Wild season preview: Tarasenko added to boost forward depth

The 2025-26 NHL regular season begins on Oct. 7. Leading up to the season opener, NHL.com is identifying six things to watch for each team. Today, the Minnesota Wild.

Last season: 45-30-7, fourth in Central Division; lost in Western Conference First Round

Coach: John Hynes (third season)

Biggest challenge

Special teams. The Wild struggled on the power play and penalty kill last season. Their power play ranked 20th in the NHL (20.9 percent) while the penalty kill was 30th (72.4 percent). It won't help that Mats Zuccarello, who's on their top power-play unit, will be out 7-8 weeks with a lower-body injury. As for the penalty kill, which has ranked 25th or worse in three of the past four seasons, the Wild need to find a way to get it working again.

How they make the playoffs

A good start. Yes, it's a long season but getting off to a strong start is key, especially in the Central Division where five teams qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season, including Minnesota. The Wild got off to an 8-1-2 start last season and were 18-4-4 after 26 games. They should be going into this season ready to do the same thing, especially now that forward Kirill Kaprizov signed an eight-year, $136 million contract ($17 million average annual value) on Tuesday which begins next season. His lack of a contract could have been a distraction this season. Now it isn't, and the Wild can forge ahead with one of their top scorers secured.

Most intriguing addition

Vladimir Tarasenko, acquired in a trade with the Detroit Red Wings on June 30, comes in with Stanley Cup experience after winning it with the St. Louis Blues in 2019 and the Florida Panthers in 2024. He'll be looking to be more productive this season than he was last, when he had 33 points (11 goals, 22 assists) in 80 games with the Red Wings. Now he'll get a fresh start with Minnesota, where he'll probably start on the second line with left wing Liam Ohgren and center Joel Eriksson Ek. The 33-year-old enters this season with plenty of motivation to get back to his productive self.

Biggest potential surprise

Zeev Buium could be a big part of the Wild this season. The defenseman missed a few days of training camp with an upper-body injury but has since returned. He logged 23:04 of ice time in the Wild's 5-2 loss to the Dallas Stars on Sept. 25. The 19-year-old had 48 points (13 goals, 35 assists) in 41 games last season with the University of Denver before getting an assist in four Stanley Cup Playoff games with the Wild. Buium helped the United States win gold at the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship, where he had six points (two goals, four assists) in seven games, and gold in this year's World Championship, where he had four points (one goal, three assists) in eight games.

Ready to contribute

Jesper Wallstedt has gotten little tastes of the NHL with the five games he's played with the Wild over the past two seasons. It's time for the goalie to take the next step. With Marc-Andre Fleury having retired, Wallstedt is expected to be the backup to starter Filip Gustavsson. He'll need to show improvement from last season, however. The 22-year-old was 9-14-4 with a 3.59 goals-against average, .879 save percentage and one shutout in 27 games with Iowa, the Wild's American Hockey League affiliate.

Fantasy sleeper with EDGE stats

Zeev Buium, D: The rookie had a power-play assist in four games during the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs and could be an instant offensive threat for Minnesota, which has not had a defenseman score at least 15 goals in a season since Brent Burns had 17 in 2010-11. Buium joins forward teammates Matt Boldy and Marco Rossi among NHL.com's fantasy top 50 keeper rankings and should be considered a top five rookie for this season. Per NHL EDGE stats, Buium ranked in the 85th percentile among defensemen in offensive zone time percentage (45.0) during the 2025 playoffs and in the 88th percentile in power-play offensive zone time percentage (61.5). -- Troy Perlowitz

Projected lineup

Kirill Kaprizov -- Marco Rossi -- Matt Boldy

Liam Ohgren -- Joel Eriksson Ek -- Vladimir Tarasenko

Marcus Johansson -- Danila Yurov -- Ryan Hartman

Marcus Foligno -- Nico Sturm -- Yakov Trenin

Jacob Middleton -- Brock Faber

Zeev Buium -- Jared Spurgeon

Carson Lambos -- Zach Bogosian

Filip Gustavsson

Jesper Wallstedt

Injured: Jonas Brodin (upper body), Mats Zuccarello (lower body)