The Minnesota Wild had the season that I expected for them in 2023-24. The expectation was that they would be a competitive unit, and anytime you win 39 games in a season, I would say mission accomplished despite not qualifying for the playoffs. Bill Guerin will once again be facing an uphill battle with $14.74M in dead cap from the Suter and Parise buyouts. With all of that in mind, the Wild focused on keeping their competitive core together (Jacob Middleton and Brock Faber were given long term extensions this offseason and Matthew Boldy last) which will likely be the foundation of championship-competitive team at some point.

               The Wild only made one veteran signing worth discussing this offseason, and that was the signing of Yakov Trenin. Over his 5-year career, Trenin has been a low-impact third line center with varying degrees of ability at both ends of the ice. Last season in Colorado, he posted a GAR of 2.7, heavily reliant on a decent Defensive rating, but during his tenure in Nashville he was occasionally able to be a positive offensive contributor. Additionally of note for a bottom-six player, Trenin did add 10+ goals in each of his last three campaigns, and depth scoring is the name of the game in the central division (it’s not a coincidence this is his third central team in as many years).

               The first half of the NHL draft was the highlight of the Minnesota Wild’s offseason. After trading up to 12^th overall with the Philadelphia Flyers, the Wild selected University of Denver star defenseman Zeev Buium. Buium posted 50 points in 42 games for the National Champion Pioneers and will be returning there for his sophomore campaign. Sometime in the next several seasons, it is possible that Buium/Faber could be the best defensive pairing in the NHL. Their second draft selection was right wing Ryder Ritchie (no relation to Anaheim draft bust Nick Ritchie) from the Prince Albert Raiders of the WHL. Ritchie scored 44 points in 47 games last season, showcasing his elite edgework and playmaking skills. Historically, players with his developmental trajectory don’t pan out at the NHL level, as it is a dice roll whether all those tools will scale to the speed and hockey IQ of opponents at the next level. But it’s worth noting that as a 2nd round pick, it’s a good risk to take. In the 4^th round, the Wild struck big in selecting Aron Kiviharju following his draft slide due to an ACL this season that cratered his draft stock. I could sell you on Kiviharju in this paragraph, but Liam wrote an incredible article about him last fall that tells the story better than I can.

               Overall, Minnesota had a quiet offseason for trying to win now, which gets a pass in my evaluation of them (just like last season) due to it clearly not being the objective now. The ability to add forward depth and maintain their roster chemistry is a success, while picking up a 2 blue chip puck moving defenders in the draft (Rob Blake take notes) is a massive haul for the Wild, even if there are concerns about Kiviharju’s recovery. I’ll give Guerin a B for his work, as the cap cuffs are a consequence of his actions, and he does not to at least be demerited in some capacity for inflicting this upon himself for multiple seasons.