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Russo's Rants PL AYERS TO WATCH Kaprizov : A fter a geo-political night- mare that caused the Wild to go behind the scenes, get him to Turkey and over to the United States five weeks earlier than expected, Kaprizov will attempt to clear his mind and encore his franchise-record 47-goal, 108-point season. Rossi: Turning 21 just before training camp, the Wild saved a spot for him but made clear all offseason that he'll have to "earn a job." But with Fiala gone, the Wild are clearly hoping Rossi can come in, regain the chemistry he had with Boldy before he was called up last January and progress this season into a Calder Trophy candidate. Rossi is a driven kid, worked exhaustively all summer and plans to come to came and snag that open spot. Dumba: Dumba's name has been cir- cling the trade wins for years, but this is the season the Wild will have to make a long-term decision with the veteran defenseman. He is entering the final year of his contract, so do you extend him at significantly less than his $6 million a year salary if he'd accept such a pay cut, trade him by the deadline or risk losing him for nothing as a free agent nex t summer. The Wild are loaded w ith blue line prospects (Faber, Addison, Carson Lambos, Ryan O'Rourke, Daemon Hunt, Jack Pear t, Ryan Hea ley and Simon Johansson), so it would seem the pr udent thing to do would be to cut ties w ith Dumba at some point in the near f uture. Other w ise, the Wild would just be block ing one of those defensemen out. Fleur y : Now that the Wild can't go with a Fleury-Talbot 50-50 split, the Wild will need the soon-to-be 38-year-old to play the majority of games. He went 9-2 in the regular season after being acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks last season, but in the playoffs, he struggled with a 2-3 record, 3.04 goals-against average and .906 save percentage. With the lost offense from Fiala, the Wild need better defensive play and goaltending next season. Russo's predicted leading goal scorer: Kirill Kaprizov Russo's predicted leading scorer: Kirill Kaprizov Ready to break out: Matt Boldy ROOKIES TO WATCH: Rossi: With 39 goa ls and 120 points in 56 games in 2019-20 for the Ottawa 67s, Rossi became the first European in histor y to lead the OHL in scoring and the first European to lead the entire Canadian Hockey Leag ue in scoring since A lex Radulov (152 points) in 2005- 06. He led the OHL w ith 81 assists and a plus-69 and was the second European impor t in OHL histor y to be named M V P. His 2.14 points per game ranked second in the CHL behind 2020 No. 1 overa ll pick, A lexis La freniere (2.15), who played in the Quebec Leag ue for R imousk i. He then established an Iowa Wild rook ie record w ith 53 points in 63 games last season a f ter missing a year of hockey because of a hear t condition. Addison: Undersized yet fun to watch, offensive defenseman has played 18 regular-season games, including 15 last season, and three playoff games. The 22-year-old is poised and confident and could make the team out of camp if Merrill isn't ready from offseason surgery after getting injured his first shift at the world championships. WHAT MUST HAPPEN FOR THE WILD TO MAKE THE PL AYOFFS: Improve specia l tea ms. The rea lit y is the Wild's unraveling last season was because of a n abysma l pow wer play a nd pena lt y k ill that ha ndicapped them a ll season a nd trick led rig ht into the play- of fs. The Wild coaching sta f f spent the of fseason ma k ing strateg ic cha nges to their systems on specia l tea ms a nd pla n sig nif ica nt personnel cha nges. Michael Russo writes for The Athletic. He's entering his 18th season covering the Wild and 28th covering the National Hockey League. He co-hosts the Worst Seats in the House podcast on talknorth.com and Straight From The Source podcast for The Athletic. Both podcasts can be heard wherever you get your podcasts. Russo can be heard weekly on KFAN (100.3-FM) and seen throughout the hockey season on Bally Sports North and the NHL Network. Follow Russo on Twitter and Instagram at @RussoHockey. To subscribe to The Athletic at a discount, go to theathletic.com/straightfromthesource. P R E S E N T E D B Y Special teams and team defense will need to improve for the Wild to make a deep playoff run. 30 M H J ON L I N E . C O M | O C T O B E R 2 0 2 2 Matt Boldy has elite vision and puck skills. Photos / Joe Puetz and Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images