Wilderness Walk: First loss is the deepest

That’s Wild

• Ouch. We came into last night’s Minnesota Wild season opener with a sense of optimism around this lineup and roster...and they proceeded to get thumped out of their own arena by a score of 7-3. Matt Boldy is a home highlight, but everything else kind of stunk. [Hockey Wilderness]
• In case you wanted to re-center yourself to that time where the Wild still had all 82 games ahead of them and the sky was the limit. We have our 2022-23 Minnesota Wild Season Preview here. [Hockey Wilderness]
• One player whose name will certainly be in more headlines through the season is Matt Dumba. But for another reason, he is pissed off heading into this season after watching a commercial. [Hockey Wilderness]
• Matt Boldy, the team-first guy.

• In pretty much every season preview done by one of the premier Stat Heads in hockey — HockeyViz’s Micah Blake McCurdy, The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn, and Evolving Hockey’s Josh and Luke Younggren — the Wild were predicted to be at least the second seed in the Central and always one of the best teams in the league. Why is that? Is it something about the above-average depth this roster has? Maybe just some normal goaltending after a shaky year? Well, they were asked about their models. [10K Rinks]

Off the trail...

• John Tortorella is certainly going to make the Philadelphia Flyers’ season interesting, and most of that will be because of what he says and does outside of the games. Just before their first puck was dropped, Tortorella was asked if he found anything that the team is good at, or an identity they have. The head coach said “no.” [Broad Street Hockey]
• Colorado Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon opens up about his path to being a Stanley Cup champion. [ESPN]