Inside look at Minnesota Wild

NHL.com is providing in-depth roster, prospect and fantasy analysis for each of its 32 teams from Aug. 1-Sept. 1. Today, the Minnesota Wild.

Despite several departures and limited acquisitions in free agency, the Minnesota Wild are comfortable moving into this season with most of the same personnel that finished third in the Central Division (46-25-11) and lost to the Dallas Stars in six games in the Western Conference First Round.

"I would have loved to have been more active (in free agency)," Wild general manager Bill Guerin said. "At certain times of the day you get frustrated, but then you look at your board and you realize that most of your team is already intact. … for the most part, our team is together and we're happy with that."

Minnesota did lose forwards Gustav Nyquist (Nashville Predators), Oskar Sundqvist (St. Louis Blues) and Ryan Reaves (Toronto Maple Leafs), and defensemen Matt Dumba (Arizona Coyotes) and John Klingberg (Toronto Maple Leafs), but acquired three-time Stanley Cup champion forward Pat Maroon in a trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning on July 2 for a seventh-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. The Wild also signed forward Vinni Lettieri to a two-year, two-way contract July 1.

"I'm super excited. I can't wait to get to Minnesota," said Maroon, who had 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in 80 games with the Lightning last season and led the NHL in penalty minutes (150). "I think we have a really good hockey club. I think we can do a lot of good things.

"I think there's an opportunity there. And when you play in this League, the window shuts pretty fast, and their window's open, and we're going to go out there and try to win a Stanley Cup."

Though Minnesota has gaps to fill offensively, it's limited in regard to the NHL salary cap ($83.5 million) because of the buyouts of the contracts of forward Zach Parise and defenseman Ryan Suter on July 13, 2021. Each buyout will be complete before the 2025-26 season.

"We're up against it no matter what," Guerin said. "It's just going to be a complicated season. As for like the salary cap and rosters and all that stuff, it's going to be a moving target and we're ready for it. We're not the first team to go through something like this. We're on top of it."

The Wild will rely heavily on forward Kirill Kaprizov, who finished his third NHL season with 75 points (40 goals, 35 assists) in 67 games. Forward Matt Boldy, who signed a seven-year contract Jan. 16, returns for his third season with an even higher level of expectations after he had 63 points (31 goals, 32 assists) in 81 games.

Forward Marcus Johansson, acquired in a trade with the Washington Capitals on Feb. 28, hopes to build on his chemistry with Boldy on the second line, where he had 18 points (six goals, 12 assists) in 20 games with Minnesota.

Longtime center Joel Eriksson Ek will also look to be a force in his return after suffering a broken fibula April 6 while blocking a shot against the Pittsburgh Penguins. He revealed May 1 that he attempted to play through the injury after returning for 19 seconds in Game 3 against the Stars, and ended up requiring surgery. He is expected to be healthy for the start of training camp.

In addition, Minnesota will see if forward Marco Rossi, selected with the No. 9 pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, can be an impact player and make the roster out of training camp. The 21-year-old had 51 points (16 goals, 35 assists) in 53 games with Iowa of the American Hockey League last season, and one assist in 19 games with the Wild.

On the blue line, Minnesota will look to replace top-four defenseman Dumba, who signed a one-year contract with the Coyotes on Aug. 6. The likely replacement will be 20-year-old Brock Faber, who had his first two games of NHL experience with the Wild last season before playing all six playoff games. Minnesota also returns veterans Alex Goligoski and Jon Merrill, and continue to work on a contract with restricted free agent Calen Addison, who was not eligible for arbitration.

In net, the Wild and Filip Gustavsson avoided arbitration by agreeing to a three-year contract July 31. Gustavsson is the likely starter with Marc-Andre Fleury the backup, but Guerin and coach Dean Evason have known to do a near 50/50 split with the goaltending tandem the past two seasons, so that option remains.