ST. PAUL, Minn. — With training camp 10 days in and the Oct. 10 opener fast approaching, mass cuts are on the horizon for the Minnesota Wild.
Judging by Saturday’s practice groups at Xcel Energy Center, the opening-night lineup is becoming clearer.
Coach John Hynes and his staff held two practices in front of hundreds of season ticket holders, splitting the groups into what could be deemed a minor-league/prospect group and the actual NHL group with a handful of extras.
There have been several two-way-contract depth forwards and defensemen who have impressed in camp, including Ben Jones, Travis Boyd, Reese Johnson, Devin Shore, Brendan Gaunce and Adam Raska up front and Joseph Cecconi and Cameron Crotty on the back end.
But in Saturday’s second practice, only Jones was promoted to skate with the Kirill Kaprizovs, Joel Eriksson Eks and Brock Fabers.
Of the entry-level players, only winger Liam Ohgren, defenseman Daemon Hunt and goalie Jesper Wallstedt took part in the NHL practice.
That means, barring injury, it’s likely that players like Boyd, Johnson and Shore will soon be waiver-bound. and it’s looking more and more like Riley Heidt, the 19-year-old who had 117 points for Prince George last season, will soon be returned to his Western Hockey League club rather than start the season with the big club.
Because of Heidt’s age and Canadian Hockey League status, he is not eligible to play this season in Iowa. The Wild could play him up to nine games without burning the first year of his contract and essentially delay a final decision to send him back to major junior, but so far in practices and two exhibition games, Heidt does not look NHL-ready.
Matt Boldy is listed week to week with a lower-body injury sustained one week ago, but he skated on his own for the first time Saturday. Hynes called it a “great sign” and said Boldy should get “several practices” before opening night. That being the case, if all goes well, Boldy could be ready for the opener against Columbus. That is, in fact, what the Wild had indicated Monday when they announced his injury.
The Wild appeared to be cutting a handful of players Saturday. They’re waiting until Sunday to announce those cuts so they’re included with other players expected to be placed on waivers Sunday afternoon. The Iowa Wild begin training camp Monday in Des Moines, so Sunday could be a big cutdown day.
The Wild host the Dallas Stars in an exhibition game on Sunday at 5 p.m. CT. That means some waiver-eligible players who play in the game would likely face being cut after Sunday’s game or in the next few days.
Here is the lineup for tomorrow’s #mnwild game against Dallas at 5:00 p.m. on @kfan plus: pic.twitter.com/RosMY2Ulgk
— Minnesota Wild PR (@mnwildPR) September 28, 2024
So, barring injury, here are the questions heading into the final 10 days of camp.
If Boldy is ready by opening night, does Ohgren make the team?
Ohgren had a so-so start to his first NHL training camp. Hynes met with him before Friday’s 8-5 win against Winnipeg because he felt like what he was seeing was paralysis by analysis. In other words, Ohgren was thinking way too much about playing the system so perfectly that he wasn’t “just playing” the game and looked slow in everything he was doing.
Ohgren said he simplified against the Jets and was rewarded with a goal playing on a line with Joel Eriksson Ek and Yakov Trenin.
However, because Jakub Lauko has all but cemented himself in the opening-night lineup on the fourth line, if Ohgren is going to be the 13th forward, it would probably make more sense for him to start the season in Iowa. Unless the Wild are going to do something unforeseen like put Marcus Johansson on waivers or find a taker and convince him to waive his no-trade clause, there’s just no room in the top 12. Plus, if Wallstedt makes the team and the Wild decide to keep a depth player like Jones, the Wild don’t even have the cap space at least in the early days of the season to keep Ohgren.
So, if Boldy is healthy to start the year, our guess right now is that Ohgren will start in Iowa.
Could Ben Jones be the 13th forward?
Yes.
If the Wild choose to keep an extra forward out of camp or want to recall a 13th forward for the seven-game road trip after their initial two home games, Jones looks like he’s the leading contender.
He’s the only Wild player to skate in all three exhibition games and is slated to play his fourth against Dallas. He scored a short-handed breakaway goal, his second goal of the preseason, Friday night against the Jets.
Ben Jones shorthanded goal. Marat Khusnutdinov with the assist #mnwild pic.twitter.com/UnheDwdSFh
— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) September 28, 2024
The 25-year-old, who was taken 189th in the inaugural Vegas Golden Knights draft in 2017, has two NHL games for the Golden Knights under his belt. In 283 AHL games with Calgary, Henderson and Chicago he has scored 72 goals and 161 points.
Jones revealed Friday night that he nearly signed with the Wild before the Flames as a free agent a few years ago.
“I’ve just kinda been taking every day by day, take it kinda one step at a time, and see what each day brings — see if I’m going to be able to play another game, and just bring what I bring and try and be a Swiss Army knife for this team and help wherever I can,” Jones said.
So what has he done to differentiate himself?
“I think a lot of the guys have played well in those depth roles,” Hynes said. “’Jonesy’ has played well. He’s a versatile player, as well, too. So, we’ve tried him a little bit at center during the games. He shows he’s a good penalty killer. With some of those players, whether it’s Jones or other guys, you’re sometimes playing them on the right side, left side, look at them in the middle, see what they can do on the penalty kill, see what they look like with different players, and he’s been solid.
“He’s made an impact in every game. He’s been noticeable, and that’s why he gets looks but there’s going to be other guys in the game on Sunday, too.”
Still, Hynes did concede that Jones being in the main group Saturday is a sign that he’s at the top of the heap of the depth guys.
“It was difficult to be honest,” Hynes said. “I think Shore has played really well. Gaunce has played well. They’ve been in the conversation. ‘Boyder’ has done a good job. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to see Reese Johnson much (due to an upper-body injury), but I would say up front those guys were kind of all in the mix. But we went with ‘Jonesy’ today and obviously Ohgren. So, we’ll see how everyone does (Sunday).”
Could Daemon Hunt make the team out of camp?
Yes, but unless the Wild can trade Jon Merrill or plan to put him on waivers, he’ll start in Iowa.
But he is close.
While it may seem like a no-brainer to put Merrill on waivers now because the Wild could bury everything but $50,000 of his $1.2 million (meaning a $321,667 cap savings because he’d be replaced by Hunt’s $828,333 cap hit), if Hunt’s just going to be the seventh defenseman to start the season behind the third pair of Declan Chisholm and Zach Bogosian, the Wild may be a little more patient and start Hunt in the minors so the youngster plays games rather than sitting in an NHL press box.
That would also buy Bill Guerin more time to try to trade Merrill before going the waiver route.
But Hunt, 22, who played his first 12 NHL games last year, looks NHL-ready.
“I think Huntsy’s taken that next step in his development where he got some games last year, learned some things, played really well down the stretch for Iowa, has come back to this camp and he looks more mature,” Hynes said. “He looks physically able to handle the battles, skating looks good, more confident I think in himself and his decisions.
“So, yeah, he’s right there. That’s really good to see. That’s what you want. You want to have younger players that develop and get the experiences he got last year and put a lot of hard work in the summer and take the lessons but also you can kind of see when they know they belong and they play that way. That’s kind of when you’re like, ‘Alright, they’re pretty close if not ready.’”
Will Wallstedt make the team?
If he doesn’t, it’ll just be because the Wild know they’re not playing him in either of the first two games against Columbus and Seattle and want to accrue a little bit of cap space.
But it wouldn’t be long before he’s recalled to make his season debut perhaps in St. Louis during the fourth game of the season. The Wild also will likely want him on a good chunk of that opening seven-game road trip. There are so many off nights on that trip, including two in Florida and three in Pittsburgh, that the Wild would probably want him to be part of it from a bonding perspective.
The Wild plan to carry three goalies a lot of the year and will be strategic when they send him down. If they do, it would be cap-hit or schedule-related, whether that be in Minnesota or Iowa.
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Wallstedt, 21, will make his second and likely final start of training camp Sunday after making 36 saves in last Saturday’s preseason win at Winnipeg.
(Photo of Wild’s Daemon Hunt and Jesper Wallstedt and Winnipeg’s Nikita Chibrikov: James Carey Lauder / Imagn Images)
