The Minnesota Wild haven’t just started fast - they may have found the fix for the problem that buried them a year ago.
Through six games, Minnesota is 4-1-1 and has banked a point in five of those contests. The latest win came Monday night, when the Wild rolled past the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2 behind three first-period goals. The offense has picked things up too, with four goals in each of the past two games, but the real separator has been the penalty kill.
Against Vegas, Minnesota went 5-for-5 shorthanded and even outshot the Golden Knights 6-5 during those sequences. That pushed the Wild to the top spot in the NHL on the penalty kill, with 21 kills in 22 chances for a 95.4 percent rate.
It’s early, of course. But for a team that spent the last stretch of John Hynes’ tenure fighting a nearly constant special-teams leak, this is the kind of turn that stands out right away.
Since Hynes arrived early in the 2023-24 season, Minnesota’s penalty kill has lagged badly. The Wild rank 28th in the NHL over that span at 76.2 percent, and the number gets even uglier in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, where they’ve killed just 64.3 percent of opposing power plays across 17 games.
Last spring, that weakness played a huge role. Minnesota allowed 10 power play goals in a six-game series win over the Dallas Stars, then got hammered by the Colorado Avalanche in Round 2 as Colorado scored eight power play goals in five games.
Across both series, the Wild’s kill rate sat at 60.5 percent. Only the Edmonton Oilers were worse at 50.0 percent before being eliminated by the Anaheim Ducks in the first round.
Still, the source of the optimism is that Hynes has shown this can work in the right setup. As an assistant with the United States Olympic team, he helped run a penalty kill that shut down all 19 short-handed situations on the way to the program’s first gold medal since 1980.
This offseason, Minnesota leaned into change. According to The Athletic’s Michael Russo and Joe Smith, Hynes simplified the structure to remove “gray areas.” The new version asks the Wild to play with more pressure, forcing puck carriers into rushed decisions and turnovers.
Michael McCarron, who joined the team in a midseason trade last year, said the difference was obvious once the system changed.
“It’s a completely different system,” McCarron said. “Last year, there was too much thinking, too much gray area. The power plays always have their best players on the ice and when there’s too much thinking on the penalty kill, I just didn’t think it was a really effective penalty kill last year.
“Being the new guy, I just tried to do the best I could, but obviously I voiced my concern for it. Now it’s a completely different penalty kill.
It’s run completely different. It’s way more black and white.”
The personnel around that system matters, too. Minnesota added Blake Coleman and Olli Maatta in the trade that sent Jake Middleton to the Calgary Flames last summer, and the lineup has also benefited from having Nick Foligno and McCarron available. Foligno is currently injured, but the group has still looked sharp.
Jesper Wallstedt has been another big piece, even though he will sit Tuesday against the Winnipeg Jets. With Filip Gustavsson still recovering from offseason hip surgery, Wallstedt has posted a .933 save percentage and a 1.82 goals against average in six games. NHL Edge has him at a .912 save percentage on high-danger chances and a .917 save percentage on mid-range chances.
Then there’s Matt Boldy, whose four shorthanded goals last season showed Minnesota can do more than survive while down a man. That kind of threat was on display Monday, when the Golden Knights never really got comfortable on the power play.
It’s still a small sample. But right now, the Wild’s penalty kill looks cleaner, faster and far more dangerous than it did last season - and that alone could change a lot as the year unfolds.
In Other News...
Wild Injury Scare Now Has Fans Worried About More Than One Thing
Nico Sturms upper-body injury against the Vegas Golden Knights was the kind of preseason scare that can linger well beyond one game. The Wild center was taken to the hospital for evaluation after the play that led to the injury, and Minnesota has not offered any recovery timeline, leaving another layer of uncertainty around a roster that is still sorting through its early-season health picture.
Brock Fabers ear injury in a separate preseason game only added to the concern, especially because he is still recovering and the team has not provided an update on when either player might return. Beyond the immediate worry for the Wild, the injuries have also pushed renewed discussion around whether NHL players should be required to wear ear guards, a safety debate that keeps resurfacing whenever a high-profile scare like this comes along. [Read more 🡒]
Wild Rookie's Second NHL Game Just Took A Heated Turn
Rieger Lorenzs second NHL game had a little bit of everything for the Wild on Tuesday night in Vegas, where the rookie forward not only got into the kind of fray that can test a young players resolve, but also came away with his first NHL point. Minnesota beat the Golden Knights 4-2, and Lorenzs night turned into one of those early-career snapshots that says as much about a players composure as it does about the final score.
Afterward, Michael McCarron made clear he wasnt a fan of Jeremy Lauzons role in the confrontation, while also giving Lorenz credit for holding his ground. For a rookie still trying to carve out his place, that kind of moment can linger well beyond one game, especially with the Wild showing they can win a tougher, heavier kind of contest while getting contributions from a young player still learning the league. [Read more 🡒]
Wild Injury Problems Just Reached Jared Spurgeon
The Wilds early-season injury list has already been long enough to test their depth, with Brock Faber sidelined by a fractured skull and Filip Gustavsson, Nick Foligno and Marcus Foligno all dealing with their own issues. Add in Nico Sturm leaving a recent game after taking a shot to the head, and the teams margin for error on the roster has started to shrink fast.
Now the concern has reached the blue line, where captain Jared Spurgeon was unavailable for the next game after an upper-body injury from the previous matchup. Minnesota had to shuffle its defensive setup against Winnipeg, and the absence also opened a spot for David Spacek to step into Spurgeons role on the second power-play unit, another sign that the Wild are already being forced to improvise before October has even settled in. [Read more 🡒]