After missing the playoffs for the first time since 2018-19’ last season, the Minnesota Wild have a number of things to fix going into 2024-25. Their special teams, goaltending, offense, nearly every area of their game needs some help. While they missed the postseason due to the entire team effort all season, they need certain players to step up this season.
These players are veterans who can reach new levels or struggled a bit last season and must be better next season. Many players on the roster can improve their game before this season, but these players stand out specifically as ones who have to have an impact on the team. We’ll start with Marcus Foligno and move on to his next linemate.
Foligno Needs More Offense
The main issue with Foligno is being healthy for the whole season, but after that, it’s his offense. Looking at his career, he hasn’t been a big scorer but more of a consistent 20-point player, which is exactly what he’s done in the past two seasons. However, in 2021-22, he proved he could be a 20-goal player and not just a 20-point player, and the Wild desperately need that Foligno back.
The Wild were in the bottom half of the league when it came to goals, and although Foligno isn’t the only player they need to score more goals, he could definitely help their offense. The first thing he’ll have to do in order to score more is take more shots. He threw plenty of hits and led the team in that area once again, but if he could take a few more shots, that would also help.
Everyone knows his main priority is throwing big hits but he’s shown he can score goals and as he gets older, his body won’t be able to take those hits so he should shift a little more to scoring. It’ll be a little easier on his body and he won’t miss as many games with injuries if he backs off on the big hits and make his career last.
Hartman Has to Be Better
Ryan Hartman was one player everyone talked about who needed to be better throughout the season. He played in 74 games last season and tallied 21 goals plus 24 assists which equaled 45 points. That’s a decent number of points but like Foligno, he has the ability to score more points. He bounced around on all four lines last season and if he’s going to remain on the top line, he needs to produce more.
Hartman has had great success on the top line in the past, but then it stopped. If he wants to get his top spot back, he needs to score more goals or help his linemates score more goals. The top line has to produce, or things need to change to find the production. He has the skills to make all of this happen; he just needs to find the confidence to score.
The other area Hartman needs to fix is his penalty minutes. He’s shown he can be somewhat of a hothead, and he needs to be careful with that. While it’s great that he plays with a slight edge, it can be a problem if he lets it get out of control when they need him on the ice. If he wants to play on the top line this coming season, he has to watch his penalties and score more goals.
Gaudreau Needs to Score
Frédérick Gaudreau is probably the most criticized player on the roster, aside from the goaltenders and Kirill Kaprizov. Until this past season, that criticism wasn’t warranted, but after last season, he needs to do better. Last season, he played in 67 games and only had 15 points, five goals, and 10 assists, which is unacceptable for someone on the second line for parts of the season.
Like many of his teammates, his career high of 44 points happened during the 2021-22 season, and he proved he could be the scorer everyone expects from him. He dropped slightly in the 2022-23 season, but nothing horrible happened until this past season, when it was pretty low. He did deal with injuries but managed to play through them.
The Wild need him to be healthy this season and find a way to produce more than 15 points. It would be great if he could set a new career high but getting even 30-40 points would be great and help the team’s offense a lot. If he can’t, that contract he signed last season will be looking like a bad use of cap space.
Gustavsson Needs Confidence
Everyone agrees that Filip Gustavsson has to do better this season. He performed so well in 2022-23 that most fans couldn’t wait to see what he’d do in his sophomore season for the Wild. However, that’s when his confidence took a dive, and for some reason, he couldn’t get it back, so his form suffered. He struggled through most of the season, and it’s part of the reason the Wild had trouble and missed the postseason.
After his performance this past season, his name was on the trade rumor list for quite a while, but it looks like the Wild are giving him another chance to prove his worth. He’ll have another season with Marc-André Fleury, who can help him regain and maintain his confidence to get through the rough spots.
Related: 3 Things the Wild Can Learn From 2024 Stanley Cup Champions
If he can’t get things back, they have Jesper Wallstedt waiting in the wings, and they could potentially try to move Gustavsson before the trade deadline. However, if he finds his groove, he’ll stay and be ready to mentor Wallstedt next season. Hopefully, the latter works, and they have a strong goaltending tandem moving forward.
Wild Have to Improve
The entire roster has to find ways to improve and stay consistent if they plan to make the postseason. They have a strong foundation of players and a handful that can lead by example like Kaprizov, Brock Faber, Joel Eriksson Ek, and Fleury. Despite knowing his team had a chance to miss the postseason, Fleury stuck around and that’s the type of loyalty the team needs.
Hopefully, these four players will lead the way in improving their game and will help their team get back to the playoffs where they belong. They have a talented team that can be great; they just need to put it together and make it happen.
