Stacking the Deck

With a younger lineup on the ice for the Wild’s first preseason game this season against the Chicago Blackhawks, veteran forward Blake Coleman had the night off. Instead, he took in the game at Grand Casino Arena with his wife and young children.

While the Wild had their own objectives on the ice, Coleman’s two daughters, ages 6 and 5, were on a mission, too: Find Nordy.

“I think they were equally excited to go find the mascot as they were to go to the game,” Coleman said. “It’s fun, because now they’re at the age where they actually understand the game, and they’re excited to go watch.”

The girls met Nordy, and their dad enjoyed the rare opportunity to watch a hockey game with his family. As the puck drops on the 2026-27 season, Coleman is one of the new players fans will get acquainted with when watching this season.

Coleman, 34, joined the Wild this summer, coming over with defenseman Olli Määttä, 32, in a July 2 trade that sent Jake Middleton and three future NHL Draft picks to Calgary. Coleman and Määttä are both veteran players and Stanley Cup Champions.

Two other acquisitions this offseason include a young forward in Maxim Shabanov and goaltender Calvin Pickard.

It feels like no time has passed, Coleman said, since he played under Wild head coach John Hynes with the New Jersey Devils a decade ago.

“We picked up right where we left off,” Coleman said. “I’ve always had a ton of respect for him as a human and the way that he conducts himself and treats his players.”

New Jersey was the start of Coleman’s NHL career as a third-round pick of the Devils in 2011. Minnesota is his fourth team in the league, coming into this season with nearly 700 games played, scoring 170 goals and 155 assists across 10 seasons.

He won back-to-back Stanley Cups with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2020 and 2021, skating with current Wild teammate, defenseman Zach Bogosian for that first Cup victory.

“I have some really good memories with him,” Bogosian said. “He’s a great teammate and a really effective player. We’re lucky to have him.”

Last season in Calgary, Coleman scored 20 goals for the fourth time in his career. He has more than 400 blocked shots in his career and is a big contributor on the penalty kill. Four of his goals last season were scored shorthanded, tying his career-high mark set in 2024. He entered this season with 22 career shorthanded goals.

“It’s always been part of my game,” Coleman said of the shorthanded goals. “Really, I think from my first year, I’ve been able to find success scoring shorthanded. I think part of that comes from getting to skate on the power play as well and knowing how annoying defending is on the power play.”

Skating with Coleman on a line during training camp, Wild winger Matt Boldy said his new teammate is hard working and, simply, can shoot and score. It’s a pretty good fit.

“He’s very skilled. He’s got good awareness,” added forward Ryan Hartman. “He knows where to be on the ice.”

Coleman described himself as a Swiss Army knife when it comes to the versatility on the ice that’s led to his success, as he’s played every role imaginable. He’s been a checker with the ability to score goals, and he’s also grown his offensive side of the game without sacrificing the defensive side.

“I feel like I have an ability to morph into whatever is asked of me,” Coleman said. “I take a lot of pride in different areas of the game.”

Playing against him, and with him last season, Olli Määttä knows how good Coleman can be with on the forecheck.

“He strips the puck well, but then he had a lot of offense in him, too,” Määttä said. “A fast skater, dangerous that way.”

Määttä and Coleman spent time on the penalty kill together last season. Both players could be an asset for the Wild special teams. Coleman, Hynes said, is an experienced penalty killer who’s tenacious with good anticipation skills and a good stick to disrupt up the ice.

“He’s very versatile, and he takes pride in it,” Hynes said. “That’s kind of how he broke into the league even when I was in New Jersey and he was coming up. He and Travis Zajac were one of our top killing pairs.

“It helped him get into the league and stay in the league, and he’s progressed his game from there.”

For Määttä, Minnesota is his third team since the start of last season, which he began in Utah with the Mammoth before being traded to Calgary at the deadline in March. He scored two goals and 12 assists in 21 games with the Flames at the end of last season.

The Jyväskylä, Finland native was a 2012 first-round draft pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins, and he was part of their back-to-back Stanley Cup victories in 2016 and 2017.

Määttä has played in more than 800 career NHL games across 13 seasons with six other teams, coming into the season with just over 200 career points from the blue line. He also helped Finland win a bronze medal at the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics.

He also has 27 points in 85 career playoff games, but his last appearance was in 2022 with the Los Angeles Kings. This season he has a fresh start with the Wild, a team that’s looking to take its playoff aspirations another step further.

“I’m not going to lie, it makes you nervous, but more so makes you excited,” Määttä said of joining a team ready to take that step. “I think that’s where you want to be. It’s been a while for me being in a situation like this that you really feel that you have a chance to win.

“I think I’ve definitely taken big steps in my game, and hopefully I can even take another one this year and bring my best again to help this team.”

Määttä is an efficient player and uses his skating and his body to put himself in the right position on the ice, Hynes stated after the Sept. 19 preseason game.

On the younger side of new player additions, Maxim Shabanov comes to Minnesota after a rookie NHL season with the New York Islanders in 2025-26 where he scored five goals and 13 assists in 44 games. Prior to that, the Chelyabinsk, Russia native was a star in the KHL for four seasons, racking up 67 goals and 150 points in 207 games from 2021-25.

He also led the KHL in goals and plus-minus rating (plus-14) in the 2025 KHL Gagarin Cup Playoffs.

“He’s already a really good player because he was one of the best in the KHL two years in a row,” said Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov.

The youngster adds another Russian teammate to the mix, along with Kaprizov, Yakov Trenin and Danila Yurov. Kaprizov thinks that with more confidence, ice time and chances, Shabanov can be a really good player with his skill and speed.

In net, 34-year-old Pickard signed a one-year contract with the Wild this past summer. He’ll share the net with Jesper Wallstedt early this season. Netminder Filip Gustavsson is still recovering from offseason hip surgery.

Pickard is with his seventh NHL team and enters this season with 191 games across 11 seasons. He spent 2023-26 with the Edmonton Oilers, making it to the Stanley Cup Final in 2024 and 2025.

Last season, Pickard went 5-6-2 with a 3.68 goals-against average and a .871 save percentage in 16 games (13 starts) with the Oilers.

Growing up in Winnipeg, Pickard was excited to be close to home in Minnesota. He arrived ahead of training camp and had some good on-ice sessions getting to know his new teammates.

With these new players added to the mix, the Wild are ready to dig in for the 2026-27 season. They’ve played in Grand Casino Arena as visitors, but now, they’re on the home team.

Coleman remembers the atmosphere and passionate fan base.

“You remember the fans and how loud they get,” Coleman said. “The goal song and the horn. It feels very iconic here. It’ll be fun to be on the right side of it now. Coming from Calgary, which was a very passionate fan base as well. It’s nice to get to keep that level of excitement in the city.”