Minnesota sports fans have had plenty of false starts over the years, but this winter is shaping up differently. The Timberwolves and Wild are both flying, both near the top of their leagues, and both doing it while missing key pieces. That’s the kind of start that makes a fan base sit up and pay attention.
The best snapshot of what this month could become came Thursday night. In Minneapolis, the Wolves blasted Dallas.
In Toronto, the Wild handled the Maple Leafs. Put those together with the Vikings sitting at 6-2 after a much-needed trade for a quarterback, and Minnesota suddenly has a lot going on.
For the Timberwolves, the early buzz around the offseason move from Julius Randle and the deal that brought in LaMelo Ball only got louder when they ripped off three straight 20-point wins to open the season. Anthony Edwards then reminded everyone what he means to the team by scoring 45 points for the second time in four games before knee surgery took him out for at least two months.
Minnesota stumbled a bit right after that, losing two of its first three without Edwards, though both defeats came in competitive games against the Warriors and Spurs. Since the calendar turned to November, though, the Wolves have been perfect, going 5-0 and showing they can keep winning without Edwards or Donte DiVincenzo, who is still working back from an Achilles tear in last season’s playoffs.
Thursday was the loudest statement yet. At Target Center, the Wolves buried a 7-4 Mavericks team 133-94, opening up a cushion late in the second quarter and never letting Dallas back into it.
Ball was at the center of it all, scoring 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting, hitting 6-of-10 from three and adding 9 assists in 25 minutes. Over this five-game run, he’s averaging 24 points and 6 assists while shooting almost 50 percent from deep.
Chris Finch is getting production from everywhere right now, and the box score showed it. Bones Hyland came off the bench and poured in 24 points with 8 assists in 23 minutes.
Ayo Dosunmu, filling in for Edwards in the starting lineup, scored 18. Jaden McDaniels, Jonathan Kuminga and Joan Beringer all reached at least 13 points as well.
The bigger picture is even more impressive. Minnesota is 9-3, owns the best net rating in the NBA, and sits No. 1 in defense and No. 7 in offense. Rudy Gobert has had some rough offensive moments, but his defensive value is still exactly what it has always been.
The Wild are matching that energy on the ice. In Toronto, Matt Boldy delivered a hat trick in a 5-2 win over the Maple Leafs, pushing Minnesota to 8-0-2 over its last 10 games and leaving it without a regulation loss in three weeks. The Wild are 14-3-4 overall, third in the NHL in points percentage and tied for second with a plus-24 goal differential.
They’ve done all of that while waiting on Brock Faber, who has yet to play because of a skull fracture suffered in the preseason. He is expected to make his season debut Saturday night in Boston, and that only adds to the sense that this team may still have another gear.
John Hynes has plenty to work with. Kirill Kaprizov has 17 goals and 35 points in 21 games.
Quinn Hughes has 22 assists and 28 points. Boldy has 21 points.
Joel Eriksson Ek, who has 17 points, left Thursday’s game with an injury, but the early read is that he should be fine.
Maybe the most striking part is that there’s a fair argument neither Kaprizov nor Hughes has been Minnesota’s best player so far. That case belongs to Jesper Wallstedt, who turns 24 on Saturday and is 12-2-3 with a 1.93 GAA and a .925 save percentage. He’s been excellent and is squarely in the Vezina Trophy conversation at the quarter mark of the season.
The Wolves and Wild have both been competitive throughout the 2020s, with Edwards and Kaprizov leading the way. This season, both teams might be at their best yet. For Minnesota fans, that makes the months ahead look a lot more interesting.
In Other News...
Wild Suddenly Have A Goalie Dilemma They Cant Ignore
Filip Gustavssons recovery from offseason hip surgery has quietly turned into one of the more interesting roster storylines around the Wild, because his return is no longer just about getting a goalie back. Kaapo Kahkonen has handled the starting job well enough this season to give Minnesota a real sense of stability in net, which changes the conversation from simple reinforcements to something far more complicated.
Once Gustavsson is cleared medically, the Wild will have to sort out what that means for the depth chart and the rest of the roster. A strong goaltending situation is usually a good problem to have, but it can also force a hard look at whether Minnesota might use the extra value in goal to address other needs, even though no trade or official decision has been made yet. [Read more 🡒]
Wild Could Be Closer To Dylan Larkin Than This Trade Suggests
The Matt Duchene deal from 2017 is worth revisiting now because it offers a template for how a team can move a star without making the process feel impossible. In that case, the Colorado Avalanche used a three-team trade to solve multiple problems at once, and the same kind of structure could matter if Detroit tries to work through Dylan Larkins trade request. For the Wild, the interesting part is not just the player involved but the ripple effect around him, especially with Larkins 10-team no-trade list and the salary piece making a straightforward deal harder to pull off.
Minnesotas angle is a little different, but no less relevant, because the clubs current position could shape how much value its draft picks carry in any larger trade framework. If Detroit needs flexibility and a partner willing to help balance the moving parts, the Wild are at least close enough to the conversation to make this worth watching. The question is whether that proximity turns into something real, or whether Minnesota simply ends up as one of the teams circling while the bigger mechanics of a Larkin deal get sorted out elsewhere. [Read more 🡒]
Wild Fans Have A Quinn Hughes Situation Worth Watching
The Quinn Hughes watch has become one of the more interesting side stories around the Wild, even if the club is in no rush to force the issue. General manager Bill Guerin said there is no urgency in contract talks, and Hughes is taking his time as he weighs his future. For Minnesota, that kind of patience matters because any uncertainty around a player of that caliber can ripple well beyond one roster decision.
Around the league, the market for defensemen is already getting noisy. Carolina is reportedly eyeing Erik Karlsson if Pittsburgh ever makes him available, Toronto is still hunting for a top-four upgrade while juggling cap limitations, and former NHL defenseman Erik Johnson has voiced frustration with how often players now push for moves before contracts run out. Against that backdrop, Hughes remains a name worth tracking closely, even if the next step is still being left to unfold. [Read more 🡒]