Sixty days have passed since the Dallas Stars eliminated the Minnesota Wild from the playoffs and another 107 days must pass before the Wild play in a meaningful game again. That’s a sparkly way of setting the table for point of this story: The Wild open the 2023-24 regular season Oct. 12 at home against the Florida Panthers.
A date with the Eastern Conference champs who lost to the Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup Final will embark the Wild on its annual 82-game journey. Here are some other key games and dates to keep in mind.
- Oct. 14: First trip to Toronto
- Oct. 17: First trip to Montreal
- Oct. 24: Conor McDavid and Edmonton come to MN
- Nov. 12: First meeting with Dallas in MN
- Nov. 24: Black Friday in St. Paul against Colorado
- Dec. 31: New Year’s Eve at home against Winnipeg
- Feb. 3: All-Star Game in Toronto
- Feb. 12: First meeting with Vegas
An interesting stretch comes Nov. 2-9 when the Wild play four games against New York/New Jersey teams. The stretch starts with home games against the Devils and Rangers before the Wild fly to New York for games against the Islanders and Rangers.
Following that stretch will be two games in Stockholm, Sweden as part of the NHL Global Series. Minnesota faces Ottawa on Nov. 18 and then takes on Toronto on Nov. 19. Because of a significant time change, the games will actually start at 10 a.m. and 7 a.m. Central Time, respectively.
The Wild better rack up points early and often because if they’re on the playoff bubble in April it gets tough with five of the final six games on the road against Chicago, Colorado, Vegas, San Jose and Los Angeles. The season finale is April 18 at home against Seattle.
