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Minnesota Wild center Frederick Gaudreau (89) celebrates with the bench. Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

Have the surging Wild gone from bubble team to Cup contender?

Originally posted on Daily Faceoff | By Anthony Trudeau | Last updated 3/30/23

The Minnesota Wild have been white hot since losing star player Kirill Kaprizov to injury. With contributors up and down their lineup and a hard-nosed brand of hockey, the Wild look as ready for the postseason as any team in the NHL. Do they have the talent to make a deep playoff run, though? Hosts Frank Seravalli and Mike McKenna asked that on Thursday’s edition of "Daily Faceoff Live."

Frank Seravalli: How about this? The Minnesota Wild are 16-1-4, which is one regulation loss, over their last 21 games. My question to you, Mike, is as well as the Wild have played, have they now vaunted themselves into the conversation as a legitimate Stanley Cup contender?

Mike McKenna: There are a couple of ways to look at this. Is the star power there for the Wild? Does that hold them back? Of course, Kirill Kaprizov hasn’t been in the lineup for them for a bit here. They have had some young talent step up. Matt Boldy has been phenomenal for the club; he’s got 11 goals since March 11 that’s leading the NHL.

For me, what makes the Wild really dangerous, Frank, is that they grind out wins. It is not very often that they run a team out of the building or they out chance them like crazy and possess the puck. They just win, and they play strong defense for the most part, they suppress shots, and they have had really good goaltending on top of that.

I look at Minnesota as a team that is built for the playoffs. They may not necessarily have the flashiness in the regular season that suggests they can just clobber a team right off the bat, but I think this team’s really dangerous right now. When Kaprizov comes back, he’ll add that extra superstar layer to it.

My test when I look at Minnesota for whether they’re playing defensively responsible hockey is to look at Joel Eriksson Ek. Last night against Colorado he was +3. Look at the Avalanche’s big dogs last night: Makar, MacKinnon, and Rantanen, they were all -3. A lot of that is from matching up with Eriksson Ek. He’s kind of the canary in the coal mine for that team, and when you look at his last 18 games, he has only been a minus player twice. That’s pretty telling for the Wild.

Frank Seravalli: That’s a really interesting stat to keep an eye on, the Eriksson Ek factor, in terms of his impact on the Wild’s overall game.

I don’t know how to give a yes or no answer on whether the Wild can make a run. Would it shock me if the Wild were the team to come out of the West? Maybe not, especially after a game like Wednesday’s when they beat the Avs, who I have thought for the last couple weeks have been the team to beat in the West.

Between the six teams leading the Central and Pacific Divisions, I don’t think there’s very much separating one through six at all.

Mike McKenna: It’s tight, man, and I’m not sure who the horses are. For me, I look for playoff-style teams. Minnesota and Dallas fit that bill very well. Edmonton and Colorado are pretty high-powered offenses, but you don’t always know what you’re going to get defensively. The consistent bet is the Wild, but we are going to have to see how this plays out because the West is just wide open. I cannot pick a favorite.