Wild Week Ahead: Schedule & Storylines – Boldy Finds Scoresheet, Wallstedt Stays Strong & Shabanov Fitting In

The Minnesota Wild had a busy week with their first longer road trip of the season that started out a bit rough but finished on a high note. They have another full week ahead of them with their first back-to-back of the season, and they’ve already been dealing with a number of injuries as well. 

They’ve had a few new faces in the lineup over the past week, and it’s likely that will continue until these injuries are over. Luckily for the Wild, everyone has found ways to step up, and in this article we’ll look at a few storylines to follow for the week of Oct. 12 – Oct. 19. 

Wild’s Boldy Finds Offense

It may be only one goal so far, but now that Matt Boldy has found himself on the scoreboard after going pointless in the first four games of the season, he’ll hopefully continue to put up points. Boldy isn’t the type of player who is held off the scoresheet very often, and the beginning of this season wasn’t for lack of trying; he just couldn’t get it past the goaltender. 

Sometimes all it takes is one goal to spark some offense, and the Wild need him to continue that spark. He’s one of their best, and they miss him when he’s unable to produce; he still plays great regardless of points, but his main priority is offense. Plus, when he contributes, his linemates usually follow suit as well, and that goes for whoever is on his line. 

Wild’s Wallstedt Continues to Lead

Going into this season, the Wild knew they would be down one of their top goaltenders as Filip Gustavsson recovers from surgery. That meant they needed Jesper Wallstedt to step up and fill the number one role at least temporarily until Gustavsson returned. However, with the way he’s been playing, Wallstedt may be pushing to keep the number one role. 

He’s had his fair share of mistakes throughout these games, but overall he’s done quite well and improved with each game that has gone by. He’s still quite young at 23 years old, but he plays with maturity and is very critical of his own game. It’s still very early in the season, but it looks like the Wild are in good hands in the goaltending department and will be even more so when Gustavsson comes back. 

Wild’s Shabanov Fitting In

While many will have their eyes on Boldy and the top line if it stays Kirill Kaprizov, Boldy, and Joel Eriksson Ek, there’s another player everyone should be watching as he continues to grow more comfortable with this team. That player is Maxim Shabanov, and he’s done quite well in his first handful of games with his new team. 

He’s shown chemistry with Kaprizov and not just him but others he’s been with as well. With the top line being changed around, he was dropped down to the second line, but he fit in there as well alongside Ryan Hartman and Blake Coleman. It’ll be interesting to see how he continues to adapt on different lines and with other combinations as the Wild shift things around with the injuries. He’s shown he’s capable of scoring goals and assisting on them, and his game can only grow from here. 

Wild Schedule Oct. 12 – Oct. 19