The Minnesota Wild's Kids Are Going To Play

Have you ever gotten exactly what you wanted? Like, exactly the thing you were wanting. No substitutes, no disappointments, just the exact thing you want.

It's not a feeling I'm super familiar with, particularly as a sports fan. Maybe it'd be different if I rooted for the Los Angeles Dodgers or something. But from my standpoint, it feels like being left wanting more is a constant state of fandom. It's not even limited to big things like playoff disappointments. Maybe that feeling comes out when you want a player to be just 5% better or when lamenting what might have been if not for a star's early-career injury.

Or, if you're me watching the Minnesota Wild last year, a team not handling a lost situation exactly how you'd want them to. Despite being an obvious non-contender, Minnesota didn't play the bulk of their prospects until Game 79 in the season -- until they were technically eliminated. And even then, that just meant a couple of starts for Jesper Wallstedt and Liam Öhgren.

We get it, there wasn't much of a pro prospect pool from which to draw. Other than Wallstedt, what was there? Daemon Hunt didn't blow the doors off in 12 NHL games. 2021 first-rounder Carson Lambos struggled as a rookie in Iowa. Marat Khusnutdinov and Öhgren needed to complete their regular seasons overseas.

But this year? We're going to get exactly what we want. The only question is: Do we really want it?

Yes, the Wild's initial training camp lines didn't show much room for the youths. Marat Khusnutdinov was the only member of our Top-10 Prospects list on the team's four forward lines... who centered the fourth line.

Make no mistake, though, the kids are gonna play. They pretty much have to. Minnesota left themselves little alternative this offseason.

The Wild's salary cap outlook dictated that their improvements must be internal. There wasn't the money to bring in a big-money player, so they poured the few resources they had into Yakov Trenin's $3.5 million AAV. That's why Minnesota's top two lines saw some very familiar configurations: Kirill Kaprizov with Ryan Hartman and Mats Zuccarello on the top line and Marcus Johansson reuniting with Matt Boldy and Joel Eriksson Ek on the second.

But as we've already seen, injuries will take a toll on that. Boldy is now week-to-week with a lower-body injury. While he's expected to be available for Opening Night, it's still instructive. Players get hurt, and as we saw last year, they underperform. Opportunities open up. 

There aren't a whole lot of NHL veterans waiting to fill top-six shoes in St. Paul. Despite rumors that the Wild were hot on him, Patrik Laine isn't walking through that door. Unless an injury frees up some LTIR cap space, they won't make any big trades to get some offensive juice. 

That leaves Öhgren, starting his first full season in North America, to be a player competing for that kind of role. Marat Khusnutdinov should get to jump up the lineup should an opportunity open up. Riley Heidt, a 19-year-old 15 months removed from his draft day, even has a realistic shot at making the team out of training camp. 

It's not just that Minnesota could hypothetically have one of their prospects take a top-six role. They're practically begging someone to do so. A team doesn't pursue a defensive liability like Laine because it thinks its scoring doesn't need an upgrade. The most likely way to get it now is if Öhgren and/or Heidt are ready to step into the NHL like Wyatt Johnston did for the Dallas Stars two years ago.

As for options, so many more young kids are available to Minnesota this year than last season. Wallstedt (our No. 1 Prospect), Öhgren (No. 4), Heidt (No. 5), Khusnutdinov (No. 6), Hunt (No. 8), and Lambos (No. 10) put more than half of their top names at their disposal. Beyond that, forwards like Caedan Bankier and defensemen like Jack Peart and David Spacek could play their way into a role.

It'll be new, and it'll be novel, but will it be better? That's what we're going to find out. We wanted to see the future for such a long time, and this season will force Minnesota to throw at least a few of these guys in the pool without water wings. If they thrive right away, great, they were ready. Or perhaps they were witches. But more likely, they were ready. 

If not, though? We should also be prepared for that. There's no safety net when playing the kids is your first (or close to first) option. No veterans will come up from Iowa to stop the bleeding if the prospects flop as the first line of defense. As a fan and prospect nerd, seeing these players will be exciting. However, there's also a chance I'll have to confront the feeling that I should have been careful about what I wished for.