Post by Minnesota Wild on Jul 16, 2024 20:23:13 GMT -6
Welcome to the eleventh edition of Wild Times
The Wild saw themselves in a precarious position in the 2023-2024 regular season, a season they started with high expectations but quickly became riddled with frustration as the losses piled on week by week. Multiple seasons now, in sequence of not meeting expectations finally broke the Wild's back and forced GM Eric Wolf to catapult the team into a rebuild.
"Since the inagural season, we have genuinely tried to build a contender in order to compete year after year. But as each season passed, it became evident to our management team that the current blueprint of our roster, our expected trajectory, was not coming to fruition. We worked hard every summer in order to try and produce a contending roster, but no matter what we did, it wasn't transitioning onto the ice." Wolf admitted.
A long hard look in the mirror prolonged the Wild throughout the 2023-2024 season when finally, they knew, it was time to rebuild.
But why did it take them so long to realize?
Well in the first 41 games of the 2023-2024 season the Wild boasted a record of 24-13-4. A record where, any team would assume their recipe was successful and they were destined for the playoffs.
But then disaster struck, and the wheels flew off. Some might say it was by design, but a fall off of this magnitude, one may claim the universe was working against the Wild.
In their final 41 games, the Wild went 8-28-5.
That's right. 24 wins in their first 41 games, only 8 wins in their final 41. This is the biggest collapse and fall off of any PFHL record to date.
And it was enough for the Wild to shift gears.
"It's insane to me how much our play changed in the end of the year. Our roster stayed the same, we just couldn't win games anymore. It was bizarre, because we went into the season with the highest ranked OV of any team in the PFHL. Yet, somehow, the chemistry evaporated and we fell to 6th worst in the league." Wolf argued.
At any rate, the bottom line is, the chemistry just isn't there.
Management completely blew up the team, trading away anyone not named Mackinnon, Seider, and Oettinger, whom the Wild want to build the new era around. "Those three players are the core of this team moving forward. They aren't leaving. But it's clear we need to build an entire new team surrounding them."
Entering the off-season and the 2024-2025 season, the Minnesota Wild are officially rebuilding, and they are off to a good start as they have a total of 12 1st round draft picks in the next 3 years, and one of them being the 6th overall pick in the 2024 draft.
"This is a new era for the Wild." Wolf admitted. "We are going to rebuild this team from the ground up, starting with this summer, and do it properly this time."
Expect the Wild to hum in the background as they accumulate picks and prospects over the next couple seasons. "Our plan is to rebuild for the next couple years, considering the generational prospects entering the upcoming drafts shortly. We'll make another run at competing in the 2026-2027 season."
