The Minnesota Wild open up their 2026-2027 campaign tonight. It’s a road affair in Nashville against Central Division rival, the Nashville Panthers.
We already know that Minnesota will be without defenseman Brock Faber after his surgery to help repair a fractured skull. The scary injury is expected to keep him out “indefinitely,” meaning that we’re not going to be seeing him for a while. His D-partner, Quinn Hughes, also remains without an extension.
The Wild also have a revamped lineup after the departures of long-time skaters like Jacob Middleton, Mats Zuccarello, and Marcus Johnasson, just to name a few. The lines come from Heather Rule of NHL.com.
Kaprizov-Yurov-Shabanov
Coleman-Eriksson Ek-Boldy
Trenin-Brink-Hartman
M. Foligno-McCarron-N. Foligno
Sturm
Hughes-Spurgeon
Maatta-Brodin
Hunt-Bogosian
Spacek
Jesper Wallstedt is believed to be in net, with Calvin Pickard as the relief goalie. Filip Gustavsson remains sidelined for a while at the start of the season while recovering from offseason hip surgery.
The sad part of all of this is that a lot of in-state Minnesota Wild fans might not be able to watch the game without paying up.
Minnesota Wild Still Awaiting Deal to Broadcast Games on Xfinity and DirecTV In-State
The report comes via Will Ragatz of Bring Me the Sports, who shared the latest on Thursday morning. He noted that as of this morning, “the Wild have not announced deals for their new Wild+ channel with either Comcast/Xfinity or DirecTV.” Ragatz does note that “every indication” is that it will eventually happen.
However, we’re starting to fly a little close to the sun. Puck drops at 7 PM CT tonight, and as of this publication at around noon CT, there’s still no deal. If there is no deal reached soon, then subscribers of those networks would have to pay up to watch their Wild.
A subscription to Wild+ comes through Amazon Prime Video, costing $20/month or $99 up-front for the season. Ragatz helpfully pointed out that there is a 7-day free trial offered, which could get fans past the waiting period. The networks are surely making this a priority, as it’s quite dumb to have millions within the “State of Hockey” not be able to watch hockey.
Out-of-State Wild Fans Can Breathe a Sigh of Relief
Perhaps it’s a bit unfair, but if you’re an out-of-state fan, then you’ve actually got it pretty easy.
Out-of-market fans can simply watch the game by subscribing to ESPN+, the way it’s been for years. Also, in case you didn’t know, if you have YouTube TV, ESPN Unlimited now comes free with every single YouTube TV plan if you link your accounts.
Weirdly enough, it’s the hardest it’s ever been to be an in-market fan, and the easiest it’s ever been to be an out-of-market fan.
Minnesota Wild Fans Get Annoying Update Ahead of Season-Opener