The 2014-15 Minnesota Wild: X-Factors

Photo: Brace Hemmelgarn/USA Today

Here's a little rundown of the five players who the Wild need to be impactful for them to have success in 2014-15. They are in no particular order.

The 2014-15 Minnesota Wild: Goaltenders

Photo: Andy King/Reuters

Last year, the line for Minnesota's goaltenders was "just good enough is no longer acceptable". Well, they were just that. They were beyond good enough. They were great. Minnesota used five goalies in the 2013-14 season and all five played a role in helping the Wild reach the postseason for a consecutive season.

Preseason Game Four & Lineup Thoughts

Photo: Brace Hemmelgarn/USA Today

In last night's fourth preseason game, Minnesota edged Pittsburgh 4-1. Jason Pominville netted a hat trick, Darcy Kuemper made 32 saves, and Ilya Bryzgalov was killing time by taking selfies with fans on the bench. Onto the notes...

Thoughts on Kuemper & Niederreiter

Nino Niederreiter (top middle) and Darcy Kuemper (Bottom middle) are still without contracts.
Photo: Duane Burleson/AP

This week reports surfaced that Darcy Kuemper could go play in the KHL if his contract dispute with the Wild is not settled. As Mike Russo has said on multiple occasions the Wild and Kuemper's agent, Jeff Helperl, have not had a great history as they went toe to toe in negotiations on Kuemper's entry level contract.

Top 10 Prospects: #2 Darcy Kuemper

Darcy Kuemper

Goaltender

Catches: Left

Height: 6'5". Weight: 205 lbs.

Born: May 5, 1990

2013-14 Team: Iowa Wild (AHL), Minnesota Wild (NHL)

Acquired: 6th round pick (161st overall) in 2009 NHL Entry Draft

Previous Rank: 5

As noted back in June, no one player had more to do with turning the Wild's season around in January than Darcy Kuemper did. His 2.15 GAA and .932 save percentage in January was just what the Wild needed as they battled injuries to key players, and helped the team earn some much needed victories.

Will Darcy Kuemper Defect To The KHL?

Yesterday, Bob McKenzie of TSN reported that Darcy Kuemper could be looking at KHL options if he and the Wild can't come to agree on a deal in the near future.

2013-14 Season In Review: Darcy Kuemper

Photo: Anne-Marie Sorvin/USA Today

If any one player had more to do with saving the Wild season, it was Darcy Kuemper. Lets look back at his 2013-14 campaign.

Once Again

Darcy Kuemper is back as the Wild's number one goaltender. Photo: Mark Humphrey/AP

Once again, the fate of the 2013-14 Minnesota Wild season, is now on the shoulders of 23 year old goaltender Darcy Kuemper.

Minnesota Wild 2014 Regular Season Awards

More wrap-up of the regular season continues today, as we hand out some hardware for the Wild's 2013-14 regular season. This year, we finally got some names for these various awards, honoring the past Wild players who excelled in these particular categories.

Without further ado, here are the winners:

Regular Season Wrap-Up

As we gear up for the playoffs on Thursday, lets take a look back at the Wild finest individual and team moments from the 2013-14 regular season.

Team Record: 43-27-12, 98 Points (2nd best record in franchise history)
Standings: 4th in Central Division, 7th in Western Conference

Time To Roll With Bryzgalov

Photo: Bruce Kluckhohn/Getty Images

Darcy Kuemper, you have done an outstanding job getting the Wild this far. At the age of 23. you showed great skill and poise as the number one goaltender for the Minnesota Wild since early January. You basically carrying the Wild on your back through January and February will not be long forgotten when we come to the end of the regular season.

February Wrapup

It was a Olympic shortened month for the Wild which only saw them play five games. Even though there werent that many games, we still will take a look back at the month of February.

3 on 3: Trading For A Goaltender

A rare sight in 2013-14: Josh Harding and Niklas Backstrom. Photo: Ann Heisenfelt/AP

With the trade deadline rapidly approaching, there has been a lot of talk about the possibility of the Wild trading for a goaltender for the season's final month and a half. So let's dust off the three on three and take a look at the good and the bad about acquiring a new netminder.

A Refresher

Photo: Sherri LaRose-Chiglo/Pioneer Press

The Olympics are over. The NHL returns tonight. There is a slight feel like this is a second opening night, due to the disconnect we experienced from the Olympic break.

But now that the NHL is returning, lets take a little refresher course on the Wild, as they get set to begin the stretch run.

January Wrapup

A look back at the rather cold month of January in the State of Hockey:

Team Record: 9-4-1 in January, 29-21-6 overall
Standings: 4th in Central Division, 7th in Western Conference

Gameday Thoughts

Photo: Ann Heisenfelt/AP

Wild host the Blackhawks tonight at 7 PM. Since I have about 1,000 (slight exaggeration) thoughts right now, lets get on with it.

A Boost of Confidence

Darcy Kuemper has come up big for the Wild lately. Photo: Mark Humphrey/AP

Earlier in the year, we talked about how Darcy Kuemper needed to be left in the AHL to gain some much needed experience. At the time, Kuemper had been struggling at both the AHL and NHL level. It was just for the better that he stay in the AHL for a while. The Wild even looked at the possibility of signing a third goalie so Kuemper could stay down in Iowa.

A Total Team Effort

Different faces have stepped up for the Wild in 2014. Photo: Hannah Foslien/Getty Images

Lets go back in time two weeks ago. The Wild played abysmal hockey against the St. Louis Blues at home in a 2-0 defeat. They closed out the year on a six game losing streak, lost several key players to injury (Zach Parise, Josh Harding, Jared Spurgeon and Mikko Koivu), and it appeared that Mike Yeo would be the next coach in the NHL to lose his job.

Thoughts From Hollywood

Somehow, the Wild got two points last night. Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea/USA Today Sports

Though last night was one of the more lopsided games in terms of puck possession by any team this year. And yet, it was one of those nights where the score was far from the story of the game.

Leave Darcy Kuemper Alone

-NHL.com

In a back to back series in Buffalo and Toronto to open up the season, Mike Yeo thought it best to start two goalies in the two games instead of just one (like he did several times last year). Josh Harding took the Monday night start in Buffalo, leaving last night's game with Toronto for young netminder Darcy Kuemper.