For the last 22 years (13 with The Hockey News) Dobber has reviewed each team from a fantasy-hockey standpoint and graded them.

The 23rd annual review will appear here on DobberHockey throughout the summer. This is not a review of the likely performance on the ice or in the standings, but in the realm of fantasy hockey both for the season ahead as well as the foreseeable future. Offensively, will the team perform? Are there plenty of depth options worthy of owning in keeper leagues? What about over the next two or three years? These questions are what I take into consideration when looking at the depth chart and the player potential on that depth chart.

Enjoy!

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Gone: Marc-Andre Fleury, Gustav Nyquist, Jon Merrill, Justin Brazeau, Devin Shore, Travis Boyd, Graeme Clarke, Ryan O'Rourke

Incoming: Vladimir Tarasenko, Nico Sturm, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Calvin Petersen, Jack Johnson

Impact of Changes

This offseason is more of plugging in holes for the Wild, as veterans like Fleury, Nyquist, Merrill, and Shore have all departed due to either retirement or the lack of fit in the Wild organization. The biggest move here that will have fantasy implications is the addition of Tarasenko to replace Nyquist on the 2^nd line, where he projects to be alongside Marco Rossi and Matt Boldy. Speaking of Rossi, there seems to be an upswing in bridge deal talks between Bill Guerin and Rossi's camp, but nothing concrete as of it yet.

The Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts are finally to a combined total of $1,666,666 until 28/29, which opens up the Wild for some very much so needed cap space breathing room.

Let's remember that the Wild were one of the best teams in the league for a stretch, they were at the top the league after 30 games played with 44 pts, this was Mid December of 2024. The wheels then proceeded to fall off the bus, and they had encountered the injury bug, losing Kirill Kaprizov, which emphasized the subpar goal scoring rate.  This is year three under the John Hynes coaching staff regime for this player group, so there is the expectation that there is SOME improvement in the offensive department.

Ready For Full Time: Liam Öhgren, Danila Yurov, Zeev Buium, Jesper Wallstedt

Öhgren is going to get a real chance this season, as he was supposed to play up this past season, but struggled to produce in the NHL (five points in 24 games). When he did get sent down, he provided some silver lining on an otherwise below average Iowa Wild team, netting 37 points in 41 AHL Games as a rookie. He is projected to make the team out of camp once again, but for a more permanent bottom six role.

Yurov is also going to be inserted into that bottom six and is expected to make the team out of camp. He was on another development path, where he has spent over 200 games seasoning in the KHL, and looks to be pro ready. His production took a dip, as he was at 0.79 PPG two seasons ago, and fell to a 0.54 PPG this previous year in the KHL, but this shouldn't be looked at as a total regression, more of a bump in the road. Look for him to be in a bottom six role as well, with potential to move into the middle six if he performs above his current expectations.

Look for one of Yurov or Öhgren to get some PP time, the Wild are weak in that department and would love to develop players, as what has been thrown out there the past couple of seasons has not been at the level of production that we all have hoped for.

The most exciting player and potentially franchise altering, Buium is looking to make his NHL regular season debut this fall. He was brought onto the squad right after Denver lost to Western Michigan in the Frozen Four, made his NHL debut in Game 1 of Round 1 vs Vegas on Apr 20, 2025. He looked like he was in the right place,  and the confidence grew as he played more, whether that was using his speed and hockey IQ to burst up the ice carrying the puck from the defensive zone, or finding the correct positioning to disrupt a play elsewhere. Buium adds a much-needed left handed shot to the defense and will most likely see some PP time as well. He is electric and must watch hockey, has won at every single level, and dominated at every level, and the Wild expect that to slowly come to fruition in his rookie year.

Wallstedt is the last player who is expected to be a full-time member as a newcomer, but the hype around him has slowed down. He struggled this past year in the AHL, going 9-14-5, and was outplayed by the other netminder in the rotation, Samuel Hlavaj. This is all to say, like for Yurov, his resume should speak for itself, he didn't gain this highly touted prospect status for no reason, and the core of his game remains the same. He looks to be a full time back up, with some conditioning or extra shots down in the AHL being a possibility, with Cal Petersen coming into the Wild organization.

Fantasy Outlook

Kirill Kaprizov is one of the best players in the league, he has earned that label, and his future contract numbers will reflect that. He will be a top 5 player if he can maintain his health, as he hasn't played a full season since 21/22. He will be 28, in his prime, and hungry to put up some real numbers, as it is a contract year. He is a triple-digit scorer in a full, healthy season, so look for a point total around there, adjusting to how many games he will miss. So, players like Joel Eriksson Ek and Mats Zuccarello can look to have some increased fantasy value this season, just by being on the Kaprizov line.

Matt Boldy is another big contributor to this offense, and a wonderful thing to note is, his production is NOT reliant on Kaprizov, meaning he is safe and will likely produce with or without him. Rossi is going to be another great pickup, on the same tier as Boldy, and is expected to make a jump in production this season as he has some experience established.

The blue line has two notable players in Brock Faber and Buium. Faber is coming off a sophomore slump where he started off well with 20 points in 41 games, then his production fell off of a cliff the second half of the year with just nine points in 37 games.  This can be tied into the fact that Kirill went down last year in January, and the Wild almost fell out of a playoff spot by the time Kirill was back in action. Buium should help with the offense on the back end, his skating and hockey sense should produce in 5v5 play but look for his value to really pop out when he gets some PP time.

Jonas Brodin is entering 2025-26 coming off an upper-body surgery, meaning he is expected to miss at least the beginning of the season. This open spot will be taken by PTO Jack Johnson or Carson Lambos. This elevates Buium's value as long as Brodin is out because the Wild do not have an abundance of LHD depth, so he should see more minutes until the team is healed.

Lambos is not expected to be an integral part of the NHL squad, and his appearance on the NHL roster is not in his control, so I did not include him in the prospects report. He is going to spend a season in the AHL but may see a debut early on because of the Brodin Injury.

For the fantasy grade, the Wild have been the same for the past couple of seasons, dragged down by the dead cap from those terrible Parise and Suter contracts, they finally have the storm cloud clearing out above, and have some young players ready to make an impact, as well as some younger stars who are expected to make a leap in production. The outcome will be dictated by how they can battle injuries, but the outlook is at least better than it has been in previous years.

Fantasy Grade – B+ (last year was a B)

The rest of the Offseason Fantasy Grades series can be viewed here, with a new team added each day.