{"id":833652,"date":"2026-07-30T15:06:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T15:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/833652\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T15:06:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T15:06:11","slug":"who-plays-with-kirill-kaprizov-and-4-other-big-wild-questions-7-weeks-from-training-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/833652\/","title":{"rendered":"Who plays with Kirill Kaprizov and 4 other big Wild questions 7 weeks from training camp"},"content":{"rendered":"

ST. PAUL, Minn. \u2014 Since missing out on Anders Lee on July 1 and responding with a big trade with the Calgary Flames, it has largely been a quiet offseason for the Minnesota Wild.<\/p>\n

The Wild\u2019s work right now focuses on trying to get Quinn Hughes extended. While there\u2019s no rush, general manager and president of hockey operations Bill Guerin did meet with the star defenseman, who\u2019s entering the final year of his contract, on Tuesday in Detroit, according to league sources, speaking on the condition of anonymity to address negotiations that aren\u2019t public.<\/p>\n

But regardless of when (or if) Hughes extends, barring a big trade or another free agent signing, this still feels like the most unsettled a Wild lineup has been entering a season in quite some time.<\/p>\n

Coach John Hynes and his staff will only have 14 days between the start of camp on Sept. 17 and opening night in Nashville on Oct. 1 to put the jigsaw puzzle together.<\/p>\n

Their four exhibition games come in the first nine days of camp, so that doesn\u2019t leave a lot of time for experimenting with potential lines or deciding if youngsters like Hunter Haight or Charlie Stramel should make the team.<\/p>\n

In a competitive division, in which teams like the Utah Mammoth and St. Louis Blues arguably improved, here are five of the biggest lineup questions the Wild have after the subtractions of Mats Zuccarello, Marcus Johansson, Vladimir Tarasenko and Jake Middleton and additions of Blake Coleman, Maxim Shabanov and Olli Maatta.<\/p>\n

Who\u2019s the better power play QB: Quinn Hughes or Lane Hutson?<\/p>\n

Scott Wheeler, Max Bultman and more<\/p>\n

Who is playing on the top line?<\/p>\n

Beyond re-signing Hughes, the Wild\u2019s top priority in the summer was to bring in another top-six center. For a while, it seemed like Dylan Larkin was a possibility after he requested a trade from the Red Wings and listed Minnesota as one of his top three preferred destinations.<\/p>\n

The Wild can hardly depend on that trade coming together, though, because they don\u2019t have a lot of intriguing assets they\u2019re willing to part with and the Red Wings are now GM-less.<\/p>\n

So, there\u2019s some uncertainty as to who will play with Kirill Kaprizov on the top line. Guerin had talked about the idea of Coleman being a great fit on the second line with Joel Eriksson Ek and Matt Boldy, and that\u2019s probably how they\u2019ll start.<\/p>\n

But where does that leave Kaprizov\u2019s linemates?<\/p>\n

The options, unless they plan to load up the top line with Boldy at right wing (Hynes historically likes to do that in-game, not full-time), are all unproven.<\/p>\n

Shabanov was a KHL stud, finishing third in the league in scoring (67 points in 65 games) in 2024-25, but that didn\u2019t translate during his rookie NHL season with the New York Islanders, and he wanted a fresh start.<\/p>\n

It seems like a pretty big bet to put the unproven Shabanov right there on the top line, as talented as he might be. But we\u2019ll see. He has skill and perhaps could generate chemistry with his Russian countryman, Kaprizov.<\/p>\n

Similar issue with Bobby Brink. He\u2019s got skill, but is he really a playoff contender\u2019s first-line right wing? Remember, he played himself out of the Wild\u2019s playoff lineup after coming over from Philly in the David Jiricek trade and ultimately hurting his shoulder.<\/p>\n

Another option is Danila Yurov. A natural center, unless he\u2019s taken major strides in the offseason in the faceoff circle heading into his second NHL season, one option could be having normal No. 1 center Ryan Hartman take the draws before sliding over to wing. Or Yurov could just play right wing entirely.<\/p>\n

Still, again, this is hardly your prototypical first line.<\/p>\n

With Zuccarello now with the Kings, there will have to be a lot of experimenting in an abbreviated training camp.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the bottom six look like?<\/p>\n

Michael McCarron, fresh off signing a six-year, $20 million contract, may be the only player in the bottom six cemented into his position.<\/p>\n

The physical, faceoff-winning veteran will almost certainly open the season as the third-line center.<\/p>\n

But who\u2019s on his wings?<\/p>\n

It\u2019ll depend largely on what that top line looks like.<\/p>\n

Whoever doesn\u2019t end up there \u2014 whether it\u2019s Shabanov, Brink or Yurov \u2014 will likely end up on the third line. It\u2019s hard to imagine any of those three young players on the fourth line. Then you have a built-in trio of Marcus Foligno, Nick Foligno and Yakov Trenin as a potential fourth line, with Nico Sturm an option, as well, considering how well he played late in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Could a Yurov-McCarron-Brink line \u2014 two skilled guys and a bruiser \u2014 gain any sort of identity? Would they have chemistry? Perhaps, as they all work their butts off and could chip in offensively.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n Would it make sense for big Michael McCarron to center a line with two skill players? (Jerome Miron \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

Who takes Zuccarello\u2019s spot on the top power play?<\/p>\n

The additions of Coleman and Maatta should certainly help the penalty kill, but as of now, there\u2019s no obvious player to replace Zuccarello on the top unit with Kaprizov, Boldy, Eriksson Ek and Hughes.<\/p>\n

A right shot would be ideal, but in the past, Brock Faber hasn\u2019t been your prototypical guy to take one-timers from the left circle. And do you really want a two-defensemen top unit? This isn\u2019t the old days after all.<\/p>\n

What about McCarron? We know he can win draws, so he may make sense in the neutral zone or defensive zone the way Jordan Staal often takes faceoffs with Carolina and then heads directly to the bench. But in the offensive zone, if they win the draw, where does he play? Eriksson Ek is one of the best net-front power-play guys in the league.<\/p>\n

So this will be another tryout of sorts in camp. Maybe Brink makes sense because he gives them a right-shot option. Or Shabanov because of his skill and playmaking.<\/p>\n

What will the blue line look like?<\/p>\n

This seems like the most settled spot in the Wild lineup. Extension in place or not, Hughes is here for at least another year, and he\u2019ll anchor a top pair with Faber. Captain Jared Spurgeon, entering the last year of his deal, and long-time partner Jonas Brodin are here. Maatta, brought in as Middleton\u2019s replacement, should step in with Zach Bogosian on the third pair.<\/p>\n

And how often will Bogosian play? The 36-year-old has had the injury issues to his ankles taken care of, which should be a big boost to start the season. He\u2019s 30 games away from 1,000 in his career, and that\u2019s important to him.<\/p>\n

But you have Daemon Hunt, who has shown he\u2019s ready for an NHL role and is capable of getting more reps. He can play the left or right side, too.<\/p>\n

So it\u2019s a good bet even if Hunt isn\u2019t in the opening night lineup that he gets plenty of playing time, especially with how often some Wild defensemen get injured.<\/p>\n

How\u2019s the goaltending shaping up?<\/p>\n

Filip Gustavsson is supposed to be out until at least November following offseason hip surgery. That detail likely created havoc with the Wild\u2019s offseason because it removed Jesper Wallstedt from any trade talks the Wild may have included him in.<\/p>\n

So Gustavsson\u2019s early-season absence will trigger an early-season duo of Wallstedt, coming off a solid season, and offseason pickup Calvin Pickard.<\/p>\n

Even though the early schedule is road-heavy, there aren\u2019t a lot of back-to-backs \u2013 two in the first month of the season and one in the second.<\/p>\n

But the Wild do have 15 games in the first 29 days, so Pickard will be tasked with winning games for the Wild so they don\u2019t burn out Wallstedt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PAUL, Minn. \u2014 Since missing out on Anders Lee on July 1 and responding with a big…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":833653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,7524,575,85],"class_list":["post-833652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-minnesota-wild","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=833652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/833653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=833652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=833652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=833652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}