Minnesota Wild – Record 38-33-11, 87 points. 5th Place and 2nd WildCard
The Wild were eliminated in the first round by the Dallas Stars. They made it into the last Wild Card spot late in the season.
They have a couple of problems. First, they have so much wrapped up in Ryan Suter and Zach Parise that they are always scrambling to pay enough other good players. Secondly, they counted on Devan Dubnyk to be the same goalie he was the year before. He wasn’t, and they can’t count on a real bounce back.
The Wild will be pretty much the same team on the ice as they were this season, but they will be different behind the bench with the addition of Bruce Boudreau as their new head coach. He brings a veteran coaching style to a very veteran team.
They will make minor roster moves on their team this offseason. They can’t bring in any big Free Agents as they have nine roster players to sign and the big one is young defenseman Matt Dumba who they are going to have a problem fitting under the Salary Cap. Boudreau is going to have to use a magic wand to make this team better.
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