Even a completely subjective list — or lists, in this case — can reinforce an unpleasant truth.
ESPN, for the last several years, has released before the start of the season a list of the top 25 NHL players under the age of 25.
You will find a lot of superstars on the list, and some players whose ascent turned into a decline. You will not, however, find a player from the Minnesota Wild.
In 2015. Or 2016. Or 2017 (SB Nation list, since I couldn't find the ESPN list and perhaps they didn't do one). Or 2018. Or 2019. Or 2020.
Yes, I went back and looked at all of them, prompted by the release of this year's list and the possibility that one might find 24-year-old Kevin Fiala in the mix. He did at least crack the honorable mentions. But not the top 25.
No, to find a Wild player on the list you have to go all the way back to 2014-15 and defenseman Jonas Brodin (then just 21, and cracking the list at No. 23).
The Wild made the playoffs in a lot of those seasons and had some good young players. But their lack of an emerging young star says about as much about the last half-decade of Wild hockey as anything else.
It also speaks to why fans might have a twinge of excitement for this upcoming season — whenever it might start, and whomever Minnesota might play — that has been missing in past years.
