This feels very much like a season in which Chuck Fletcher is on trial as the longtime GM of the Minnesota Wild.
A thoughtful and cerebral hockey man, Fletcher has been at the helm since May 2009, and his team has made the playoffs four straight years. Hardly an indictment for any GM when you consider how tough it is to make the playoffs in this era of so much parity in the league.
But the first-round exit last season was a step backward in some people's eyes.
Ownership has spent to the salary cap for years. This is a hockey-crazy market that wants a Stanley Cup run.
In one of his most important decisions with the club, Fletcher hired Bruce Boudreau as head coach this offseason in what I believe was a brilliant move.
Yes, the narrative is well established about Boudreau's playoff hiccups. But that also overlooks the manner in which he turned around both the Washington Capitals and Anaheim Ducks during his previous coaching tenures and transformed them into division-winning juggernauts.
The task is daunting, however, in a crazy competitive Central Division in which the Winnipeg Jets and Nashville Predators look to have improved, while contenders in the Chicago Blackhawks, St. Louis Blues and Dallas Stars aren't going away.
Can Boudreau work his magic?
Best new faces
The biggest addition is July 1 unrestricted free-agent signing Eric Staal, who no doubt enters this season ultramotivated to show people he's not done as an elite center. His numbers have certainly regressed the past few years, and his short tenure with the New York Rangers last season after a trade-deadline deal with the Carolina Hurricanes wasn't very impressive.
Staal turns 32 on Oct. 29 and feels there's much hockey left in him. He signed a three-year, $10.5 million deal with the Wild and intends to show that was a bargain. He will likely begin the season on the No. 1 line between Zach Parise and Charlie Coyle, so Boudreau is giving him every opportunity to succeed.
The Wild also added veteran winger Chris Stewart (whom Boudreau had in Anaheim), No. 3 goalie Alex Stalock and depth defenseman Victor Bartley.
Thomas Vanek was bought out and signed with the Detroit Red Wings, so aside from Staal, the same Wild core returns.
Biggest unknowns
See Staal above. Whether he can bounce back and deliver an impact, No. 1-center-type season will go a long way toward writing the script.
Is this the season Mikael Granlund takes it to another level? He put up 44 points (13-31) last season in 82 games, which is below what I think his potential should be delivering. At 24, perhaps this is the season he takes that step. He's got the hands to do it and a coach who encourages offensive talent to shine.
Whatever happened to Jonas Brodin? His play has regressed since he was one of the game's most promising young defensemen. He's only 23, so there's plenty of time to recapture that form, but this season he needs to prove he can be a consistent force on the blue line. We didn't see that enough last season.
Sure things
Defenseman Ryan Suter, that's for sure. He was an absolute two-way stud last season, second only to Erik Karlsson in ice time per game, and for my money should have received more Norris Trophy consideration, at least in terms of being in top-five consideration (he finished eighth in the voting). Suter doesn't take a game off. He's a horse on that Wild blue line, and I don't expect that to change this season.
Another sure thing is that Boudreau will improve the Wild's special teams. The Ducks were first in the NHL in both the power play and penalty kill last season, which is unheard of! You can bet the Wild's 27th-ranked penalty kill will definitely improve, while the team's 18th-ranked power play has a chance to get better under the offensive-minded Boudreau.
Prediction
The Wild took the last wild-card spot in the Western Conference from the fifth-place spot in the Central, and I think they'll be in that mix again. To me, it's going to be a coin flip between the Jets and Wild for that fifth-place spot in the Central, which could be a wild-card spot as well. Sixth in the Central.