Scoggins: What’s not to like? Highly entertaining Wild unexpectedly sit atop the NHL

The Wild trailed the Canucks 1-0 after one period Tuesday night, but Bill Guerin was upbeat as he navigated the suite level at Xcel Energy Center during intermission.

The Wild’s president of hockey ops didn’t care what the scoreboard showed. He trusted his eyes, and his eyes and gut told him that the Wild were playing the right way and that was good enough.

The payoff came later.

Kirill Kaprizov ended a wildly entertaining overtime with his 16th goal of the season, giving the Wild another win and more evidence that their surprising start to the season is entirely believable.

And the best part? We don’t hear about a certain topic anymore. You know the one: PSB — Parise, Suter buyouts.

“Everything is good when you’re winning,” Guerin said.

Yes it is. And the Wild are proving that success is still possible even with a sizable chunk of dead money on their salary cap, if other factors rise above it.

The Wild awoke Wednesday morning atop the NHL in points. They have the league’s leader in points (Kaprizov) and the league’s leader in goals-against average and save percentage in goal (Filip Gustavsson). Chemistry on and off the ice is impossible to quantify, but the Wild have that in spades, too.

They are, in many ways, copying the Vikings playbook. A team much better than anyone expected or projected.

“I wish I could list everybody because everybody is playing well,” Guerin said. “And they’re playing together. It’s a different brand.”

It’s probably unfair to single out only a few individuals when the sum is responsible for the success. Throw a dart at the roster and it likely will land on a veteran who has rebounded from a subpar season, a young player who is showing growth and improvement or an established player who continues to ascend.

Three pieces to the puzzle stand out as linchpins to the blistering start, though: Kaprizov, coach John Hynes and Gustavsson.

Let’s go in that order.

Kaprizov has graduated from being a star to MVP-worthy. He leads the league in scoring and is elevating the performance of those on the ice with him. When he jumps over the board for a shift, you expect something special to happen. He just looks different this season.

His presence and production give the Wild a chance to win every game. The Wild know they have the best player every night, which is a luxury, especially when they collectively aren’t at their best.

“Kirill is on another level right now,” Guerin said. “I still think last year he wasn’t as healthy as he claimed to be. At the beginning of the year, he was still being bothered by that hamstring. But he’s healthy now. He’s special.”

Hynes is maximizing Kaprizov’s impact by giving him more playing time in different situations. That’s just one mark of Hynes’ deft touch in his first full season after taking over for Dean Evason on the fly last season.

A coach’s tactical impact can be hard to gauge, particularly in a sport in which outcomes often get decided by goofy puck bounces, but if we blame a coach when a team struggles, then we should acknowledge a coach when a team thrives.

The benefit of Hynes’ having a full training camp to implement his system is evident in the Wild’s style of play. They play with structure, which creates cohesion on the ice. The pace is fast, the passing and play-making entertaining, and players up and down the lineup are producing in meaningful ways.

No one embodies the fresh start more than Gustavsson, whose struggles last season made him the target of trade speculation. Now he is reminding us that sometimes the best deals are ones that don’t happen.

Gustavsson ranks third in the NHL in wins (12) and has allowed two or fewer goals in 14 of 19 starts, a league high.

Guerin won’t pretend that he predicted having the best record in the NHL in early December, but he sounded confident in his roster when I chatted with him privately at the prospect development camp in July, which I reminded him about Tuesday night.

“I believe in the players, and I know [Hynes],” he said. “I’m not saying I knew this was going to happen. But I had a good feeling.”

His instincts were right. There is a lot to like about the Wild right now.