What Went Wrong: Kaprizov Can't Do It Alone

The Minnesota Wild became the next team to get the boot from the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs, though it didn't look like it was going to be the case. After being shut out on home ice in Game One of their series against the St. Louis Blues, the Wild bounced back with dominant victories in Games Two and Three; the latter taking place in St. Louis. After that, however, things went south big time. Three straight losses--all against Jordan Binnington, who hadn't won a playoff start since June 12, 2019, the very night that the Blues won the Stanley Cup.

For the Wild, this is yet another opening round loss, except for 2020--that was in the Qualifying Round. The Wild haven't won a playoff series since 2015, which was (ironically) against the Blues. They haven't advanced past Round 2 since their wild (no pun intended) and improbable run back in 2003. The Wild made some interesting moves in their quest to improve from last year's seven-game exit at the hands of the Vegas Golden Knights; the biggest one being acquiring Marc-Andre Fleury at the deadline. Despite this, the Wild ended up with a slightly earlier exit than the previous year, and this was despite having home-ice advantage over St. Louis.

I know the who's who of names on that Wild team. Along with Kirill Kaprizov (last year's Calder Trophy winner), there's Jordan Greenway, Ryan Hartman, Kevin Fiala, Matt Dumba, Alex Goligoski, Jared Spurgeon, Kevin Fiala, and Joel Eriksson Ek, among others. But here's the thing: except for Kaprizov, the rest of just names. The Wild scored a total of 16 goals in the six-game series. Kaprizov scored seven of them. The rest of the team scored a grand total of nine. Eriksson Ek was the only other player to score more than once--he had three goals.

Six other players had one goal each, but Hartman (despite being part of Minnesota's top line) wasn't one of them. Plain and simple: Kaprizov was all by himself. His playoff performance was stellar; he more than doubled his point total from 2021, and more than tripled his goal total from that year as well. But in spite of that, no one around Kaprizov did much of anything, and that was one factor that contributed to Minnesota's first round exit.

Here's a weird way to look at this: this is the second straight year that Marc-Andre Fleury caused the Wild to lose in the first round. I'm actually a fan of Fleury, but his last two seasons with the Golden Knights saw their fans put him on a pedestal either as high or possibly higher than Patrick Roy. Vegas fans refused to admit he's human, and as good as Fleury is, he's had human moments in his career. He had some in this series--giving up 15 goals in his five starts, and racking up a 3.04 GAA. The defense, Fleury included, was stellar in their two wins, but they simply didn't keep it up, giving up five goals in each of the three straight losses. Cam Talbot actually started in net for Fleury in Game Six, though I saw that move as Minnesota waving the white flag.

Out of this year's 16 playoff teams, only three of them have never won a Stanley Cup. Already, two of the three are out: the Nashville Predators, and now the Minnesota Wild. The Wild, in my estimation, exposed themselves as a team with much less depth than believed. That team literally revolves around Kaprizov. A player with that much talent needs more depth around him; I've said this regarding Connor McDavid for years. The offseason will tell the tale, but they do face another question: will Fleury return to the team for another year? Fleury does have three Stanley Cups and a load of historic numbers, but one has to believe that The Flower would want a golden chance to hoist the Cup one more time. It may require him leaving Minnesota for a possible contender. If that happens, the Wild might be in trouble in the net.

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