Wild’s Freddy Gaudreau finding his typical game

Freddy Gaudreau’s rough 2023-24 season might have been an anomaly.

He had been rock solid in two full seasons with the Wild, and before that — when he was playing fewer games with Nashville and Pittsburgh — the veteran was sound defensively.

Gaudreau had 33 goals among 82 points and was plus-22 in a combined 158 games in his first two seasons in Minnesota, leading general manager Bill Guerin to sign the versatile forward to a five-year extension worth $2.1 million a year. But last year, the versatile forward fell on hard times, five goals, 15 points and a minus-23 in 67 games.

It was an outlier statistically, and Gaudreau’s play early this season suggests he has found whatever was missing last season.

Gaudreau scored two goals in the Wild’s 5-3 victory in Pittsburgh Tuesday night, his first of the season. But even when he’s not on the scoresheet — he has three points in nine games and is a plus-3 while playing wing and center on the bottom two lines — he has been a reliably smart and tenacious contributor to Minnesota’s 6-1-2 start.

“My focus is not on (the scoresheet). I’ve always said that,” Gaudreau said after Tuesday’s game. “I think we built up a pretty solid game lately in the past games. I take a lot of pride in that and doing the little details and being a line that can change momentum here and there and build momentum in their zone and I think we’ve done that.

“Of course, there’s always pressure with statistics. Some people look at that. It’s fun when it comes, but I’m 10 times more happy that we got the win than anything else.”

Gaudreau started the season playing wing on the fourth line with Jakub Lauko and Marat Khusnutdinov but moved to center when third-line center Ryan Hartman was sidelined by an upper body injury. Before a 5-1 victory at Florida last week, he was moved to third-line center with Marcus Foligno and Yakov Trenin.

“I thought his game was trending in the right direction, and we were trying to find a good combo.” head coach John Hynes said. “We were working with Trenny and Moose a little bit on their game, and then I just think Freddy with the two big guys going through there. He’s been great on breakouts. Good center support.

“I think he can bring the puck up to help get those guys up and out of the zone, and then I just think his smarts to play with those two guys helps his ability to score.”

Hartman has been skating in Minnesota but it’s unclear when he’ll return. When he returns, Hynes will have decisions to make, one of which might be whether to send Ohgren — 0 points, minus-2 in seven games — to Iowa. Ohgren, 20, has played only three AHL games and doesn’t need to pass through waivers.

Gaudreau has looked particularly in tune with Foligno — like Gaudreau, a dedicated checker with the skill to score — but he has been productive with everyone he’s played with this season.

“The thing I probably like the most about his game, even versus last year, (is) there’s speed,” Hynes said. “I think his competitiveness in puck battles is there, and it seems like it’s been a good fit and that (third) line has come up big the last couple nights.”

Thriller

Kirill Kaprizov already owns the two best scoring seasons in Wild history, with 47 goals and 108 points in 2021-22 and 46 goals and 96 points last year. But Kirill the Thrill is on an even better pace this year.

With a goal and two assists Tuesday in Pittsburgh, the left wing has five goals and 13 assists in nine games, a new franchise record. That’s two more points than Marian Gaborik had when he went 5-11—16 in his first 12 games of the 2005-06 season.

Of Kaprizov’s assists, 10 are the first, and his assist on Mats Zuccarello’s goal Tuesday was a perfect example of why. Kaprizov corralled a loss puck in the right circle and without looking, tapped it diagonally to the crease, where he knew Zuccarello would be. His goal made it 4-2.

Kaprizov, Hynes said, “Is really feeling it. He’s on it. He’s playing the game the right way. He’s executing when he needs to execute. It’s fun to see. … The competitiveness stands out every night, but the ability to make plays, and make plays you don’t think can happen, is pretty special.”

Briefly

The Wild’s 5-1-1 road record is the NHL’s best, and it was all accomplished during a seven-game run that started Sept. 20 in Winnipeg. “We all said coming in this was going to be a big road trip for us,” Hynes said. “The guys really buckled in, played the right way, and found ways to win games.” … Forward Graeme Clarke cleared waivers and was assigned to Iowa.