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ST. PAUL – The 2024-25 NHL season has formally began. The Minnesota Wild open the season on Thursday with a house sport towards the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Listed below are some daring predictions for the upcoming season.
Marco Rossi scores 25 plus targets and has 60 plus factors
The younger Wild heart had a breakout season final yr and completed sixth within the NHL’s Calder Trophy voting for the league’s greatest rookie.
Related: Marco Rossi Finishes Sixth in Calder Voting
Rossi, 23, had 21 targets, 19 assists, and 40 factors for the Wild in all 82 video games final season. He was one among two Wild gamers to have performed in all 82 video games. Brock Faber was the opposite.
The 5-foot-9 heart began the yr with Marcus Foligno and Freddy Gaudreau as his line mates. He performed solely 9 video games with the 2 of them and performed most of his minutes with Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello.
Rossi performed his second most minutes with Marcus Johansson and Zuccarello with 28 video games with the 2 of them. According to MoneyPuck.
This yr, Rossi is ready to open the season with Kaprizov and Zuccarello because the crew’s primary heart. He’s in a contract yr and can be a restricted free agent after the yr.
According to Natural Stat Trick, the Kaprizov, Zuccarello, and Rossi line scored 19 targets in 29 video games final yr. They may begin the yr collectively.
Secure to say, anticipate a giant yr for Rossi.
Matt Boldy scores 40
Primarily based on basic field rating stats this may occasionally appear to be a large daring prediction however in the event you dig deeper, this should not be a sizzling take.
Related: Is a 40-Goal Season Within Reach for Matt Boldy?
Boldy, 23, began the yr final season with one aim within the first 12 video games. He completed the yr with 28 targets, 33 assists, and 61 factors below head coach John Hynes in 63 video games.
If you happen to scale that clip to a 82-game season Boldy would have had 36 targets, 43 assists, and 79 factors.
As soon as Hynes took over because the Wild’s head coach Boldy acquired extra ice time and took off. He averaged 19:05 of ice time below Hynes and 17:58 below Dean Evason.
According to Evolving Hockey, Boldy is projected to complete the 2024-25 season with a better GAR (Targets above substitute) than Kirill Kaprizov.
The 6-foot-2 ahead retains getting higher because the seasons progress. If he stays wholesome, it’s secure to say Boldy will rating greater than 30 however is 40 doable?
Certainly one of Marcus Foligno or Yakov Trenin will end high 5 in Selke Voting
Consider it or not however Marcus Foligno has been among the finest defensive ahead within the NHL for the final couple of seasons. And Yakov Trenin hasn’t been far behind.
Foligno, 33, completed thirteenth in xGA final yr amongst all forwards. He performed in solely 55 video games for the Wild which was the second fewest of the 12 guys in entrance of him.
Final season Foligno completed within the 87th percentile for defensive metrics amongst all forwards. The final three years he completed within the 92nd percentile.
According to evolving hockey, in 2017-18, Foligno completed fifth within the NHL in xGA/60, second in 2018-19, 18th in 2019-20, first within the NHL in 2020-21, and in 2021-22 Foligno ranked ninth.
2022-23 was the primary yr that Foligno has ranked outdoors of the highest 20 in xGA/60 in his final 5 seasons. He adopted that up by ending thirteenth in xGA/60 through the 2023-24 season.
Trenin, 27, completed final season within the 91st percentile amongst all forwards in defensive metrics and ninety fifth percentile within the final three years.
It may be daring to foretell one among them will end within the high 5 in Selke voting but it surely is not daring to imagine they are going to mix for 400 plus hits. Trenin had 207 hits final yr and Foligno had 179.
Foligno ranks fifteenth within the NHL amongst ahead in hits within the final two NHL seasons and Trenin ranks 18th.
Kirill Kaprizov wins the MVP Award
There is no such thing as a doubt that Kirill Kaprizov is the Wild’s greatest participant.
Kaprizov, 27, is coming off a season by which he recorded 46 targets, 50 assists, and 96 factors in 76 video games for the Wild.
He has 160 targets, 170 assists, and 330 factors in 278 profession NHL video games in 4 seasons. Kaprizov has now posted three straight 40-goal seasons.
Related: Minnesota Wild 2024-25 Milestones Preview: Kirill Kaprizov
Since 2021 Kaprizov has scored 133 targets and 50 power-play targets. His 133 targets places him fifth within the NHL since 2021 and fourth within the NHL in energy play targets.
Solely Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, David Pastrnak, and Auston Matthews have scored extra complete targets in that span and solely Chris Kreider, Sam Reinhart, and Draisaitl have scored extra power-play targets.
It’s secure to say that if Kaprizov has one other large yr, he needs to be up for MVP voting. If the Wild make the playoffs, Kaprizov ought to for positive be thought-about for the MVP Trophy.
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