Before the 2023–24 season begins, the Wild have a lot of questions. Among them are whether the power play will get better and how the defense will function without Matt Dumba. But which are the most important?
Welcome to this three-part series where we’ll examine five issues facing the Wild, five forecasts for 2023–2024, and five key lessons learned throughout the offseason.
The Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts will cost the Minnesota Wild around $14.75 million in cap charges over the following two seasons. As if carrying a roughly $12.75 million dead cap from the previous season wasn’t challenging enough.
Thus, the most important query at hand ought to be: Given their budgetary constraints, how far can the Wild go?
Along with trade deadline additions John Klingberg, Gustav Nyquist, and Oskar Sundqvist, the Wild lost all of Matt Dumba, Sam Steel, and Ryan Reaves to free agency. The lone player they acquired in the offseason was Pat Maroon, who they acquired in July for a seventh-round pick after he was acquired from the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Time will tell, but the Wild will rely on goaltending, depth, experience, and young players like Marco Rossi, Brock Faber, and Calen Addison this season.What are the five questions you have about the Wild in light of this?
When Rossi scored six points in three preseason games with the Wild and made the squad out of training camp the previous year, he appeared ready. However, he wasn’t quite ready and was sent to AHL Iowa in November of last year after only managing one point in 19 NHL games.
In Iowa, Rossi found his footing and improved his game, amassing 51 points and 16 goals in 53 games. For the entire 72-game AHL season, that’s a 22-goal and 69-point pace. He turned out to be a game-changer in every circumstance, and Iowa head coach Tim Army praised Rossi’s play as “outstanding.”
“He’s come down to Iowa and done everything we’ve asked,” Mike Murray, the general manager of the Iowa Wild and director of hockey operations, told me in a March exclusive interview. “He’s done just what we’ve wanted to see from an on-ice perspective.”
