Sinking Away - WILD WEDNESDAY
Per Sports Club Stats, the Wild are down to a 3% chance of making the playoffs. The two wildcard spots in the West are currently held by Nashville with 90 points and Vegas with 86 points. LA is slightly in front of Vegas with 87 points and St. Louis has passed the Wild in the standings by three points. The Wild currently have 77 points and are now nine points behind Vegas after coming within three points as of last Tuesday.
As of last week, the Wild were in a position where they needed two points out of both games against LA and St. Louis. They left with only one point. Once again, the Wild had a one-goal lead in the third period against St. Louis on Saturday to blow it, fall behind, and then tie it to eventually lose in overtime. According to Michael Russo, the Wild have blown six third period leads at home since Dec. 31 and their record in those games is 0-3-3. How many points are the Wild currently behind Vegas again? That’s right. Nine points.
Another reason for the Wild’s lack of success this season is their inability to beat teams ahead of them in their conference. The Wild have won only eight of the 25 games against the nine teams ahead of them in the standings.
With 11 games left, the Wild would have to win almost every game and Vegas would have to lose almost all their remaining ten games. If the Wild can go 8-3 and Vegas 3-7 in these last few games, that would put the Wild at 93 points and Vegas at 92. Although, that may not matter if the Blues go on a run to pass Vegas as they have a 9.6% chance of making the playoffs, according to Sports Club Stats.
It is unfortunate the Wild do not have a better chance to make the playoffs because their first-round matchup would likely be against Vancouver – who they always play well against. The Wild have a record of 2-1-0 against Vancouver this season with one of the victories being the best game of this season – the 10-7 win on Feb. 19. Over the past five seasons, the Wild have a record of 10-4-1 against the Canucks and an all-time record of 50-38-5. Although the Wild do not appear to be a playoff caliber team this season, this would be a series the Wild would have a legit chance to win.
Future is Still Bright
Although this season has had many ups and downs, the Wild’s future looks promising. The team has one more season left of ‘cap hell’ where they have $14.7 million in dead cap space due to the Parise and Suter buyouts. Once that ends, the Wild will be able to afford any of the top free agents.
The Wild’s prospect pool is also one of the best in the league. The Wild recently signed 19-year-old forward Riley Heidt to a three-year, entry-level contract. Heidt has been an absolute stud in the WHL, where he just finished the regular season with 37 goals and 80 assists.
Forwards Danila Yurov and Liam Öhgren are also impressive prospects that could join the Wild in the future. Öhgren was drafted 19th and Yurov was 24th in the 2022 draft. Yurov recently re-signed with Metallurg of the KHL for one more season, which the Wild will benefit from since he will get an additional year of development in the KHL rather than the AHL. And don’t forget about goaltender Jesper Wallstedt, who will likely see a lot more playing time with the Wild next season. In 40 games with Iowa this season, Wallstedt has a .911 save percentage and a 2.66 GAA.
What’s Coming
Jonas Brodin and Joel Eriksson Ek both practiced with the team yesterday and may return to the lineup on Thursday against San Jose. Ek has missed five games and Brodin has missed the last two. Both are out with lower-body injuries. Happy to see them return to the lineup, but unfortunately for the Wild it may be a little too late.
The Wild are in a six-game home stand with their next game tomorrow against San Jose, Vegas on Saturday, Ottawa on Tuesday, Colorado on Thursday and Winnipeg on Saturday.
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