The Minnesota Wild spent the sixth day of training camp digging into the kind of details that can swing a season: the penalty kill, new roles, and early chemistry with fresh faces.
That shift matters. As camp moves into its second week, the work is no longer about the basics. The Wild are spending more time on special teams, and that’s where a few of the biggest storylines from the day surfaced.
The penalty kill was front and center. Everyone in the room knows it has to be better if the Wild want to put themselves in position to win. Practice featured plenty of PK work, with some of the same familiar combinations showing up again, including Brock Faber and Jonas Brodin, plus Joel Eriksson Ek and Matt Boldy.
Those are the group’s most established penalty-killing pieces, but they’re not alone. Nico Sturm has done the job well in the past, and the Wild also have Michael McCarron, Jared Spurgeon and Yakov Trenin in the mix.
Jake Middleton used to log a lot of PK time too, and with him gone, there’s a clear opening for someone else to step into. Blake Coleman is one of the players the Wild are hoping can help raise the level there.
“Yeah, just quick overview today, and some practice on it. It’s a pretty familiar system for me, from what I came from, so a lot of straight-line pressure, kind of forcing teams into making bad plays, but…the PK is kind of a delicate dance in terms of over-pressure and being too passive. So, it feels good; you got your cues…,” Coleman said to the media after his practice session during training camp when asked about the penalty kill.
Coleman’s fit has looked smooth so far in camp. He arrived in the offseason and already had some time with teammates through captains’ practices before training camp opened, which gave him a head start. On the ice, he appears to have settled in nicely, and he’s already been lined up with Joel Eriksson Ek and Matt Boldy.
That gives the Wild a useful option on the second line at five-on-five, especially with Marcus Johansson missing from that spot. Coleman also brings the kind of penalty-kill ability the team needs as it tries to clean up that area early.
“It’s interesting; for one, it’s a commitment. You got to be willing to do some of the dirty work and eat pucks, and there’s nothing glamorous about PK; it’s just hard work and making reads.
I think you can sometimes beat it to death and overthink it, and sometimes that makes your life more complicated when you’re just thinking too much on the ice. You gotta have a system in place where you have your one or two reads, and then you trust your instincts as a hockey player, and that seems like that’s the way they’re doing it here…,” Coleman said to the media in the same interview from above when asked about the penalty kill.
Another offseason addition making an early impression is Maxim Shabanov. With Mats Zuccarello gone, the Wild may have found someone who can help fill part of that gap, even if the two players bring different styles. The common thread is how each can work with Kirill Kaprizov, and that’s where the intrigue starts.
It’s still early, but the signs are encouraging. Shabanov looks like he may begin on the top line with Kaprizov and possibly Ryan Hartman. That could change, but camp is the right time to test that kind of setup without the pressure of points on the line.
John Hynes liked what he saw from Shabanov in the second preseason game and throughout camp.
“Yeah, I thought last night he got better and better as the game went on, I think in camp I think he’s gotten better and better, like he understands kind of what’s going on, we’ve been able to do a lot with practice like there’s a lot of our warmup, kind of shooting drills there’s structure to them so I think he’s getting, it seems like it’s coming more and more natural to him so I like what I’ve seen and I thought last night he had multiple scoring opportunities, he got the nice goal on the one so he keeps taking steps…,” said head coach John Hynes to the media when asked about Shabanov’s performance in their second preseason game and his overall camp so far.
For the Wild, day six was about learning, adjusting and getting their new pieces comfortable in the system. The work on special teams and the growing chemistry among the newcomers are still early steps, but they’re important ones as camp rolls on.
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