Wild head to break in NHL action with second-most points in the league

A new franchise goals leader, playoff positioning and the NHL trade deadline.

The Wild will have the next three weeks off for the Olympics, but they’ll have plenty to keep them busy when they’re back in action.

Their first order of business could be Kirill Kaprizov passing Marian Gaborik to become the Wild’s record-holder for goals scored. The star winger went into the break two goals shy of Gaborik’s 219 after Kaprizov netted seven over his past seven games.

“It’s both ways,” Kaprizov said when asked if he was mad he had to stop playing or happy to get the rest. “I hope [I] come back [from the] break and feel better. I don’t know how many games left before playoffs, 20-something, right? Yeah, be ready for playoffs. I don’t know. We’ll see. You never know [if] it’s better or it’s not better.

“Sometimes when it’s going, you just want to play every night, every second night. Just keep playing. But we’ll see.”

Kaprizov, 28, chatted with Gaborik earlier this season when Gaborik was in St. Paul to attend the team’s 25th anniversary celebration on Oct. 28 vs. Winnipeg.

“It was fun because I remember when I was a kid I watched,” said Kaprizov, complimenting Gaborik’s speed and shot. “I saw how he played for the national team and other teams.”

“He was out last year with a surgery and came back scoring right away,” goaltender Filip Gustavsson said. “So, Kirill’s Kirill, and he’s just gonna keep scoring.”

Leading up to the break was Kaprizov’s most productive goal stretch of the season: Before his seven-game tear, he had one goal in nine games and three over his previous 16.

“There [were] spots earlier in the year where it wasn’t going in for him, and then I think as he was starting to get rolling a little bit, there was a couple games prior to that where he could’ve had several multi-point games, and the puck didn’t go in for him,” coach John Hynes said. “[But] he continued to play the right way, he continued to compete. I like the fact that he’s shooting the puck now. He’s driving on offense. He’s scoring in different ways and when you have that type of talent and the competitor that he is, that’s what you want to be to.”

This recent uptick from Kaprizov has coincided with a 6-0-1 run by the Wild, who went into the Olympic break second in the NHL and on a five-game win streak after a 6-5 overtime victory at Nashville.

Their 78 points are the franchise’s second-highest through 58 games. The Wild are behind only Colorado (by five points) and have a one-point lead over Dallas; the Central Division’s top three teams are also first through third in the NHL. That means there’s room for only one to advance to the Western Conference final because of the NHL’s division-based playoff format, and the race will be on to solidify seeding.

The Wild (34-14-10) are a whopping 14 points clear of fourth-place Utah in the Central, but they should still feel urgency during the final 24 games of the regular season.

This is the most talented roster the Wild have had in their 25 seasons, led by Kaprizov, Boldy and new defenseman Quinn Hughes. They’re set in net with Gustavsson and Jesper Wallstedt, Brock Faber is having a career year and their power play has the potential to look like a video game.

But the organization hasn’t won a first-round playoff series since 2015, and the Wild will probably face their toughest playoff matchup in recent memory despite how high up they are in the standings.

That’s why the March 6 trade deadline will be key for them: It’s their last chance to bring in help to finally move past Round 1.

It’ll be a challenge for them to top the magnitude of acquiring Hughes, who has legitimized the Wild as a contender with his unique playmaking style after the team traded Zeev Buium, Liam Ohgren, Marco Rossi and a first-round draft pick to Vancouver for the superstar. But more scoring, perhaps up the middle, isn’t a bad idea; the Olympic roster freeze ends Feb. 22.

The Wild can open their facility to players on Feb. 17, and the coaching staff has already worked out a practice plan for those in attendance. Marc-Andre Fleury, who’s already been practicing with the Wild in retirement, is expected to help in net with Gustavsson and Wallstedt at the Olympics for Sweden, and assistant Jack Capuano will be in charge while Hynes is with Team USA.

Hynes met with all the Wild players going to the Olympics to discuss how they’ll reintegrate with the team based on how far they make it in the tournament.

The gold medal final at the Olympics is Feb. 22, and the Wild’s season resumes at Colorado on Feb. 26.

“Playing best-on-best hockey in big moments, whether it goes great or whether you win it all and you did it or if you don’t play as well or lose a game, it’s always something to learn from,” said Faber, who is Olympics bound for Team USA. “It’s playoff-style hockey there. You can’t really afford to have an off-night, and I think that describes playoffs perfectly. So, it’s always something to learn from playing on big stages and big moments to bring back to your home team.