Day 2 in the Books

Welcome to Day 2 of the Minnesota Wild training camp.

Ryan Hartman Back At It

Center Ryan Hartman, who only skated for part of the first session on Thursday’s camp-opening practice, was on the ice for Day 2 and took part in the full session. He continued to skate with a younger group as opposed to the group with his usual linemates Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello although it’s possible Hartman could rejoin the more veteran group on Saturday. He suffered an undisclosed upper body injury before camp.

“We’ll see how he does and we’ll see where he goes tomorrow,” Head Coach Dean Evason said after Friday’s three sessions.

Speaking Of Zuccarello

Zuccarello, 36, was banged up at the end of the season but has returned to camp in full health as he enters the final year of his current contract.

“A lot’s been made of him and Kirill and their chemistry and how they play together,” Evason said. “And a lot of people are like well, he’s benefited from Kirill. Well, no, I think Kirill’s benefited from Zuccy’s vision and his passing ability so yeah, he’s in tremendous shape.”

Boldy, Johansson, Eriksson Ek; Book It

One of the givens early on in this Wild training camp is the continued presence of Matt Boldy, Marcus Johansson and Joel Eriksson Ek as a forward unit.

Although Eriksson Ek was injured late in the regular season and through all but one shift in the playoffs, Boldy and Johansson lit it up following Johansson’s arrival at the trade deadline.

If the Wild are to improve on their goal-scoring production of a year ago – they finished finishing 23^rd in goals scored per game and were 29^th in 5-on-5 scoring – this unit will be critical to taking some of the pressure off the team’s top unit of Kaprizov, Zuccarello and Hartman.

“When we’re all playing our style and playing together it’s a pretty great line,” said Boldy who was second on the team behind Kaprizov with 31 goals last season.

Boldy said Johansson “plays super-fast,” which has forced him to play with more pace as well.

“I think things mesh well. We’re both creative, we want to score goals and make plays so kind of that mentality together does quite a bit out there,” Boldy said.

Johansson said he feels the trio views the game the same way.

“I feel like we all work hard and we can play with the puck and that’s what makes it easy. You don’t have to think when you’re on the ice, you just play and use your instincts and that’s when hockey is fun so I think that was the biggest reason for our success last year and I think it’s just going to get better the more we play together,” Johansson said.

As far as Johansson is concerned Eriksson Ek may be the secret weapon on the line.

“I think he’s one of the most underrated guys in the league. The way he works both on and off the puck,” Johansson said. “People think that he’s mostly just a defensive centerman but he’s so skilled and he’s got a sense of scoring and all that and he makes so many plays. There’s three of us and that’s what make a difference I think.”

Evason likes the attention to detail on both sides of the puck from the unit.

“It’s a line that we can use in all different situations,” Evason said.

Johansson Part Deux

This, of course, is the second go-round with the Wild for Johansson, 32, as he played 36 games for the Wild in 2020-21.

He was acquired from Washington at the ‘23 deadline and while players generally don’t like being traded, this worked out for both the player and the organization as he signed a two-year extension immediately after the playoffs were over.

“Very excited about it, both me and my family. It was some good news,” Johansson said.

“I like it here a lot. It’s a good team. It’s a good city. My family likes it. We’ve been here before. My oldest daughter has some friends here from before. It’s not just about me,” Johansson said.

He admitted he didn’t even know he was possibly on the market when the trade happened.

“It’s never fun getting traded but it was fun to find out I was coming here and knowing most of the guys,” he said. “I felt like I never got to really show my true self last time I was here. There was a lot of injuries and a lot going on. It’s fun to come back and get another crack at it. It’s been very fun so far and this team they make you feel like home right away.”

Jonas Brodin, Face Of A Franchise

Jonas Brodin has played every one of his 741 NHL regular season games (and 67 playoff games) in a Minnesota Wild jersey.

Captain Jared Spurgeon has played 851 games for the Wild.

It’s rare to have multiple players play such long stretches with the same franchise.

Matt Dumba was part of that group until he signed a one-year deal in Arizona in the off-season playing 598 games with the Wild, most of them lining up with Brodin on the back end.

The two were close friends from the beginning and Brodin admitted it was strange to show up for camp for the first time and realize Dumba was elsewhere.

“Yeah, it was a little bit weird. We played with each other for 10 years almost or more. It was a little bit weird to not see him but I mean we talk a lot. We do some Facetimes and stuff,” Brodin said. “It’s good. It’s good. I hope the best for him.”

The Wild’s reputation as one of the closest teams in the NHL is borne out in Brodin’s affection for his long-time defensive partner.

“First time we met each other we just connect right away. He helped me so much outside of hockey because my English wasn’t the best so he helped me a lot with everything going on,” Brodin said. “My best memory was probably when he came to Sweden a couple of summers ago. It was for my birthday. He came to Sweden. We had a great time there. He was there for a couple of days. We were in Stockholm actually so we had some fun there.”

Brodin and Faber

We talked yesterday about rookie defenseman Brock Faber and his new role playing with Brodin. Not surprisingly, Brodin is wholly in favor of the pairing.

“Very excited. You saw him last year he looked like he’d been playing for five years already in the league,” Brodin said. “He’s an awesome player. Really good skating and good with the puck. It’s going to be fun. It’s probably going to take a couple of games to get into it but I’m excited to play with him he’s a great player.”

If the pair does approach expectations, it will give the Wild a solid top four group on the blue line with Spurgeon and Jake Middleton with both units able to make life miserable for opposing teams.

“I think he’s really good in the D zone too,” Brodin said of Faber. “He wins a lot of battles. He’s really strong on the puck. I think we can be good partners, shut down some good players, I think, so it’s exciting. He’s a really good player. He’s going to be here for a long time.”

Swedish Homecoming

Of course, the Swedes with the Wild are waiting with great anticipation for the team’s strip to Stockholm in November where they will play Ottawa and Toronto.

For Johansson, this will be the third time he’s had a chance to play at home during the regular season having done so with Buffalo and New Jersey. He’s not tired of the opportunity.

“I think that’s cool. I’ve been fortunate to be there two times before. Going a third time so it’s a lot of fun and play in front of family and friends and go home and eat some Swedish food,” Johansson said.

It’s not just a boon for the Swedish players although Brodin, Eriksson Ek and Johansson all live about three hour’s drive from Stockholm, so they will have large contingents of family and friends making the trip in for the games.

“I think it’s just cool for the team to go away for a bit and go someplace new and it feels like a little bit of a team building trip in the middle of the season and kind of get away from the everyday grind that we have otherwise,” Johansson said.

Jason King And The PP

New Assistant Coach Jason King began his work on revamping the Wild power play on Friday laying the foundation on breakouts and in-zone strategy. But the real work on the power play will begin before a team scrimmage that will be held on Monday.

“Obviously there’ll be some schemes that Kinger will put into place which we’ll practice it Monday. We’ll be about 40, 45 minutes before the scrimmage with specifically our guys to dial it in a little bit more then obviously through the week we’ll be working on it almost on a daily basis. There’ll be a lot of different looks. Obviously at that point you’ll see kind of our thought process or our structure,” Evason said.

Iowa Wild Pipeline

With Brett McLean taking over as head coach of the Wild’s American Hockey League affiliate in Iowa after having been an assistant on Evason’s staff the Wild the last couple of seasons, we should see the big club reap significant benefits when it comes to the preparation of minor pro players who may get the call to the NHL in the coming months.

“It’s fantastic, it really is,” Evason said. “You want your minor league team to play the same way and have obviously the same philosophy, all that kind of stuff. But a lot of times you need to allow that coach to do his own thing too. But because Mac’s been with us a couple of years, it’s just been a nice opportunity to have, as you said, that familiar system, that familiar teaching and philosophy.”

“It’s not just the coaching staff,” Evason added. “It’s what we’re trying to do as an organization. Mac is dialed into that with his guys so the call-ups will be seamless, guarantee you they’ll know exactly what they’re doing and how to play the game.”