Preseason predictions, be damned – the Minnesota Wild look legit right now

Though it has just been a few weeks since the start of the 2024-25 season, some teams are already playing above expectations.

The Minnesota Wild are one of those clubs. Through five games, the team is unbeaten in regulation, winning three of its first five contests. The offense has been there, with Kirill Kaprizov showing up by registering eight points thus far. Matt Boldy has been playing well with six points, while Mats Zuccarello leads the team with three goals. Even Marco Rossi has been impressive by averaging a point per game in the early going.

Minnesota’s impressive start comes after many experts around the game had them sitting near the bottom of the Central Division, with the likes of the Colorado Avalanche, Nashville Predators and Dallas Stars expected to be near the top for most of the season.

On Monday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and Colby Cohen discuss what has worked for the Wild, and why many counted out the team from the State of Hockey too soon.

Tyler Yaremchuk: I kind of had the Minnesota Wild as a bit of an afterthought…They weren’t a playoff team last year, they didn’t do anything during the summer to lead me to believe they could take a step forward. Here we are. They’re one of the few teams without a regulation loss. Was I wrong on the Minnesota Wild, or do you still think there is a “falling back to Earth” moment coming for them?

Colby Cohen: I think the Minnesota Wild, if they get goaltending, are going to stay around the playoff picture all year…I think I had them as the first team out. I thought the Wild would be ahead of the [St. Louis] Blues, the [Chicago] Blackhawks, Utah, but I think we all expected the Avs and Preds to look a little bit better, too. I think the balance of powers will fix itself…I think [the Wild] are one of those bubble teams.

You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…