This is usually the time of year when Wild fans wonder whether their opening night roster has the pieces to move past the first round of the postseason. It’s a little bit different this season. The Wild haven’t advanced past the second round since their miracle run to the Western Conference final in 2003 and haven’t won a first-round series since 2015. But with the team ready to open its regular season Thursday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Xcel Energy Center, the big question is whether a team that missed the playoffs last year can simply get back to the postseason. Built around a core of veterans that have largely been playing together since 2020-21 — players such as Marcus Foligno, Joel Eriksson Ek, Ryan Hartman, Kirill Kaprizov, Mats Zuccarello, Jared Spurgeon, Jonas Brodin and Marcus Johansson — the Wild, perhaps like never before, are fighting to retain the goodwill of the faithful. It’s also the last season before star winger Kaprizov, the team’s leading scorer since he arrived in 2020, can start to negotiate a contract extension before it expires after the 2025-26 season. “We have to show a lot of people that we’re back, and that’s what our plan is,” owner Craig Leipold said this month. This is the core that lost three consecutive first-round playoff series before missing out entirely in 2023-24, when injuries and a terrible start (5-10-2) combined to derail their season early. After John Hynes replaced Dean Evason on Nov. 28, the Wild rallied to flirt with a playoff spot, but they never held one. The big story out of camp was the Wild keeping three goaltenders on the roster, veterans Filip Gustavsson and Marc-Andre Fleury and rookie Jesper Wallstedt. The Wild obviously believe Wallstedt can help, but as general manager Bill Guerin pointed out on the first day of camp, “Your goaltending is going to be as good as the team in front of you.” That team is largely unchanged. The only major additions to this year’s club are third-line forward Yakov Trenin, the team’s lone big free-agent addition, and fourth-line wing Jakub Lauko (trade). They are the only skaters who didn’t play a shift for the Wild last season, although rookie wing Liam Ohgren, the Wild’s first-round pick in the 2022 entry draft, made the team, after playing four NHL games last spring. Otherwise, it’s the same team. The Wild also are carrying the same dead cap hit of $14.7 million as last season, which will limit — if not completely kill — Guerin’s ability to improve the team as the season progresses. With injuries all but inevitable, it will be difficult to keep an active roster under the $88 million NHL cap. So, why should Wild fans expect this year to be different? Here are four solid reasons to believe the Wild can be better in 2024-25. Bottom 6 scoring One of the Wild’s biggest problems last season was that few players were responsible for the lion’s share of scoring. Three of them — Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek and Matt Boldy — combined to score 115 goals, almost half of the team’s total of 246. Twenty-four of those goals came from eight players who spent most of their time on the fourth line. After Connor Dewar’s 10 goals, now with Toronto, none had more than five. Despite salary cap problems, Guerin was able to make some small improvements last season, most notably acquiring veteran defenseman Zach Bogosian in a trade with Tampa Bay and adding Declan Chisholm via the waiver wire. One wonders if Lauko will be another. Acquired via trade with Boston, Lauko has had a terrific camp as part of a potentially strong fourth line with rookie center Marat Khusnutdinov and veteran Freddy Gaudreau. “All three of them were competitive and tenacious,” Hynes said. “Now, top that with the talent that they have, that’s what you need.” Zuccarello led the team with 51 assists last season but scored only 12 goals. On the top line with Kaprizov and Marco Rossi when the season starts, he’ll be expected to score more. As will Rossi — he had a career-high 21 goals last season — and Hartman, whose 21 goals last year were well off his career pace of 34 set in 2021-22. Hartman and Gaudreau are players who had had success as top six forwards; if they can do that in the bottom six, this team will rank higher than 21st in scoring, lower than all but one 2023-24 playoff team. John Hynes Minnesota was 34-24-5 after Hynes replaced Evason, but the Wild lost a small handful of head-to-head battles that would have put them in playoff position. This was Hynes’ first Wild training camp, and he drilled his players hard, working them into game shape and installing a new penalty kill. “If you can take advantage of training camp, with how you teach and the ability to drill in the things you want to have when the season starts, there’s no better time,” Hynes said as camp began. That should make some sort of difference for a team that was behind the eight ball when Hynes took over last fall and never had the practice time — or often the key players — to do more than tweak its systems. The PK was one of the NHL’s worst last year (74.5%), and Hynes and his staff rethought its approach and held open auditions at all spots this fall. In six preseason games, the kill was 21 for 25 for an 84% success rate. Defense It’s impossible to overestimate the impact of losing Spurgeon last season. The team captain played only 16 regular-season games after getting hurt during a preseason game at Chicago, and the usually stingy Wild finished with a minus-14 goal differential. Compounding Spurgeon’s absence was a pair of injuries for Brodin, who missed 17 games with a broken arm during a key stretch in December and January, then another three late because of a leg injury. That was mitigated somewhat by Brock Faber’s season. The rookie played 82 games, took over as top power play captain and finished a minus-1 against opponents’ top lines. Spurgeon is back with two preseason games under his belt, and with Bogosian back on a two-year extension, the blue line starts the season stout. Spurgeon should begin paired with Jake Middleton, an effective pair before injuries, with Brodin and Faber on the second. Bogosian, a smart, physical puck mover, will pair with veteran Jon Merrill or Chisholm. “Everyone knows Brock’s great, but between Jimmy and Spurge, those are two extremely underrated defensemen,” said Middleton, who is expected to play Thursday after being limited by an upper body injury. “To have those guys healthy and a part of the defense corps is going to be tremendous for us.” Goaltending The narrative outside of the team is that having three goaltenders is a problem, logistically, financially and emotionally. The Wild obviously believe it will help them win, and why not? Competition is often plain productive. Certainly Wallstedt, who signed a two-year, $4.4 million contract extension on Tuesday, can learn a lot from being around Fleury, one of the NHL greats, and Gustavsson, one of the NHL’s best in 2022-23. But he’s going to play, as well, when his $925,000 salary fits under the cap and on the roster. “We will prioritize winning over anything,” Guerin said. “God forbid somebody takes over and just be outstanding and we go with him. We’re going to do that.” Hynes did not reveal his starter for Thursday night’s game, but whoever it is, it will be an interesting decision. Related Articles Minnesota Wild | Is three a crowd for Wild goaltenders? Minnesota Wild | Wild’s Marc-Andre Fleury hopes to go out with little fanfare Minnesota Wild | On Day 1 of camp, Wild leadership calls for more intensity