Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1479454
espite the most uneventful offsea- son in Wild history, one that included the trading of an 85-point player and their No. 1 goalie of the past two seasons and the signing of to this point absolutely nobody, the Wild are still confident they'll be just as good if not better than their franchise-best 113-point, 2021-22 campaign. " We're bringing back the same team outside of Kevin (Fiala)," Wild general manager Bill Guerin said before also trading goalie Cam Talbot. "So, we can get better than we were last year. We didn't win (in the playoffs) last year, but we had a heck of a year. W hy not? W hy can't we win? Hey, look, maybe I'm a fool, but that 's just the way I think." Still, the loss of Fiala and Talbot are big and can't be discounted with just a bunch of f lippant words. The Wild could not afford to re-sign Fiala after his 85-point season, which was the second-best single season in Wild history— only second-best because Kirill Kaprizov also scored a franchise-record 108 points last season. So they traded Fiala to the Los Angeles Kings for University of Minnesota junior defenseman Brock Faber and a first- round pick. Those f utures w ill be good for the, well, f uture, but that doesn't help now. A nd the rea lit y is the Wild didn't do a single thing to replace Fia la's vast output from a year ago. They 'll be bank ing on interna l Russo's Rants by Michael Russo D Photo / Getty Images: Scott Rovak, Dave Sandford Wild hope to reload from within and shore up special teams for 2022-23 M H J ON L I N E . C O M | O C T O B E R 2 0 2 2 26 GM Bill Guerin has a loaded prospect pool. FORWARD FRANCHISE