Yakov Trenin parlays ‘tough to play against’ reputation into four-year deal with Wild

This isn’t the first time Kirill Kaprizov and Yakov Trenin have gone from opponents to teammates.

Although their hometowns in Russia are more than 1,000 miles apart, Kaprizov and Trenin are the same age, and their hockey teams would face off against each other in a tournament at least once a year. One time, Kaprizov joined Trenin’s side for a handful of games.

“When he was younger, he scored a lot of goals,” Kaprizov said. “I remember because he was bigger than a lot of players and skating, put shoulder, and just go in the net and score goals.”

All these years later, Trenin can still be counted on for offense — the most fun the forward has is when he scores — but the Wild made him the lone free-agent addition to their roster because of the rest of his repertoire.

Trenin is a puck magnet who the Wild are expecting to help repair their leaky penalty kill and decrease their time on defense, key upgrades they’re looking to make starting Thursday against Columbus at Xcel Energy Center.

“He knows exactly what he is, and he plays to that identity,” coach John Hynes said. “He knows what his job is.”

A life-changing decision was what helped shape Trenin into the player he is today, but he’s had some of his trademark characteristics since he was a child.

His mom Elena had a friend whose dad was a hockey player and after going to games, Elena decided if she ever had sons she’d put them in hockey. She had three boys, “but it only work out with me,” Trenin said.

In skates at 3 years old, Trenin used to get around the ice with a box.

“I always liked to run around and hit somebody else’s box, and they fall,” he said. “So, I already back in the day was physical.”

During drills, Trenin learned to lift the opposition’s stick like Pavel Datsyuk famously did to steal pucks.

Back then, Trenin was a top scorer, but he left Russia when he was 17 to have a better chance at getting drafted to the NHL.

“Him moving to Canada was kind of the turning point for him,” said Renat Mamashev, Trenin’s agent.

With Gatineau in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League, Trenin acquired the habits that translate to the pro style: He learned how to be effective in the defensive zone while also upping his physicality.

“The rink was so small” compared to Russia, Trenin said, that, “you just have to use your body more often.”

His transition to Gatineau, which included trying to learn English from a teacher who couldn’t speak Russian, was a success.

At the draft in 2015 following his first season with Gatineau, Trenin was selected in the second round by Nashville.

When he went to Milwaukee to suit up for the Predators’ minor-league affiliate, Trenin continued to mature. He became a full-timer in the NHL during the pandemic-shortened season while Hynes coached Nashville, tallied a career-high 17 goals in 2021-22 and reached 12 goals in each of his last two campaigns; Colorado traded for the 27-year-old ahead of the playoffs last season.

“He’s got such a good hockey sense,” said Frederick Gaudreau, who played with Trenin when they were both with Milwaukee. “He’s got sneaky skills. He makes the pass that not a lot of players can make, and he’s so big and strong so he creates space for himself. He’s a competitor.”

This tough-to-play against reputation is also what enticed the Wild to sign Trenin to a four-year, $14 million contract on July 1.

The 6-foot-2, 201-pound Trenin’s tenacity shows up especially on the penalty kill, which the Wild have revamped after going an abysmal 74.5% to rank third-to-last in the NHL. Trenin’s strategy is to pressure the power play into a mistake, and he uses his stick to patrol as much of the area around him as he can.

Last season, Trenin was on the ice for only around 25% of the power play goals given up by the Predators and Avalanche while he was with each team. He’s also top-10 in the league in shorthanded takeaways since 2022-23, and his knack for changing possession could also help the Wild at 5-on-5.

“It always makes me feel good when we have O-zone shift and we close the opposite team for like 40 seconds to a 1:30 and played whole shift in O-zone,” said Trenin, who has been skating at wing alongside Marcus Foligno and Ryan Hartman. “Maybe we didn’t create high-danger chance, but we get the puck, we pass to the ‘D,’ shot, we got the puck again, they get tired, double-shift. We change, put fresh bodies.

“It still makes me feel good, and they can build on that shift for next shift.”

Playing more offense than defense, killing off penalties and just being a handful to match up against were challenges for the Wild, but they brought someone in who specializes in all those areas.

And Trenin knows his role.

“I see pretty good vision,” he said, “of what I can bring to this team.”