Although the second day of Minnesota training camp is officially underway, it’s time to take a quick look back at the first day and all that came with it. Some nagging questions were answered as well. The 57-man roster included the entire permanent Wild roster and any roster hopefuls, plus several players who will be the first call-ups when injuries arise, as they always do.
Speaking of injuries, two of their leaders, captain Jared Spurgeon and associate captain Marcus Foligno, returned after surgeries ended their respective seasons. It was great to see them on the ice again, and they looked like they never missed a beat. While it was promising to see all of the veterans on the ice again, it was also encouraging to see all the young prospects fitting in with the veterans.
In this article, we’ll examine some of the main things that happened on day 1 of training camp. The first thing to note was how they focused on the basics and worked on certain aspects of the game rather than trying to do too much on their first day together and that’s where we’ll start.
Wild Back to Basics
It’s important to remember this is only day 1 of a long season for which a good chunk of these players won’t even wear a Minnesota Wild jersey. Many of the youngsters will be spending time with either the Iowa Wild in the American Hockey League or other teams in different leagues, so day one was filled with a lot of the basics. The roster was split into three groups, which practiced throughout the morning, with a scrimmage thrown in the middle between two of the groups.
They first worked on passing drills with both offense and defensive skills thrown in. Focusing on passing gave the players a chance to shake off rust from the offseason and get used to working with other players. They must be able to work with and trust everyone in the lineup; working on passing is a great way to enforce that. Passing is a simple part of the game but if done wrong, it can harm a team, while sending a great pass with a little lead on it can create a breakaway opportunity.
The other two items they worked hard on are puck control and board battles, which go hand in hand. Puck control was an issue the Wild dealt with all last season, and hopefully, working on it early before any games start will help keep it from happening again. They have a lot of strong puck movers, but keeping the puck on their stick can be a challenge, and practicing will help.
Many players on the Wild roster are capable in board battles, but little tweaks can help them improve, and that’s exactly what head coach John Hynes did. He had them focus more on the puck, and it helped quite a bit.
Wild Questions Answered
Following the conclusion of the day’s practices, Hynes stuck around to answer some questions. Of course, there were questions about the lineup. While they did have some of the same line combinations they had last season, Hynes talked about how they are trying to figure out why certain combinations worked, and others didn’t and that they want “fluid competition” to get more out of the players.
Along with the lineup questions, Ryan Hartman’s role was brought up, and what they expect from him: “I want ‘Hartzy’ to play fast, play smart, use his competitive nature in the right way, help us produce offense, and be a guy we can rely on in key situations regardless of who he plays with.” He was then asked to expand on Hartman’s ability to play smart and how difficult it can be.
“I don’t necessarily think it’s a shift; I just think it’s part of the game where you want to have guys, he can play right to the edge, but when you go over the edge, you put the team in trouble so the main objective is to win so we have to do the things that it takes to win, and that’s competing to the line at the right point but not put ourselves in a situation where we have to be shorthanded, but I think you have to let guys run it and be who they are for sure but a key thing again for us coming down is we want to be an extremely hard team to play against but it’s not just hard, you gotta be smart and if you just work hard but you don’t work smart even in life you’re not going to be successful, you have to have a combination, and that’s what we expect,” said Hynes.
Of course, the goaltending workload came up with the idea of a three-goaltender rotation, and Hynes answered that they do have a plan and contingency plans for if all three are playing well and vice versa, but ultimately, “…it’s going to be a fluid situation. I don’t want to probably go too far into the future, but I think all things are on the table…”
Finally, he was asked about the rather large road trip the team will embark on towards the middle of October that will stretch to the end of the month, if it will be a good thing for building team chemistry, “For sure, I think, let me put it this way if we had a homestand, I’d say the homestand was the best thing, but because we’re going on the road there are things that are advantageous to it… we got a couple of home games, and then we go on the road; you have an opportunity where guys do spend time together; you are totally focused on hockey; there aren’t other things going on, so I don’t mind it…,” Hynes replied.
Wild Things to Watch Moving Forward
Obviously, with training camp, everyone should watch the young players trying to make the final roster because some will join the roster when there are injuries and illnesses. That’s how Marat Khusnutdinov and Liam Ohgren got their shot to show their talents last season when Marcus Foligno went down and Ryan Hartman was suspended for three games. Now, both Khusnutdinov and Ohgren have a strong chance at making the final cuts for the NHL roster.
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It’ll also be important to keep an eye on the line combinations. They started with their normal combinations, but they’ll likely change things up to see how everyone’s chemistry is. Plus, different situations need different line combinations. Regardless, it seems Hynes is comfortable making this team his own, and it’ll be interesting to see what kinds of changes he implements going forward.
Wild’s Training Camp Day 2
The Wild will start day 2 similar to day 1 with a 9 A.M. start time for Group B with a Group B vs. Group C scrimmage at 10 A.M. Followed by practices for Group C at 11 A.M. and Group A at noon. All of these sessions are open to the public and will all take place at the Wild’s practice facility, TRIA rink, which is just a short drive from Xcel Energy Center.
