3 questions facing Minnesota Wild

NHL.com is providing in-depth analysis for each of its 32 teams from Aug. 1 - Sept. 1. Today, three important questions facing the Minnesota Wild.

1. Who will replace Matt Dumba?

Dumba, 29, had played all 10 seasons of his NHL career with the Wild. The former alternate captain and defenseman had 236 points (79 goals, 157 assists) in 598 NHL games, including 14 points (four goals, 10 assists) in 79 games last season.

Dumba's five-year contract expired July 1 and he signed a one-year deal with the Arizona Coyotes on Aug. 6.

Brock Faber, who is the favorite to fill Dumba's void in the top-four defensemen role, waltzed into the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season out of the University of Minnesota as if he had been in the League for years, following a runner-up finish in the NCAA Division I men's national championship.

He was plus-3 through six playoff games, and plus-2 in his two regular-season games.

"Just trying to get my body prepared for 82 games," he said. "It's a different beast playing that many, especially against the best players in the world."

2. Is Marco Rossiready?

Rossi, the No. 9 pick by the Wild in the 2020 NHL Draft, attended his second NHL training camp in 2022-23 with high expectations of making the roster. Despite a few brief appearances, the 21-year-old forward totaled just one assist through 19 NHL games last season, and 51 points (16 goals, 35 assists) in 53 games with Iowa of the American Hockey League.

"Marco, he started strong," Wild general manager Bill Guerin said. "He had a good rookie tournament, had a really good training camp, but just wasn't ready. And I think the worse thing that we could have done is just kind of force him in the lineup every night and that would have hurt his development, so I think he was in the best place possible and that was in the American Hockey League."

3. Who will be the No. 1 goalie?

This has been a perennial question in Minnesota in recent years; last season, the job was nearly split between Marc-Andre Fleury (46 games) and Filip Gustavsson (39).

The Wild avoided salary arbitration with Gustavsson, a restricted free agent, by agreeing to a three-year contract on July 31. The 25-year-old went 22-9-7 with a 2.10 goals-against average, .931 save percentage and three shutouts in 37 starts.

Gustavsson then went 2-3 with a 2.33 GAA and .921 save percentage against the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference First Round, which the Wild lost in six games.

Fleury, who was 24-16-0 last year, has one season remaining on a two-year contract he signed with the Wild on July 8, 2022.

"I expect (Gustavsson) to come in at top shape and compete for the starting job," Guerin said. "This is something that worked for us last year. (Gustavsson), even though he had some great games, he still hasn't had the workload of a true starter. But that doesn't mean he can't do it. He just might be ready for that.

"They're both going to get great opportunities to prove what they can do and, like I said, I think (Gustavsson) has the potential to do more than he did last year. …We can manage (Fleury's) minutes and games like that. (Gustavsson) will definitely take a bigger role. He'll play more games."