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P R E S E N T E D B Y Russo's Rants up just yet. " We understand and know each other more, but to me, it was really important because he's had so many differ- ent experiences and he's been with some different teams now and he's won two Cups," Hynes said. "Like, what makes him tick? Where's he at? I think he's in a good spot. And I learned a lot about him as a person." Yurov: Speaking of Tarasenko, Yurov broke Tarasenko's Under-21 KHL scoring records two years ago and comes to Minnesota full of promise after being drafted in the first round in 2022. But the jury's out if he's a future No. 1 center, top-six forward, middle-six forward or what. Plus, could the Wild slow play him? He's excited to get going and start this new chapter of his career, but with Eriksson Ek, Rossi, Hartman and Sturm penciled in as the top- four centers, Yurov will have to beat some- body out in camp, perhaps play well enough to force Hartman to slide over to wing or maybe start at wing himself. "I think it's probably too early to tell where he will be," Hynes said. "He could come in and he could look like he's ready. I've had situations where, like, a Nico Hischier or a Jesper Bratt (in New Jersey) came in and you weren't sure. And all of a sudden you can tell in training camp, like, they're pretty much ready. Other times you might look at it and you could see it's there, but maybe it's not fully cooked yet. Some of that will determine where he plays. Is he ready to play center? Maybe he's ready to play center and he's ready to be an impact player right away. If he's not, maybe he's ready to play, but maybe it's not at center right away. Maybe it's at wing. I think long-term, it's a center. So I'm excited to see him. I've heard great things about him, but there is a lot of unknown there just as far as the readiness coming from Russia to North America." Buium: In Minnesota since July 27, the 2024 first-round pick added 20 pounds of muscle in the offseason and could get a real good opportunity to start the season because Brodin is supposed to miss a couple weeks due to offseason surgery. Buium is a true power-play quarterback and likely will start on the top unit with Kaprizov, Boldy, Eriksson Ek and Mats Zuccarello. If that's the case, Brock Faber or Jared Spurgeon would run the second unit. But Buium, a true winner at the collegiate (national title at University of Denver) and international level (two world junior golds) is still a teen- ager, so there could be growing pains. Russo's predicted leading goal scorer: Kaprizov. Russo's predicted leading scorer: Kaprizov. WHAT MUST HAPPEN FOR THE WILD TO MAKE THE PLAYOFFS: Stay healthy. Yeah, that's obvious, but we saw how good the Wild could be last year when healthy and how bad they can be when inundated by injuries, especially to their best player, Kaprizov, who missed half the year. But if Kaprizov and Eriksson Ek can stay in the lineup, this should be a no-brainer playoff team. Now, will they win a round? We'll believe it when we see it. Michael Russo writes for The Athletic. This is his 21st season covering the Wild and 31st covering the National Hockey League after previously covering the Florida Panthers. He co-hosts the Worst Seats in the House podcast on talknorth.com, which 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 NHL Network. Follow Russo on X and Instagram at @RussoHockey and Facebook at /michael- russohockey. To subscribe to The Athletic, go to nytimes.com/athletic/author/michael- russo and click any article for a discount. M H J ON L I N E . C O M | O C T O B E R 2 0 2 5 30 After signing a three-year, $15 million extension this offseason, Marco Rossi looks to build on his 60-point sophomore campaign. Photos / Zach Siegert/ZW Photography Marco Rossi Jared Spurgeon