Written by Scott on Wednesday, July 22nd, 2020
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The final series of the opening round of the playoffs that we will cover is the Minnesota Wild vs the Vancouver Canucks.
For this article we will discuss the series, tell you who we think will win it and how many games we think it will take. I originally wasn’t looking forward to this series but once I looked deeper into it and saw how close they were in the standings and he players involved I’m actually starting to see the potential of this series
Wild vs Canucks Series Prediction
The Wild played in 69 games and went 35-27-7 for 77 points and ended up in 6th place in the Central Division. The Canucks played in 69 games and went 36-27-6 for 78 points and finished in 4th place in the Pacific Division.
This is a series where it’s a team built with veterans vs a team built with youngsters.
The Wild’s offense is led by Kevin Fiala, Eric Staal and Zach Parise. For depth the also have Mikko Koivu, Mats Zuccarello, Luke Kunin and Joel Eriksson Ek. It’s an okay group of forwards and one thing they do have that the Canucks don’t is experience in the postseason.
On defense the team is led by Ryan Suter who despite his advanced age can still play crazy minutes each night. Behind him they have Matt Dumba, Jared Spurgeon and Brad Hunt. If Suter comes back to earth and can’t play 30 minutes a night in the opening round then the Wild are in trouble.
In goal the Wild began the season with Devan Dubnyk but he was outplayed by Alex Stalock. Stalock will be the starter for the opening round but he will have a short leash so if he struggles Dubnyk will be summoned quickly.
The Canucks offense is led by JT Miller, Elias Pettersson, Bo Horvat, Brock Boeser, Tanner Pearson and Tyler Toffoli. They have depth players too with Jake Virtanen, Brandon Sutter and Loui Eriksson. Having that many players capable of putting up numbers will help the Canucks in this opening round.
In defense it’s the Quinn Hughes show. He is incredible and is still a rookie. Behind him they Canucks have some veterans who will help. Tyler Myers, Jordie Benn, Chris Tanev and Alex Edler give the Canucks plenty of depth at the defensive position.
In goal they have a great goalie with Jacob Markstrom. He is the teams unquestioned number 1 goalie who had the best season of his career. Thatcher Demko would be his backup. He has lots of potential but not much experience.
The Canucks are the better and deeper team at each position. They lack the postseason experience the Wild have but most of the Wild players with experience are 35 or older and I’m not sure how much they have left in the tank. I think the youth of the Canucks will carry them to the next round.
Canucks in 4 games.
You can bet this series currently at:
Canada: Bovada, BetOnline...
Everyone Else: 888 Sports, BetOnline..
