Iowa's team this season has many of the same pieces back: Sam Anas is having a career year, Gerry Mayhew leads the AHL in scoring and has been so good, he's seen run in Minnesota recently. Kyle Rau has put together another solid campaign.
On the backend, Louie Belpedio and Brennan Menell have helped lead the way, along with veteran captain Matt Bartkowski.
All of those guys played key roles last season.
But there have been a number of newcomers who have also come in and taken up big roles with Iowa this season. Nico Sturm and Luke Johnson have helped give Iowa one of the strongest and deepest center positions in the league.
Brandon Duhaime and Connor Dewar are rookies who have made an impact.
In goal, Kaapo Kahkonen has built on his All-Star campaign of last season, where he faded down the stretch and ceded the net to veteran Andrew Hammond late in the year and in the playoffs. Kahkonen leads the AHL in shutouts this season and it doesn't appear as though he'll be slowing down anytime soon.
It's impossible to say exactly what last year's playoff run meant to the guys who are back, but needless to say, it's changed the way they think about, not just themselves, but this team.
"Last year, even though we went to the second round, it seemed like, because the team had never made the playoffs, it was such a big deal that we did make it," Anas said. "Not that that was our year-end goal, but now it seems like the standard is much higher.
"The bar has been raised around here. If we're not making the playoffs, that's unacceptable."
In that regard, Iowa has little to worry about.
Along with the Milwaukee Admirals, whom Iowa defeated in five games in the first round of the playoffs last spring, the two teams have run away from the other six teams in the Central Division.
A lengthy winning streak early in the season spotted the Admirals a lead in the division race that many thought would allow them to run away from the rest of the Central.
But Iowa took advantage of a marathon stretch of games at Wells Fargo Arena, where the Wild played nine consecutive games between Jan. 24 and Feb. 15. Iowa won the first eight of those games before losing to the San Diego Gulls in front of a record crowd of 13,503.
From Jan. 17 through Feb. 15, Iowa played 12 of 13 at home and posted a 10-2 mark in Des Moines during that stretch.
Iowa coach Tim Army can sense a different vibe and more confidence in the room this season. Where guys experienced team successes last season, and with it came perhaps a bit of satisfaction, those same successes this season have become the expectation.
Even the feeling inside the dressing room after wins has been different.
"Yeah, I think so. I think for sure it's been that way since we reconvened after training camp in Minnesota
- Opportunity knocked and Matt Register answered
- Working through mini-slumps, injuries and call-ups
- Depth signings pay off
