John Hynes must develop the Wilds' identity in 2024-2025 – Minnesota Wild

When the Minnesota Wild take the ice for the 2024-2025 season, it will be the team's first full season under John Hynes. Unlike last year, when Dean Evason started the season as head coach, Bill Guerin and Hynes will have the opportunity to completely rebuild the team and tailor it to Hynes' image.

That makeover is crucial for Minnesota, a team that many feel lost its identity last year. If the Wild are to bounce back next year, it will be essential for Hynes to develop a new trademark style. Hynes has spoken about how important a team's identity can be to its success.

A case of lost identity

For most of teams' existence, the Wild favored low-event games that they won on defense. Since 2013/14, the Wild have placed in the top half of the league with a total goals against eight times. The 2023-2024 season was their worst defensive season. They conceded 248 goals, good for 20th in the league.

The Wilds' lack of defensive prowess had some obvious contributing factors. Two of the team's key defensemen, Jonas Brodin and Jared Spurgeon, missed time due to injuries. The goalkeepers didn't play great either. Filip Gustavsson (-.11 GAA better than expected) and Marc-Andre Fleury (-.30 GAA better than expected) conceded more goals than expectedgiven the quality of the opportunities they received. The penalty kill was particularly poor, ranking 30th in the NHL.

Last year, the Wild were an oft-injured club with poor special teams, an aging roster and a few bright young stars. That's not an identity, at least not a winning one. Minnesota's lack of distinctive style has fans and media concerned, and the team recognized it. The Athletics had multiple quotes from exit interview day that tell us where the Wild failed last year, but a few stand out as particularly crucial.

I've always said over the years how much I hated playing against us, Ryan Hartman said. And this year, I don't know if I could have said the same.

Marcus Foligno echoed those sentiments and added fuel to the fire.

“I just felt like we didn't have that energy,” Foligno said. That was usually not the case in previous seasons. I just felt like this year when it came to being down one or two goals, I felt like we were feeling a little sorry for ourselves.

John Hynes provides clues for Minnesota's new approach

Hynes' first order of business as the Wild's new head coach should be developing a new brand of Wild hockey. Hockey personalities tend to offer deliberately vague quotes. However, we can gather clues as to how Hynes has discussed his team this preseason. Look no further than Hynes emphasizing the importance of playing for his desired identity after an exhibition game with the Winnipeg Jets.

Some key qualities include playing directly, getting out of their own zone and being quick on the attack. These are desirable qualities that coaches value, but Hynes has specifically emphasized these virtues several times. He also praised Jakub Lauko for playing a fast and tough game.

If you compare Hynes' comments to his coaching history, you can see how the Wild will likely play. Minnesota will look to strengthen its structures and play a simplified, aggressive, low-event game. Low-event was the name of Hynes' game during previous stops in Nashville and New Jersey. Hynes wants the team to play direct, simple and hard points towards the Wild and adopt a similar style. He seems to be putting more emphasis on speed than in previous stops, but fast doesn't necessarily equate to eventful hockey.

Are the Wild equipped for a new look?

It's clear Hynes wants the Wild to play a game based on speed, effort, responsibility and physicality. Whether Minnesota can live up to that task remains to be seen.

At first glance, the Wild may struggle to play a physical game. Hockey fans and front offices often equate physicality with a great team. The Savages are not. They ranked last in average player weight last season and will only gradually rise to 29th place this year.

However, size isn't the only factor when playing a tough game. The Florida Panthers are only incrementally bigger than the Wild, and teams fear them because of their style of play. To play tough, a club needs player buy-in and defensive responsibility that allows the team to make classic proverbial sandpaper plays.

Minnesota has its defense locked down for the season. It's a part of the team that Bill Guerin has invested a lot in. Brock Faber will be another year older and hopefully improve in his second season. Jonas Brodin and Jared Spurgeon will start the season healthy and hopefully it will stay that way. The Wild defense is also a very balanced unit. Faber does a little bit of everything, Spurgeon and Brodin are responsible defensively, and Zach Bogosian and Jake Middleton are classic powerhouses.

Looking at the forward group, Minnesota seems prepared to play the John Hynes game. The team will welcome a number of new faces this year who should contribute to a culture change. Marat Khusnutdinov will have every opportunity to make an impact this season. Despite his small stature, he plays a raw style.

Signing Yakov Trenin doesn't do much for the Wilds' depth scoring, but it does provide the team with a penalty kill specialist who plays hard and fast. Jakub Lauko is another new player who is suited to playing tough against fungi. Lauko has impressed many in the preseason, including John Hynes, as a player who fits the way the Wild want to play.

It may differ from the answer some Wild fans want to hear. With exciting players like Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy, it's easy to want the team to be a high-flying offensive juggernaut. That probably won't work for Minnesota, at least not yet. When prospects like Danila Yurov and Zeev Buium jump to the NHL, a skills-based approach may make more sense.

For now, the team is much better equipped to play a low-event style that plays a hard, responsible and opportunistic style. Fortunately, this is a methodology that John Hynes implements regularly. If the Wild want to be a successful team in 2024-2025, it will be because they return to the team that plays hard against hockey at a low level, while still giving their stars the freedom to shine. It's an identity the team lost last season and one they'll need to re-cultivate moving forward.