Minnesota Wild Fans Have Reasons for Optimism in 2026-27 – The Hockey Writers – Minnesota Wild

The Minnesota Wild have been an interesting team to be a fan of since their inception. They’ve had a lot of ups and downs as every NHL team has, and while last season was hyped up as a season to have a lot of hope that it would be different, this coming season has even more reason for optimism. There may still be some lingering questions that won’t be answered until the season starts, but we can still look at the reasons for hope. 

Of course, everyone is hoping for the obvious: Quinn Hughes re-signs with the Wild, and they somehow find a way to snatch up Dylan Larkin. However, there are less obvious reasons for hope, and when looking back at past season stats, the Wild have been heading in the right direction, and we’ll take a closer look at those stats to show why there’s hope in this team. 

Wild Taking Shots

To win games, teams have to score goals, and to score, they have to take shots. The Wild have been very inconsistent with their shots on goal per game over their history, but they’ve made progress recently. They had a stellar performance in the 2021-22 season with an average of 32.5 shots per game, and they kept it around 30 the next two seasons. 

Then they hit a hiccup when they dropped to 27.6 shots per game in the 2024-25 season before this past season, when they headed in the right direction with 29.2 shots per game. Kirill Kaprizov was a big part of that as he went from 145 shots to 269 shots. They know Kaprizov will take shots, and hopefully he’ll focus on shooting even more this coming season. 

He’s not the only one, however, as Wild fans have yet to see what Quinn Hughes can do with a full season, and he’s definitely not afraid to take shots, which is what the team needs. Also, his defensive partner, Brock Faber, will continue to learn from Hughes, and that provides even more optimism. Plus, Matt Boldy is still improving his game, and with that comes more shots, as well as the other youngsters on this team who look to prove themselves. 

Wild’s Special Teams

This may go against a lot of what we’ve said before about the Wild’s special teams, especially their penalty kill, but there is a reason for hope there. They’ve actually gotten better in both areas from seasons past; their power play percentage was the best it’s ever been at 25.2 percent, while their penalty kill’s 79.8 percent was the best it’s been in the past few seasons. Despite the stronger percentage, their penalty kill was a weakness this past season and something that has to be better, especially in the postseason. 

Clearly, the Wild’s power play improved when Hughes joined, and although they lost Mats Zuccarello, they still have the majority of their top power play unit left. Boldy has shown a lot of confidence that continues to grow with each season he’s played, and that is a main source of hope for their man advantage as Boldy’s game progresses. 

Their penalty kill will be more of a concern between the two, and again, it may sound contradicting, but there is hope. They brought in some players that will be key components to improving the penalty kill, and those players are Blake Coleman and Olli Määttä. The Wild did find ways to kill off penalties, but they couldn’t keep it going; there’s hope that with these two and the others they already have, like Faber, they’ll be able to tighten it up and be solid. 

Wild Have Young Talent

The final reason for fans to have optimism about this team, despite not a lot happening to make them better apart from adding a few more depth pieces, is the young talent they already possess. While Danila Yurov has earned basically a permanent spot in the lineup, they also have players who may bounce in and out of the lineup like Bobby Brink, Hunter Haight, and Daemon Hunt. 

All of these players have shown talent; they just have struggled to find consistency, but as they spend more time in the lineup, the better they adapt. These players have so much potential in their game, and that should be enough to give Wild fans hope as well. They’ll hopefully be able to fill in the voids in the lineup following the losses they had during free agency that haven’t already been filled by others. 

To be successful, teams have to rely on every player on their team, from the young to the veterans, and the Wild have a strong group of players in both areas. As long as these young players continue to follow in the path of their veterans, they’ll help their team and provide more hope the fans need. 

There are a lot of reasons to have hope in the Wild, especially after seeing what they managed to do last season, even if it ended abruptly. They made big strides, and thanks to members of their team, they still have hope to do so again. Their shots per game, special teams, and their young players are all leading reasons to have optimism, and it’ll be interesting to see if they can continue to improve those stats and see how their youngsters fit into the lineup this coming season. Hopefully the Wild will take another step forward and make a deep postseason run.