3 Things the Minnesota Wild Can Learn From Their 2026 Postseason Exit

 The 2025-26 Minnesota Wild season started out rough, but eventually, as the season went on, they were the team that “felt different”. Once they started to win, and especially after the arrival of Quinn Hughes, many people kept saying the same phrase, “this team feels different”. The team that always had enough to get to the postseason but never past the first round was going to beat that this season. 

They did get through Round 1 and took down the Dallas Stars, even when some started to doubt. Then they had to face the Colorado Avalanche, the team that has been at the top of the NHL pretty much all season long. They showed they had the talent to compete, but couldn’t stay consistent and fell in five games. It’s disappointing the Wild lost out sooner than they hoped, but there are lessons they can take from this and get better for next season starting with playing their game. 

Wild Have to Focus on Themselves

The Wild played two very different teams this postseason, and while they had the ability to beat them both, they only succeeded against one. The Stars used to be the team the Wild hated to go against because they always appeared one step ahead, but they’ve become a different team, and so have the Wild. 

The Wild took steps forward to make themselves a better team, and they had the confidence to be better as well. They played their game against the Stars, and when things started to get a bit more intense, they adjusted their game slightly to include more physicality, and it worked. They didn’t completely change their game, only adjusted it slightly to fit the opponent they were playing. 

Against the Avalanche, they tried to match their speed, and it didn’t work, so they changed the level of their physicality, and it slightly worked. It still wasn’t quite enough, but when they focused and played their own style with a mix of speed and physicality, it worked. They just couldn’t keep their style going, and it cost them. However, they know they have to do that more going forward and will hopefully find a way to do so. 

“Ah, yeah. Game 4 to me, the disappointment, that’s the one to me. More than Game 5. Game 4, what was the word you used, seething? I think that’s what it was. Because when we play our game. When we do the things that we’re supposed to do. Play our game. The way we’re built. Not the game you want to play, the game we need to play, and when we do that, we’re very, very hard to beat. And in Game 3, I saw our team do that. And that game wasn’t close. And then I saw Game 4, a complete 180. And you saw the result, it wasn’t close the other way. That was disappointing,” said Bill Guerin in his end-of-season interview when asked about the end of the Colorado series. 

Wild Have to Figure Out Penalty Kill 

Although the Wild struggled on the special teams overall, they know they have to fix the penalty kill. If they don’t score while on the power play, they can find ways to score at 5-on-5 as they did in the Stars series. Even though it would’ve helped greatly if they scored on the power play, that can be worked around. The penalty kill, on the other hand, can be extremely problematic. 

That showed against the Stars and the Avalanche as they allowed shorthanded goals against both. It’s easier to bounce back when not scoring on a power play versus being scored against while on the penalty kill. It’s a struggle when both aren’t going well, but keeping the puck out of their own net is a great start to have success. 

“…I’ve talked with players that played at the Olympics, at the Four Nations, guys from different systems, what’s the difference? You know, I just think at times, you know, you’re playing against five elite players. And sometimes the details, the reads, just being on target, being on time in certain areas can be a little bit better. We’ve got to coach them better. The players have to execute them better. But, yeah, it’s going to be a lot of time again on that. Like, we don’t take it lightly. Maybe we have to tweak some things; there’s going to be some details to it. It could be looking at a couple different guys on the kill…,” said head coach John Hynes in his end-of-season interview when asked about the problems on the penalty kill. 

Wild May Need Another Piece 

While the Wild have had strong players over the seasons, when Quinn Hughes came in, it was clear how much they needed someone at his level. When the postseason started, it became even more obvious how much of a difference Hughes could make. He helped them take down the Stars, and if the team had found a way to replicate Game 3, he could’ve possibly helped them past the Avalanche as well. 

Playing a team like the Avalanche, with players like Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog, Martin Necas, and, although he’s been pretty banged up in the postseason, Cale Makar, plus others, made it fairly apparent that the Wild may need to add to their lineup even more if they want to stand a chance against other big teams. They have a lot of good pieces, but again, their weaknesses were exploited, especially in the faceoff circle.

“Yeah. There’s always a way. There’s always a deal to be made. To answer your question, yes,” Guerin said to the media in his end-of-season press conference when asked about adding a number one center and added about the confidence level of making a trade for one, “I’m always confident in that, like my ability to get a deal. I’m always willing. If it’s there, I’ll be involved. We’re in a window now. We’re in a window now where we have a very good team. We want to make sure that we don’t just open the window three-quarters of the way. If there’s a chance for us to get better, we will.” 

There are many things the Wild should’ve learned from their postseason, but these are the three main things that they need to pay attention to. They have to play their own game, that’s the biggest, but they also have to improve their penalty kill and find another star if possible. Hopefully, the Wild can work on these items over the offseason and be ready for a deep run next season.