenty of second guesses.
Add us as a preferred source on Google