Earlier in the summer, we went over how the Canucks stack up against their seven Pacific Division rivals. Check out those previews below:

– Vegas Golden Knights
– Los Angeles Kings
– Edmonton Oilers
– Calgary Flames
– Anaheim Ducks
– Seattle Kraken
– San Jose Sharks

In this mini-series, we’ll be covering the Rest of the West…but not every team. After taking a step back last season, the Canucks are more competing with the teams competing for the Wild Card, rather than the top or bottom of the division.

With that in mind, we’ll kick this off by diving into the…

The Minnesota Wild were one of the hottest teams out of the gate. The Wild won 18 of their first 26 contests and sat in the top spot of the NHL standings on December 6. However, injuries to Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek, Mats Zuccarello and Jared Spurgeon derailed their season and dropped them to a Wild Card spot. They managed to put up a fight in their first-round series against the Vegas Golden Knights – leading the series 2-1 – but would drop the series in six games.

This offseason, the Wild had a lot of money to spend, but got unlucky in the market. They were reportedly interested in bringing a pair of Minnesota natives home, Brock Nelson and Brock Boeser, but lost them as both players re-signed with their clubs. Minnesota managed to make some additions up front, sending the always valuable future considerations to the Detroit Red Wings in exchange for Vladimir Tarasenko, the day before free agency. As well as signing Nico Sturm once free agency opened, and signed 2022 first-round pick Danila Yurov to an entry-level contract earlier in the Spring.

However, the biggest story surrounding the Wild this offseason has been the status of restricted free agent Marco Rossi.

We recently covered the latest updates on Rossi, but to summarize, there two sides have not spoken since June. The Wild were not impressed with the trade packages they received pre-draft, and now the two sides are in a stalemate. Usually what happens in situations like these, is the player ends up re-signing on a bridge deal over them getting the long-term deal they’re in search of. Their future from there remains to be seen. So hey, maybe there’s still a backdoors chance that the Canucks can still acquire him.

According to Daily Faceoff, here are the Wild’s projected lines for next season:

This top-six is scary. Last season, we saw Kirill Kaprizov take his game to the next level. Throughout his first 10 games of his season, Kaprizov had eight multi-point games, with three of those eight scoring three points. His next-level play continued throughout the first two months of the season, leading the entire NHL in scoring on December 6 – when the Wild cooled off – with 42 points. Had an late December injury not limit him to just seven more games last season, we could be talking about Kaprizov as the reigning Hart Trophy winner.

While Kaprizov was out, Matt Boldy put the team on his back and kept the Wild afloat. He put up a career-high in points (73), and proved to this team that he’s more than a passenger on this team. Rossi also broke out, improving by 20 points and finishing with 24 goals and 60 points. Joel Eriksson Ek proved he could be a number one centre in the league, and remains one of the most underrated defensive centreman in the league. It will also be interesting to see what young-studs Ohgren and Yurov can do in their first full season in the NHL.

If you couldn’t tell, the Wild have the substantial edge over the Canucks up front.

On defence, there may be no steadier defenceman in the league than Brock Faber. The 22-year-old blueliner continues to prove that he’s a top pairing two-way defenceman. Zeev Buium will look to make his impact in his rookie season, but like the rest of the teams in this mini-series, the Canucks still come out on top when comparing defence corps. However, this is a defence corps that can compete with Vancouver.

In net, Filip Gustavsson proved he can be a number one goalie in this league. Finishing with a 31-19-6 record, a 2.56 goals against average and a .914 save percentage with five shutouts, Gustavsson can certainly go toe-to-toe with either goalie the Canucks throw out there. Not to mention up-and-coming star goaltender Jesper Wallstedt will look to make a name for himself in his rookie campaign. While he does project to be something special in the NHL, you’d have to give the Canucks the advantage with their tandem.

Looking into last season, the Canucks finished seven points behind the Wild. Minnesota had seven more wins and seven more points than Vancouver last season.

Head-to-head, Minnesota took the season series 2-1. Each matchup was a low-scoring contest, with the Wild winning both contests 3-2 in overtime, while the Canucks won 3-1, despite being outshot 38-19.

If you couldn’t tell, this author is high on the Wild next season. They looked like one of the more dangerous teams out of the gate in 2024-2025, and had injuries not derailed their season, they could have finished higher than the top Wild Card spot. As if Kaprizov wasn’t already scary enough, but he is heading into a contract year, and will have extra motivation to up his game even further than last season. The Canucks should be able to keep some games close, but we might be talking about the Wild competing more for the division title rather than competing with the Canucks for the Wild Card.

Saturday, November 1 @ Xcel Energy Center

Saturday, December 6 @ Rogers Arena

Thursday, April 2 @ Xcel Energy Center

What do you think, Canucks fans? How do you think the Canucks stack up against the Minnesota Wild? Let us know in the comments below!