Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1030244
career-high 33 goals last season, and defenseman Matt Dumba, who scored double-digit goals for a third straight season, to five-year contracts. What makes the Wild optimistic despite returning the same team? First of all, Ryan Suter, who had season-ending ankle surgery in April, has declared himself good to go for training camp and should again be the stalwart of the league's second-highest scoring blue line of last season. Zach Parise, who broke his sternum in the playoffs, expects to start the way he finished. From March 1-April 3, Parise scored 12 goals and had a goal in each of the first three games of the playoffs. Nino Niederreiter and Charlie Coyle are healthy. Both were ravaged by injuries last season and Niederreiter especially looks to bounce back after slipping to 18 goals after three consecutive 20-goal seasons. Eric Staal's coming off an awe- some 42-goal, 76-point season and goalie Devan Dubnyk, since debuting for the Wild on Jan. 15, 2015, leads the NHL with 231 games played and 20 shutouts, is tied for first with a .923 save per- centage, is second with 134 wins and second with a 2.26 goals- against average. So, ma k ing the playof fs should still occur if the team remains hea lthy. A s for getting over the hump when it counts? That 's another stor y because this largely same core just hasn't gotten it done in the spring time. Fenton will be watching and analyzing and trying to identify P R E S E N T E D B Y Russo's Rants M H J ON L I N E . C O M | O C T O B E R 2 0 1 8 28 THE LINEUP PROJECTED FORWARDS LINES: Jason Zucker–Eric Staal– Mikael Granlund Zach Parise–Mikko Koivu– Charlie Coyle/Nino Niederreiter Jordan Greenway–Joel Eriksson Ek–Nino Niederreiter/ Charlie Coyle Marcus Foligno–Eric Fehr– J.T. Brown Extra: Matt Hendricks PROJECTED DEFENSE PAIRS: Ryan Suter–Jared Spurgeon Jonas Brodin–Matt Dumba Nick Seeler–Greg Pateryn Extras: Nate Prosser, Gustav Olofsson PROJECTED GOALIES: Devan Dubnyk Alex Stalock Third goalie: Andrew Hammond "I think our defense is as good as any team in the league right now. And when you've got good defense and good goaltending, I think you're going to win." – Bruce Boudreau