Neal: Wild appear positioned to pull off a rare combo and win and grow at the same time

After speaking with members of the local hockey cognoscenti over the past few weeks, the consensus is that the Wild are a playoff team.

If they stay healthy.

If veterans like Marcus Foligno, Marcus Johansson, Frederick Gaudreau and Ryan Hartman can raise their games a tad.

If the goaltending improves.

If the penalty kill stops killing them.

That’s a lot of ifs. If ifs were fifths, it would be quite a party.

Let’s turn some of these ifs into absolutes. Trust me here. After all, I predicted in March that the Twins would win the div ... ah, let’s skip that one.

But the Wild are, indeed, playoff-caliber as they complete the first week of the 2024 season. They have a top-15 player in Kirill Kaprizov. The blue line is deeper. They hired Yakov Trenin as the penalty-kill repairman.

This healthy — before Joel Eriksson Ek left Saturday’s game with an apparent upper-body injury — stronger and improving team will finish higher than sixth in the Central Division and will bring postseason hockey back to the Xcel Energy Center following a year’s absence.

Look at how the roster is trending. During the offseason, the Wild signed defenseman Brock Faber, who is 22 years old, to an eight-year contract extension. At the end of training camp they opted to carry 21-year-old goalie Jesper Wallstedt on the roster when possible, joining veterans Marc-Andre Fleury and Filip Gustavsson. During opening night on Thursday, 23-year old forward Matt Boldy announced the beginning of his season with authority, tallying a goal and two assists.

The Wild are going to thrive because their core of young players won’t just show up, they will show off.

They faced Seattle on Saturday with six players 23 and under. Some, like Boldy and Faber, already are operating at a high level while others aren’t as far along but are still good enough to contribute to the cause.

Some of that was evident on Saturday despite the Wild losing 5-4 to Seattle in a shootout. Boldy scored another goal and delivered a highlight reel-level assist to Hartman for a third-period score. Faber had an assist. Marco Rossi had two assists.

Talent, production and upside is a tantalizing combination. President of Hockey Operations Bill Guerin has picked the veterans he feels are the right mentors to help with development while winning games. Kaprizov is the superstar, but the Wild will be successful because of the mix.

Boldy reported to camp, by all accounts, in fantastic shape and looks capable of a 40-goal season. He surged after John Hynes replaced Dean Evason as head coach during last season and has wasted no time picking up where he left off.

Faber made a compelling case for the Calder Trophy last season but couldn’t catch up with the Connor Bedard express. He’s playing a key role on the power play. A 50-assist season is not out of the question.

Rossi raised his game last season and finished with 40 points. Imagine what he could do if he improves this season as much as he did a season ago.

Center Marat Khusnutdinov and winger Liam Ohgren showed their potential when brought in late last season and earned their roster spots in camp, although Khusnutdinov struggled some.

And, hopefully, the Wild give Wallstedt the playing time he needs, coming off a strong preseason. A three-headed monster in goal seems difficult to navigate, and Walldstedt likely will start a chunk of games for Iowa.

But Fleury or Gustavsson better not slump during the season, because the Great Wall of St. Paul is just about ready. Any veteran, for that matter, could be bumped in favor someone younger who is outplaying them.

“Always,” forward Hartman said. “As much as we are a team we are always competing with each other in practice. And that’s veteran to veteran, rookie to rookie, veteran to rookie, rookie to veteran. We want nothing but success. I hope every guy in this room scores 50 goals, but that’s not possible.”

Kaprizov can meet the 50-goal challenge. Boldy can score 40. Rossi can score 30. And Faber can lead an improved defense and power play.

Winning while developing is hard to do. The Wild will make it work as they return to the postseason.