Hockey Wilderness
A Minnesota Wild Blog that WON'T make you sick and kill you!
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How Will the Wild Survive Without Brock Faber?
That's Wild Brock Faber has a fractured skull and there is no timetable for his return. That's not good for him, and less important than that, it's not great for the Minnesota Wild to lose one of their top defenseman before a pivotal season. How can the Wild survive losing Faber? And, how ca...
Will Brock Faber's Absence Be An Eye-Opener For Quinn Hughes?
This may change between now and when you read this, but as of 3:00 pm Central on Tuesday, the Minnesota Wild still haven't signed Quinn Hughes to an extension. We're two days from Opening Night, which is unofficially the date to hit the "Start Panicking" button. And if that anxiety wasn't bad enough...
Are the Wild Asking Too Much Of Joel Eriksson Ek?
Despite being one of the league's most overlooked players, Joel Eriksson Ek has been a core Minnesota Wild player since his NHL debut in 2016-17. Eriksson Ek is set to play a crucial role again this season on a Wild team that hopes to contend for a Stanley Cup. While the centerman has continued to s...
David Spacek Has An Opportunity To Become Part of the Wild's Future
The 2026-27 season didn't even need to start to make it clear that David Spacek would finally get opportunities with the Minnesota Wild this year. Brock Faber's trip to the IR let the 2022 fifth-rounder sneak onto the Opening Night roster, and we don't know how long that will last. The Wild announce...
Bill Guerin Has Made the Wild Expect More From Themselves
Bill Guerin didn’t inherit a losing team when he became Minnesota Wild general manager in August 2019. He inherited a franchise stuck in the middle: competitive enough to avoid a total rebuild, but not threatening enough to make a real run at the Stanley Cup. But Guerin has changed something b...
NHL Insider Predicts Wild Will Win Stanley Cup in 2026-27
That's Wild The 2026-27 NHL season starts today and that means one thing: Predictions. Every single person who writes about this sport or talks about this sport has come out with their list of division winners and so on. NHL insider Frank Seravalli took it a step further and put out a list of 3...
Wild’s Scoring Issues Spoil Veteran-Heavy Preseason Finale
The Minnesota Wild dressed a lineup that looked much closer to an Opening Night group than a typical preseason collection Friday, yet they still managed only one goal in a 2-1 loss to the Dallas Stars. Minnesota generated the territorial edge and outshot Dallas 27-18, but the scoreboard exposed a fa...
Can the Wild Unlock the Real Maxim Shabanov?
In the summer of 2025, Maxim Shabanov was a coveted international free agent. He had just finished third in KHL scoring with 67 points in 65 games for Traktor Chelyabinsk. He led the Russian league in playoff goals with 10 in 21 games as Traktor advanced to the Gagarin Cup Final. Multiple teams purs...
Wild Hit With Tough Injury News Ahead of Season Opener
That's Wild Brock Faber is still missing from Minnesota Wild practice ahead of Thursday's season opener. The leading defenseman got injured during the preseason finale, which featured a whole lot of roughhousing, and now his status is unknown. Yikes! [The Athletic] A whole bunch of coa...
The Dylan Larkin Dream Might Be Over In Minnesota. Now What?
The Minnesota Wild may have lost their edge in the Dylan Larkin Sweepstakes. For most of the summer, the Wild, Larkin, and the Detroit Red Wings were locked in a staring contest. Larkin wanted out, but left the Red Wings with a three-team trade list, of which Minnesota was the only realistic d...
Charlie Stramel Can Start In Iowa and Still Make An Impact This Year
Charlie Stramel has the profile the Minnesota Wild has spent years trying to add down the middle. He’s a big, right-shot center who can win draws, protect pucks, and handle the unglamorous minutes. But even after an excellent senior season at Michigan State, the 21-year-old still faces a difficult c...
The Wild Forgot To Pause Auto-Renew On Guerin's Contract
The Minnesota Wild’s shortened training camp is underway, and they’ve paid almost everyone. The Wild extended John Hynes and his staff, and they’ve tacked on a couple more years to Bill Guerin’s contract. However, one person is still in the final year of his contract. Quinn Hughes. Hughes...
Danila Yurov Crushed His First Challenge of the 2026-27 Season
It's dangerous to draw big takeaways from the preseason. Teams are ramping up for an 84-game season, and we're as far away from a playoff mindset as can be. And while the Chicago Blackhawks played more or less their full NHL lineup, they're entering the season as the Central Division's reigning last...
Rieger Lorenz Is Maximizing His Preseason Opportunity
With the NHL preseason in full swing, the Minnesota Wild have a chance to see how some of its prospects and young players perform in Iron Range red and forest green. This year's preseason is shorter to accommodate the new 84-game season, so there's less of a chance to make an impression. Even with t...
Wild’s Next Wave Offered Encouraging Signs In Thier Preseason Win Over Chicago
The Minnesota Wild’s 3-2 overtime preseason victory over the Chicago Blackhawks this year was more than a welcome result on the scoreboard. Minnesota’s first preseason game offered an early look at how its younger players handle meaningful NHL-style minutes, special teams responsibilities, and press...
Bobby Brink Makes Strong Statement In Preseason
Bobby Brink has yet to find the perfect role on the Minnesota Wild since coming back to his hometown team at the trade deadline last season. It's still up in the air but what certainly helps is having the game that he did against the Chicago Blackhawks in some preseason action Monday night. The...
It's Now Or Never To Find A Role For Daemon Hunt
"What does a sesame seed grow into? I don't know, we never gave it a chance," once mused Minnesota legend Mitch Hedberg. "What the **** is a sesame?" The Minnesota Wild have a 24-year-old sesame seed of their own in Daemon Hunt. Since taking him in the third round of the 2020 Draft, the Wild ha...
Will Bobby Brink Become A Hometown Hero?
In November 2024, the Minnesota Wild sent Daemon Hunt – who eventually returned to the Wild via waivers – a top-five protected first-round pick, a 2026 third, a 2026 fourth, and a 2027 second to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for David Jiricek, a 6-foot-4 right-shot defenseman taken sixth ove...
Charlie Stramel Is Already Getting An Outlandish Comparison
The Minnesota Wild got their preseason underway in a game against the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night, to the tune of a 4-3 overtime win. But more importantly, some young prospects got to play a whole lot of minutes to try and fight for a spot on the final roster. One of those players was...
Retaining John Hynes Is An Investment In Organizational Continuity
The Minnesota Wild’s decision to sign head coach John Hynes to a multi-year contract extension is more than a reward for recent success. It’s an investment in organizational continuity at precisely the moment the franchise has begun to turn sustained competitiveness into legitimate playoff progress....
Can Danila Yurov Meaningfully Improve His Faceoffs?
This is Part 2 of a two-part series investigating whether Danila Yurov should move to the wing. Part 1 can be found here. The growth mindset is a powerful tool. More than that, though, it’s the basis of nearly every good sports story. Players get better. They grow stronger and faster. They come...
The Wild Set New Expectations At the First Day Of Training Camp
It is time. “There is a new bar. A new expectation,” defenseman Brock Faber said after the first official practice of the Minnesota Wild’s 2026-27 season. With the Quinn Hughes extension looming and new faces looking to make big impacts, expectations are higher than ever. Let’s start...
How Concerning Was Danila Yurov In the Faceoff Dot Last Year?
This will be the first of a two-part series investigating whether Danila Yurov should move to the wing. Part 2 will be released Saturday morning. You may be familiar with this famous image from a study of English World War II planes that returned from battle. Each red dot identifies a gunshot...
Is This 2026 Opening Night Wild Roster Better Than Last Year's?
The Minnesota Wild’s opening-night roster in 2025-26 featured many carryovers from the previous season. The defensive and forward cores were largely the same after adding Nico Sturm and losing Frederick Gaudreau. Now, as the calendar turns to a new season, the Wild have overhauled their roster...
Rising Contracts Could Turn the Wild’s Biggest Weakness Into A Strength
A new era has begun in the NHL this offseason. With the rising salary cap, player contracts have exploded. All three of the top deals in NHL history by average annual value (Cale Makar, Macklin Celebrini, Leo Carlsson) were signed in July and August. More money is good for players and the leag...
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