The Minnesota Wild may have already found the center they need at the top of the lineup. Now the question is whether they can keep him there and still solve the rest of the puzzle.
Joel Eriksson Ek has been the answer on the first line with Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy, and Tuesday night against the Edmonton Oilers only sharpened that case. Mike Babcock matched Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl directly against Minnesota’s best, and the Wild’s top trio answered with a strong showing in 9 minutes and 28 seconds at 5-on-5.
Natural Stat Trick had Minnesota with a 12-to-4 edge in scoring chances and a 9-to-3 edge in high-danger chances in that matchup. The Wild also outscored Edmonton 1-0 there, with Kaprizov and Boldy adding a second goal against the league’s most dangerous pair.
That result should have reinforced one thing for Bill Guerin: the priority now is finding a way to keep Eriksson Ek, Kaprizov, and Boldy together. In a little more than 100 minutes, that line has posted a 7-0 edge in goals and controlled 75.9% of the expected goal share at 5-on-5.
The numbers are extreme, but the idea behind them is not. Over the past four years, the trio has played 771 5-on-5 minutes together and has produced a 52-25 goal advantage while owning 62.9% of the expected goal share.
That kind of impact puts the line in rare company. The comparable trios are the ones you already know: McDavid and Draisaitl, Nikita Kucherov and Brandon Hagel, Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart, and the prime version of Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand.
Even with that strength at the top, the Wild still have a problem they haven’t solved. Their depth scoring remains shaky. Danila Yurov has scored four goals, Blake Coleman has two but no points in his past six games, four of Max Shabanov’s six points have come on the power play, Ryan Hartman picked up his first goal and second point of the season on Tuesday, and Bobby Brink has five assists but is still waiting on his first goal.
That’s where Dylan Larkin comes back into the conversation.
The Wild spent the summer hoping the Detroit Red Wings center could fill the No. 1 center role, but that is no longer the most pressing need. Larkin makes more sense as the player who could hold the second line together and let Eriksson Ek stay right where he belongs.
He has shown he can score without much help, including 30-goal seasons with wingers like Anthony Mantha, Tyler Bertuzzi, and Andreas Athanasiou. More recently, he’s had Lucas Raymond beside him, but the point is the same: he doesn’t need a loaded setup to produce.
In Minnesota, Larkin could skate with wingers like Shabanov, Brink, or Yurov without being asked to do something unfamiliar. And if he joined that group, opponents would have to spend more energy trying to contain him while also dealing with Kaprizov, Boldy, and Eriksson Ek.
That might not be the flashy outcome the Wild imagined when they were chasing Larkin. But it could be the most useful one.
Minnesota already has its dominant first line. What it needs now is a No. 2 center who lets that trio stay intact.
Whether that ends up being Larkin or someone else available by the trade deadline, the mission is the same for Guerin: give John Hynes no reason to break up what’s working.
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But Hughes has not agreed to terms yet, and the wait is starting to intersect with the broader extension landscape across the league. The Tampa Bay Lightning are still working through Nikita Kucherov talks, and those negotiations have been nudged by the changing market after the Leo Carlsson situation. For the Wild, the storyline is less about whether they are willing to step up and more about when, or if, the next move actually comes. [Read more 🡒]
Wild Linked To Winger Who Could Change Their Forward Group
The idea of Minnesota adding Travis Konecny has enough appeal to make the rumor mill hum, even if nothing has been formally put on the table by Philadelphia. The Flyers are only being described as a possible trade team, but the mere suggestion of availability has already put the Wild in the mix as a club that could use another proven winger to deepen an offense that could always use more punch.
Konecny would be the kind of aggressive, productive fit that can change the look of a forward group, which is why this has caught attention around the league. The obstacle is just as obvious as the fit, since any real discussion would have to navigate a hefty contract and a built-in layer of protection that gives the player major control over where this goes next. [Read more 🡒]