Wild Week Ahead: Schedule & Storylines – Defense Surviving, Special Teams Thriving & Strong Goaltending

The Minnesota Wild started the regular season off on the right foot with a win on the road to open things up and then a win in their home opener. Last week, everyone knew Brock Faber was dealing with some sort of injury due to getting hit by a puck; however, it was later revealed that he had fractured his skull and had surgery. 

The Wild found ways to get wins this past week, and they’ll have to do the same this coming week. It’s going to be their first longer road trip, and it’ll be a good time for the team to get some more bonding in as they typically do on road trips. In this article, we’ll look at a few storylines for the week of Oct. 5 – Oct. 12. 

Wild’s Defense Surviving

After having quite a few injuries to start last season, it appeared this season would be different for the Wild, as the only injured player they had to start this season was Filip Gustavsson, which they had known about since the end of last season. However, that all changed with their final preseason game when Faber was injured. 

Luckily, following his surgery, he was doing well and recovering, according to a statement from general manager Bill Guerin last week when the injury announcement was made. It’s a scary injury to hear about, and when something like that happens, the health of the player is the most important; the game itself is second. 

The Wild’s top defensive pair was Faber and Quinn Hughes; with Faber out, they had to find someone to temporarily fill the void. That’s a huge hole to try to fill, and of course no one is going to fill it perfectly, but Jared Spurgeon has done a great job of filling the spot with his style of game. He’s done well with Hughes, and they’ve found a different kind of chemistry that is working. Hopefully it’ll continue until they can have Faber back and put their lineup back together. 

Wild’s Special Teams Thriving

Anyone who’s a Wild fan probably dreads reading the words special teams, but this time it’s a good thing. So far, both the Wild’s penalty kill and power play have gotten off to good starts, and while they will eventually hit some bumps in the road, they’ve held strong through two games, something that last year was quite difficult for them to do. 

They obviously made changes with their players, and that has been a big part of the improvement, as players like Blake Coleman, Olli Määttä, and Maxim Shabanov have all contributed whether on the man advantage or the penalty kill. The Wild mainly needed help while shorthanded, but having more goals on the power play is always good. 

What has been quite noticeable on the penalty kill is their stick work; they’ve been more aggressive at poke checks, and it’s worked. They’ve been solid, and hopefully that will keep going, as their penalty kill was something that contributed to their losses at times last season, and if they can tighten that up, they can win more games. 

Wild Need Wallstedt

As the season moves along, Jesper Wallstedt will see more and more games. He’s currently the number one goaltender and will be until Gustavsson returns and is ready to slide into that spot, unless Wallstedt has secured it by that time. Regardless, he won’t be ready right away, and the hope is that Wallstedt will have a solid routine down by then. 

It’s an interesting dynamic as Gustavsson was the starter last season with Wallstedt as the backup, and now it’s the opposite with Gustavsson fully sidelined with injury recovery. Wallstedt has shown how well he can play in both the regular season and the postseason when the big pressure is on. He still has steps to take in his game, but he’s perfectly capable of taking that next step, and now is as perfect a time as any. 

It’ll be interesting to see how this progresses as Wallstedt gets more games under his belt. He’ll likely be in almost every game as the starter with the exception of back-to-backs until Gustavsson is ready to join the lineup. They also have a capable backup in Calvin Pickard, whom they picked up during the offseason to fill the role until Gustavsson is back.