The NHL's 2025-26 season is nearly here, and here at THN.com's Sabres site, we've been examining every one of the Buffalo Sabres' opponents next year. Earlier, we looked at the Atlantic Division's seven teams, followed by the Metropolitan Division's eight teams, and now, we're four teams deep in the highly-competitive Central Division.
Earlier this week, we analyzed the Central Division's Chicago Blackhawks, Colorado Avalanche, and Dallas Stars. And in today's file, we're shifting the spotlight onto one of the Central's five playoff teams last year — the Minnesota Wild.
The Wild do have superstar winger Kirill Kaprizov, star winger Matt Boldy, star defenseman Brock Faber, and stellar goalie Filip Gustavsson as a strong core. And as we'xe explore below, Minnesota is going to be tough for the Sabres to knock off in their two games next season. Let's get to it:
BUFFALO SABRES VS. MINNESOTA WILD
NEW WILD PLAYERS: Vladimir Tarasenko, RW; Nico Sturm, LW; Nicolas Aube-Kubel, RW;
2024-25 SERIES: Sabres 0-2-0, Wild 2-0-0
2025-26 GAMES AGAINST EACH OTHER: November 29 at Minnesota; January 17 at Buffalo
CAN THE SABRES BEAT THIS TEAM? The story of the Sabres and Wild last year is a sad story from Buffalo's perspective, as Minnesota shut out the Sabres 1-0 in Game 1 in late November, then lost again to the Wild 4-1 in late March. Needless to say, Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson was dominant against Buffalo, turning aside 59 Sabres shots combined in the Wild's two wins.
With that said, we're still not entirely sold on the blueprint of Minnesota GM Bill Guerin. He's finally free of the hard parts of the Ryan Suter/Zach Parise buyouts, and Guerin has about $9.4-million in salary cap space. But some of that money needs to go to young center Marco Rossi, who is one of the last prominent young NHLers still in need of a contract for next season.
Still, in our opinion, there are significant questions about this Wild team. Part of the team feels really creaky, as eight of 12 Minnesota forwards this year are 30 years or older. And there's a reason why Vladimir Tarasenko was available from the Detroit Red Wings — his play has taken a step backward, with no guarantee he'll ever reverse that direction.
Similarly, on defense, while Faber and veteran Jonas Brodin are two elite players, there's not nearly the depth filling out the final four spots on 'D' that we'd like to see. Veteran Jared Spurgeon will be 36 years old in November, and youngsters Zeev Buium and David Jiricek are 19 years old and 21 years old respectively. There are too many "what if?s" with this group of blueliners.
But who knows — maybe Guerin's vision does pan out in terms of a deep Stanley Cup playoff run. Stranger things have happened. However, if it comes to pass the way that skeptics feel about the Wild, Minnesota's lack of improvement may cause the Wild to slip further down the Central Division ranks, out of the playoff picture altogether. And if that happens, Guerin's game plan will be heavily criticised.
All of this is to say that the Wild team Buffalo plays against this coming season is going to be desperate to win wherever and however they can. And given that the Sabres did not play well against Minnesota last year, there needs to be a sense of urgency from Buffalo that pushes them to at least split the series.
Playing Minnesota twice by late January is a positive for the Sabres. Were their games played after the trade deadline, Guerin may have spent his considerable cap space by adding veteran talent, and Buffalo's playoff dreams may have been in serious trouble. By playing the Wild early, the Sabres can get a jump on a Minnesota team that still may be searching for its identity.
In any case, the Sabres should have every motivation to beat the Wild next year. Another year of losing both games against Minnesota would be a problem for Buffalo management that values each and every standings point available to them. The Sabres need to assert themselves to teams across the league, and doing something like sweeping the Wild this year would send a bold message to Buffalo's opponents.
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