After an offseason spent mulling over a rare missed postseason, the Minnesota Wild are on the eve of the new season.

The Wild open the 2024-25 campaign at home Thursday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets. It will be the first game behind the Blue Jackets bench for former Wild head coach Dean Evason.

Click the video box to watch interviews with head coach John Hynes along with Wild players Jared Spurgeon, Marcus Foligno and Matt Boldy

Having missed the playoffs for the first time in five years and just the second time in 12 years, the Wild hope to shake a recent trend of slow starts the last couple seasons.

They’ll have to do it playing mostly away from the Xcel Energy Center. After opening Thursday against Columbus the Wild have Seattle at the “X” on Saturday, but they won’t be back on home ice again until November.

After the two-game homestand, they hit the road for a marathon road trip that has them playing seven away games in a span of sixteen days at Winnipeg, St. Louis, Columbus, defending Cup champions Florida, Tampa Bay, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.