After missing the playoffs for the first time since 2018-19’ last season, the Minnesota Wild have a number of things to fix going into 2024-25. Their special teams, goaltending, offense, nearly every area of their game needs some help. While they missed the postseason due to the entire team effort all season, they need certain players to step up this season.
These players are veterans who can reach new levels or struggled a bit last season and must be better next season. Many players on the roster can improve their game before this season, but these players stand out specifically as ones who have to have an impact on the team. We’ll start with Marcus Foligno and move on to his next linemate.
Foligno Needs More Offense
The main issue with Foligno is being healthy for the whole season, but after that, it’s his offense. Looking at his career, he hasn’t been a big scorer but more of a consistent 20-point player, which is exactly what he’s done in the past two seasons. However, in 2021-22, he proved he could be a 20-goal player and not just a 20-point player, and the Wild desperately need that Foligno back.
The Wild were in the bottom half of the league when it came to goals, and although Foligno isn’t the only player they need to score more goals, he could definitely help their offense. The first thing he’ll have to do in order to score more is take more shots. He threw plenty of hits and led the team in that area once again, but if he could take a few more shots, that would also help.
Everyone knows his main priority is throwing big hits but he’s shown he can score goals and as he gets older, his body won’t be able to take those hits so he should shift a little more to scoring. It’ll be a little easier on his body and he won’t miss as many games with injuries if he backs off on the big hits and make his career last.
Hartman Has to Be Better
Ryan Hartman was one player everyone talked about who needed to be better throughout the season. He played in 74 games last season and tallied 21 goals plus 24 assists which equaled 45 points. That’s a decent number of points but like Foligno, he has the ability to score more points. He bounced around on all four lines last season and if he’s going to remain on the top line, he needs to produce more.
Hartman has had great success on the top line in the past, but then it stopped. If he wants to get his top spot back, he needs to score more goals or help his linemates score more goals. The top…
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