3 Takeaways From Day 6 of 2026 Minnesota Wild Training Camp

The Minnesota Wild have entered their second week of training camp, and that means a shift in focus from the basics to more advanced areas like special teams. Both the power play and penalty kill have been on-and-off issues for this team over the years, and they’re consistently looking to improve. 

That was the focus for the sixth day of training camp, and they were going to continue to work special teams the rest of the week. In this article, we’ll take a look at a few storylines from day six that include their penalty kill, how Blake Coleman’s been transitioning, and some insight on Maxim Shabanov. 

Wild’s Penalty Kill Needs to be Better

All of the players who were on the Wild last season know they have to improve their penalty kill if they hope to find a way to win. They ran a lot of penalty kill scenarios throughout their practice session, which saw some familiar pairings from last season, like Brock Faber and Jonas Brodin, along with Joel Eriksson Ek and Matt Boldy. 

They’re easily the top penalty kill unit the Wild have, but then they also have Nico Sturm, who’s done well on their penalty kill in the past, along with Michael McCarron, Jared Spurgeon, and Yakov Trenin. Jake Middleton also spent a lot of time on the penalty kill in the past, but now that he’s gone, there’s a void to fill and room to get better. Blake Coleman is one of those players they hope can elevate that part of their game.

“Yeah, just quick overview today, and some practice on it. It’s a pretty familiar system for me, from what I came from, so a lot of straight-line pressure, kind of forcing teams into making bad plays, but…the PK is kind of a delicate dance in terms of over-pressure and being too passive. So, it feels good; you got your cues…,” Coleman said to the media after his practice session during training camp when asked about the penalty kill. 

Coleman Transitioning Well

It can take time for new players to adjust to their respective teams, no matter when they join the lineup, whether it’s at the trade deadline or during the offseason. Coleman joined during the offseason, and he did have a slight advantage since he was able to do some captains’ practices with his teammates before training camp started. 

He’s fit in quite well and seems to have found a spot in the lineup already with Joel Eriksson Ek and Matt Boldy. He’s a solid addition at five-on-five for their second line that will be missing Marcus Johansson, plus he has some strong skills on the penalty kill, which, as discussed above, is something the Wild have to fix early. 

“It’s interesting; for one, it’s a commitment. You got to be willing to do some of the dirty work and eat pucks, and there’s nothing glamorous about PK; it’s just hard work and making reads. I think you can sometimes beat it to death and overthink it, and sometimes that makes your life more complicated when you’re just thinking too much on the ice. You gotta have a system in place where you have your one or two reads, and then you trust your instincts as a hockey player, and that seems like that’s the way they’re doing it here…,” Coleman said to the media in the same interview from above when asked about the penalty kill. 

Shabanov Finding Path

Maxim Shabanov was another player who was brought in during the offseason, and while the Wild lost Mats Zuccarello, Shabanov may be able to fill some of the void. They’re different players, but they share common ground in working well with Kirill Kaprizov. Of course, it’s early chemistry between Shabanov and Kaprizov, but that’ll hopefully continue to build and improve as time goes on. 

The Wild’s newest additions have found their respective ways quite quickly, and they’ve found chemistry with their linemates. It’s still very early, and things change, but it looks like Shabanov may start on the top line with Kaprizov and possibly Ryan Hartman. Again, this could change, but now would be the perfect time to test out the pairing without putting too many points on the line. 

“Yeah, I thought last night he got better and better as the game went on, I think in camp I think he’s gotten better and better, like he understands kind of what’s going on, we’ve been able to do a lot with practice like there’s a lot of our warmup, kind of shooting drills there’s structure to them so I think he’s getting, it seems like it’s coming more and more natural to him so I like what I’ve seen and I thought last night he had multiple scoring opportunities, he got the nice goal on the one so he keeps taking steps…,” said head coach John Hynes to the media when asked about Shabanov’s performance in their second preseason game and his overall camp so far.  

The Wild spent most of their training camp session dealing with the penalty kill, and their new players had a chance to join in and learn the way the Wild play and how to adapt to their new teammates. Hopefully this is just one small step on the way to a successful season with a lot of Wild wins.