The Wild are about to find out a lot about themselves before they’ve had much time to settle in.
Yes, the offseason conversation has centered on the roster questions that matter most: Filip Gustavsson’s hip surgery, Quinn Hughes’ extension and who ends up centering Kirill Kaprizov. But Minnesota’s schedule is putting its own kind of pressure on those decisions. The opening month leaves little breathing room, and that matters for a team trying to sort out roles while the season is already rolling.
This is also the first year of the NHL’s expanded 84-game format under the new collective bargaining agreement. Every club now gets two home and two road games against each division opponent, which guarantees four meetings a season in a way the old 82-game setup didn’t.
For the Wild, though, the early calendar is front-loaded with travel. They’re away from home for four of their first five games, and they’ll play 10 road games in October.
That includes a five-game trip out west from October 20 to October 27.
That kind of start is tricky for any team. For Minnesota, it lands at exactly the wrong time.
The Wild are bringing in more new pieces than they usually do, with forwards Blake Coleman and Maxim Shabanov, Olli Määttä on the blue line, and Calvin Pickard joining Jesper Wallstedt in goal while Gustavsson recovers from surgery. At the same time, they’re trying to replace the impact of a foundational player like Mats Zuccarello.
For the first six weeks, they’ll be trying to get moving almost entirely away from Grand Casino Arena.
That makes the daily work harder too. Practice time, video work, special teams reps - all of it is easier to manage at home than when the schedule is chopped up by travel and quick turnarounds.
“In training camp, players are working on themselves,” said head coach John Hynes, “and through camp and the first quarter we as coaches are working on installing our ideas, establishing identity and starting well. The first 15-20 games, everything is fresh -- first game, first road trip, it's all new.”
That’s the heart of it. Road games can absolutely be won.
The issue is how much harder it becomes to build chemistry when a team is living out of a suitcase and still figuring out who does what. Minnesota may have to solve those problems in real time instead of spending the early weeks polishing a settled lineup.
Shabanov is one of the biggest examples. The Wild want more from him after a modest rookie year with the New York Islanders.
In his first NHL season after coming over from the KHL, he had five goals and 13 assists in 44 games. Bill Guerin has pointed to him as a top-six forward with real offensive upside, but that potential won’t just appear on command.
He’ll be learning new linemates, a new system and possibly new responsibilities all at once.
The power play is another area that has to change. For years, Zuccarello was the key distributor feeding Kaprizov.
Without him, Minnesota can’t just slide someone into the same spot and expect the same result. The unit will need different passing lanes, different points of attack and maybe even a different way of getting the puck to Kaprizov.
There is at least some relief in the broader schedule. Minnesota has 13 fewer back-to-back sets than it did last season, dropping to 10.
Four of those are road-to-home situations, which cuts down on the kind of travel grind that usually makes back-to-backs so brutal. So the early stretch is heavy, but not every part of the calendar got tougher.
Last year’s October is the warning sign. Minnesota went 3-6-3 in the month, its worst of the season, before ripping off an 11-1-1 November to wipe out the damage.
That slow start came with a mostly settled roster, though it was missing Zuccarello because of a lower body injury. This time, the opening stretch feels even more important because the Wild are still sorting out so much.
None of that means disaster is waiting around the corner. Minnesota went 23-14-4 on the road last season, one of the better road marks in the league, and the lighter back-to-back load should help with the wear and tear. But the first month will still say plenty about how quickly this roster can come together.
In Other News...
Brock Faber Now Faces The Biggest Test Of His Wild Rise
Brock Fabers rise has become one of the more important storylines in Minnesota, especially after the Wilds move for Quinn Hughes seemed to unlock another layer in his game. The defensemans expected goals percentage climbed, his point production jumped, and the early returns suggested a player who was not just keeping up, but taking on a bigger role with more confidence. For a Wild blue line that has needed reliable minutes and steady growth from its younger core, Faber has quickly become someone the team can count on.
Now comes the harder part. After a breakout stretch, the challenge is no longer proving he belongs, but showing he can hold that level when opponents start keying on him and the league adjusts to what he does best. Consistency is the real test here, along with whether his impact can keep growing as teams build more specific plans to slow him down. For Minnesota, how Faber responds in this phase could say a lot about just how high his ceiling really is. [Read more 🡒]
Spencer Knight Gives Blackhawks Fans A Real Reason To Believe
A new wave of goaltenders is starting to get attention around the NHL, and Minnesotas Jesper Wallstedt sits right in the middle of it. After spending time sharing the crease with Filip Gustavsson, Wallstedt was the Wild starter by the end of last season, and the step forward has put him on a path that looks a lot different now than it did a year ago.
The broader discussion is about which young netminders can push into the leagues top tier by the 2026-27 season, with Wallstedt mentioned alongside names like Jet Greaves and Spencer Knight. With some familiar Vezina contenders aging out and a recent run of Russian goalies shaping the award race, the opening for a new class of candidates feels real, even if the next breakthrough still has to be earned on the ice. [Read more 🡒]
Wild Face Early Pressure In Quinn Hughes Contract Talks
Quinn Hughes is in the final year of his current deal, and the Minnesota Wild are already deep into extension talks with one of the biggest names on their radar. Sportsnets Elliotte Friedman has said he expects a deal to get done, and general manager Billy Guerin has met with Hughess camp while keeping a patient posture as the sides work through the details.
The sticking point appears to be the length of the commitment, with the discussion centered on how long both sides want to tie themselves together. Even with momentum toward an agreement, the calendar is starting to matter, and the start of the season is looming as the sort of checkpoint that can turn a routine negotiation into a much bigger issue. [Read more 🡒]