Jared Spurgeon finished the season with 26 points in 67 games and is on the cusp on joining Suter as a 40 point blue liner and could hit that mark this year if the stars align. If Spurgeon continues to get over two minutes per game of power play time like he did last year, there is an outside chance.

OMG: Oh Minnesota's Goaltending

Calling the goaltending situation in Minnesota a mess would be an understatement. We have Harding's bizarre ankle injury last week after such a great (but spotty) campaign in 2013-14 despite his MS diagnosis. Niklas Backstrom's inconsistency has snowballed to the point where he can only be trusted as an overpaid backup. Darcy Kuemper's awkward contract battle had him talking KHL this summer before management caved after Harding's injury. And Ilya Bryzgalov is still in the mix on a tryout. We all expect Kuemper to be the guy going forward, especially considering he just signed a two year deal. But should a 24-year-old goalie that has played just 26 regular season games be trusted? Kuemper looked decent last year but the crease could be the team's Achilles heel, especially if the door revolves all year and the team doesn't find an established starter that brings consistency.

Quick Look at Corsi/PDO  

The Wild are a talented and deep team and should easily make the playoffs in 2014-15 despite their current goaltending situation and despite what their PDO and Corsi numbers suggest. Last year in five on five situations Minnesota had the fifth best PDO rating at 1010. They were also the only team from the West (besides Colorado) to make the playoffs despite their negative Corsi rating at five on five, where the Wild were outshot 3335-3154.

Conclusion

In Minnesota's case, perhaps we shouldn't rely on the above PDO and Corsi numbers too much like we did in my last article which focused on the Avalanche. The Wild are an improved team with proven veteran and their younger players are only getting better. From a fantasy perspective we should easily see career highs again for Coyle, Niederreiter, Spurgeon, and Granlund. We should also expect the usual numbers (Pominville 60-65 points; Vanek 65-75 points; Koivu 60-65 points; Parise 65-70 points; Suter 45 points) from the team's core with each player in the hunt for a increase if things go right. If the Wild can find consistent goaltending we should see Minnesota threaten Chicago, Colorado and St. Louis in the Central.

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