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Nashville Predators Foes 2015: Minnesota Wild

By Doug Praskach

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The Nashville Predator and Minnesota Wild have some history in their time together in the NHL.  Their games this season will be important to see who makes the playoffs.

Today we look at: Minnesota Wild

Fansided Blog: Puck Gone Wild

2014-15 record: 46-28-8, 4th in the Central, Lost in 4 games to Chicago in the Western Conference Semifinals

How the Preds did: 5 games, 2-2-1

Schedule this year against the Preds: Thur 11/5 at Minnesota, Sat 11/21 at Minnesota, Sat 12/19 Home, Sat 11/21 Home

Team Newcomers: None

Now Ex-Players: C Kyle Brodziak

Coached by: Mike Yeo (5th year)

Who’s in Net: The biggest question going into this season is whether or not Devan Dubnyk can do the same thing for this team that he did last season. He is backed up by Darcy Kuemper who was one of the starters before Dubnyk joined the team. Niklas Backstrom is the third but may not be around after camp.

Quick thoughts about the Wild:

  1. Their biggest splash in the offseason was the very necessary resigning of Devan Dubnyk. It was a little surprising that they stood pat after being swept in the playoffs but with so much money tied up in Ryan Suter and Zach Parise they didn’t have a lot of choices.
  2. They are hoping that their young defense can mature in a hurry and take some of the pressure off Suter who played nearly half a game on average last season. Five of their D-Men are under 26-years old.
  3. By staying with their core of Ryan Suter, Zach Parise, Mikael Granlund and Nino Niederreiter, they have put all of their apples into the basket of the young defense and on the shoulders of Dubnyk.

Why the Wild will win the Stanley Cup: If Dubnyk can hit the heights that he did last year after he moved over to the Wild anything is possible. They have a good core of Stars and are counting on youth to step up. If all of that happens, the Cup is within reach

Why the Wild won’t win the Stanley Cup: Two things we don’t believe will happen: Devan Dubnyk will regress from being the Vezina level goalie he was last year, he won’t be as good. Their defense in front of him is too young and inexperienced to get them to the next level. Defense wins championships and they don’t have it in either spot.

Three Things We Like About You:

  1. We think that Wild logo is pretty cool. Especially when you take a closer look at it and all of the symbolism.
  2. We aren’t exactly sure what a “Nordy” really is but your mascot is definitely better than some out there.  Not in the same league as Gnash though!
  3. We appreciate that we came into the league at about the same time and we are kind of in a race to win that first Stanley Cup.  We are feeling we are a little closer right now!

Three Things We Don’t Like About You:

  1. We hate everything about the Ryan Suter signing: The way he said he wanted to stay here, the way you gave him so much money it is crippling your team, even though it really worked out to our advantage because we have Roman Josi, who is better and less expensive. We still hate the way it went down.
  2. We most definitely have a black spot in our heart for Craig Leipold for the way he sold off good players then sold the team leaving them in a bad way back in 1997. We have survived better than ever.
  3. Those red jerseys have got to go. They look like the Christmas Pajamas that your Mom made you wear on Christmas morning while opening presents when you were seven.

Prediction: The West is going to be tougher than ever this year. We think that Minnesota might sneak into the playoffs, but they are just as likely to miss them completely. Dubnyk will regress and that defense had better grow up in a hurry. If they get in, the playoffs will be short for the Wild.

Click on the team below to see more team previews:

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Next: Is There a Preds Trade in the Wind?

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