Wild 2025-26 Grade Reports: Yakov Trenin

We’re halfway through the month of July, and while there’s been some big news in the NHL, the Minnesota Wild have been relatively quiet as of late. Still no news of a Quinn Hughes signing or any substantial player additions. However, as we wait for any of that kind of news to come out, we are still looking back at the Wild’s past season with grade reports. 

The main players who were on the fourth line towards the end of the season have received their grades, but there were several other players who bounced around on the bottom lines, including the next player on the list: Yakov Trenin. He was on the third and fourth lines throughout the season, and in this article we’ll look at his performance for both the regular and postseason to come up with an overall grade. 

Trenin Bounced Back 

Yakov Trenin didn’t have the best reception during and following his first season with the Wild, but that only drove him to be better. He used last offseason as a chance to improve and come back this past season renewed. Although he didn’t make a dramatic change in offense, he definitely made one in the physicality department. 

He played in all 82 games this past season and scored six goals plus assisted on 17 others for 23 points. He did increase his points, mainly with assists, as he went from seven to 18 this past season. Outside of the offense, Trenin became a human wrecking ball on skates as he tried to hit everything that moved. 

He nearly doubled his hits from one season to the next as he went from 241 hits to 413 this past season, a difference of 172 hits. While his hits dramatically went up, his blocked shots did improve, but not nearly as much. He went from 32 blocked shots two seasons ago to 39 blocks this past season, a difference of just seven. 

After looking over his stats for the regular season, he earned an A-, mainly because of the work he put in during the offseason and came back a better player. His grade wasn’t lower because increasing his hit rate the way he did, along with his other stats, was quite impressive. It wasn’t higher, however, because again, he had room to improve even more, especially in his blocked shots. 

Trenin Stays the Course

Players usually find another level when they enter the postseason, and that was true for Trenin, at least in some areas of his game. He played in nine of the Wild’s 11 postseason games; he missed two due to an upper-body injury. He recorded two assists for just two points in those games, so he didn’t provide much offense. 

He did keep up with the physicality, however, as he delivered 51 hits in those nine games, which is quite a few hits, but he didn’t lead the team since he missed those two games; Marcus Foligno took the top spot. It’s safe to say that if Trenin had played in all 11 games, he likely would’ve had the top spot and more than 51 hits. Unlike his hits, he could’ve used more blocked shots, as he blocked just five, and the Wild needed more from him. 

Unfortunately for Trenin, the only thing that improved for him during the postseason was his hits, which worked great against the Dallas Stars but not so great against the Colorado Avalanche. After looking at his performance, Trenin earned a B because while his hits were strong, they weren’t enough to help the Wild get through. However, his grade wasn’t lower because his physicality was important, and that was the only stat of his that made a big impact during the postseason. 

Trenin’s Overall Grade

Trenin stood out during both the regular season and the postseason due to his efforts in the physicality department. He threw a lot of hits, and it did benefit the team a lot, but in the postseason they needed a bit more, and he didn’t have it. His offense was okay during the regular season, but non-existent in the postseason, along with his blocked shots. 

His regular season grade was an A- while his postseason grade was a B; combining those two grades, he earned a B+ for his overall grade for the season. That may seem low given the amount of physicality that he gave and what was expected of him in the bottom six, but they needed more from him during the postseason, not just two points. 

His grade wasn’t lower because of his efforts and the number of hits he threw. It was an impressive number, and he deserved to be recognized for it. However, sometimes teams need more than just physicality, and that’s where Trenin still has some room to improve; hopefully he will for the Wild this coming season and add some offense.