ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Wild, always second to none when it comes to media relations, has built a work room 12 feet from the ice at TRIA Rink so reporters have a place to settle down and write before, during and after practice can.

It even comes with a coffee maker, which as we all know is the most important thing to keep a hockey writer hydrated.

On Monday, long after the reporters had finished interviewing coach John Hynes and had “worked the room,” I took the elevator up five floors from the locker room so I could transcribe Jesper Wallstedt and write a quick story about how Wallstedt and Liam Ohgren made it as a team.

As the elevator door opened, I heard the unmistakable sound of pucks being shot off the ice. I walked down the hallway and turned the corner, and there were Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy still on the ice, shooting, passing, and challenging each other in made-up contests while laughing.

I looked at my watch and it was 12:45 p.m. Hynes had spoken at noon, so they were still out there 45 minutes after practice ended.

Make no mistake, many Wild players take overtime. But seeing the team’s superstar still standing on the ice long after practice, working on his craft, alongside teammate Hynes and boss Bill Guerin, who they believe is on the verge of stardom, was the perfect scene for the end of training camp and the start of the season starting Thursday night against Columbus.

Because if the Wild want to return to the playoffs and have a long playoff run, Kaprizov and Boldy must have big years ahead of them.

And here we begin this year’s list of bold predictions: They will.

Kaprizov scores 50 goals and 100 points

The Wild are preparing to offer “Dollar Bill Kirill” 12 or 13 million of them a year, and this season he’s going to show everyone 12 or 13 million reasons why.

If he gets off to a good start, 50 goals and 100 points might be the most conservative of my predictions. A notorious slow starter, Kaprizov didn’t really get going until Hynes’ arrival in late November last season, still scoring 46 goals and 96 points in 75 games.

40 of those goals came in 56 games under Hynes – the fifth-most goals in the NHL as of November 28th.

The 27-year-old Kaprizov has looked sensational throughout camp and is in exceptional shape, perhaps the best I have seen since he arrived on site in January 2021.

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Boldy scored 40 goals and 80 points

When Hynes talks about Boldy, he brims with excitement. It’s easy to see why: Hynes was the bold whisperer.

Remember, when Dean Evason was fired last season, Boldy had scored one goal in 12 games. Hynes came in and Boldy scored in his first win, scoring 28 goals and 61 points in 63 games (a pace of 36 goals and 79 points in 82 games).

Then Hynes coached Boldy at the World Cup, and the American right winger led the tournament with 14 points in eight games.

Boldy hasn’t played any friendly matches due to a lower-body injury he sustained in his third session of training camp, so he’ll likely need some time to get used to it initially.

But the 23-year-old seems primed and ready for a breakthrough.

Rossi and Faber each get 60 points

Speaking of breakouts, look out for one from Marco Rossi, who started his camp on the third line and will start the season on the front line between Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello.

Rossi’s start to camp was difficult, but he got better as time went on and eventually secured the top spot in the midfield, at least for now. After a 21-goal rookie year and an offseason in which the 23-year-old listened to rumors of a move and saw impending free agents Faber and Wallstedt get extended, don’t think for a second that he won’t come through the fact is motivated The agent has not yet received any calls regarding a future renewal.

As Rossi often says, “I know how good I am,” and he’ll show it this season and try to demonstrate why he should be the next Wild player locked up long-term.

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And as for Faber, it would be shocking if the 22-year-old doesn’t follow up his Calder Trophy runner-up season. He scored eight goals and 47 points last season despite only getting on the power play in December and playing the last two months with two broken ribs.

Why?

“I think that as a young player in this league, as a young teammate, as a teammate on this team that’s trying to grow into a Stanley Cup champion one day, whether you get hurt in Game 75 matters “If you’re eliminated from the playoffs or play Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Final, you’re going to perform the same way,” Faber explained. “That’s how I was raised, that’s what I always believed in and that’s what I told them.

“I thought, ‘I’m happy to play through this. I want to play through this. I don’t want to sit outside. That’s the last thing I want to do for my teammates.’”

Faber said there was a lot of talk about shutting him down, but he resisted. If it had been dangerous to continue playing, he would have given in.

“They were not completely perforated, so there was no danger of piercing the lung, because that is only dangerous if they are completely perforated. It started to get better, but probably the first month after that was just… it was pretty brutal. It wasn’t fun. It was just about getting that pain under control.”

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Gustavsson has the most starts

Figuring out who gets the Nets will be a season-long challenge, as the Wild plan to have three goaltenders at times.

After the Wild signed Wallstedt to a two-year, $4.4 million deal on Monday, we know the plan is to get him as much playing time as possible with the goal of him being one of theirs next season both full-time goalkeepers.

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So how will the Wild handle the juggling act of Filip Gustavsson, Marc-Andre Fleury and Wallstedt?

Good question.

“It’s always going to be a complicated answer because we have three people,” Hynes said. “Really, going into training camp, we talked about having to make some tough decisions with all three playing – and all three played well. The good thing is when you have time on your side you can take advantage of it and we don’t have to make a decision now, so we start the season with these three guys and I think you have to allow some things to play out.”

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Our guess?

Gustavsson still plays half the games, especially if he can return to his form from two years ago, and Wallstedt and Fleury, on his final NHL tour, split the rest with about 20 starts each. If they need to use Wallstedt more, they will send him to AHL Iowa.

Obviously priority #1 will win. The Wild will play the goalie who plays best.

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Foligno and Trenin combined for 500 hits

Last season, the Wild felt like they were too easy to play against, and part of their offseason plan was to find players who would help them re-establish their hard-nosed identity.

In order for this to succeed, Marcus Foligno must above all be healthy, and so far he is.

But the Wild also went out and signed former Nashville Predators and Colorado Avalanche winger Yakov Trenin to a four-year, $14 million contract and traded him for Boston winger Jakub Lauko.

Trenin is a big hitter and a big, big man, and we know Foligno is too. Five hundred hits is about three per game – quite doable for the third line mainstays, who make it their job to get the pucks deep and fly in on the forecheck.

Zuccarello receives 60 assists

And 59 of them will come from goals from Kaprizov.

Just kidding.

With Zuccarello being 37 years young, we expect a successful year as Hynes plans to reunite him with Kaprizov, at least initially. Remember, Zuccarello’s performance dipped last season after parting ways with Kaprizov, but he still tallied 51 assists – four fewer than his career high.

It will help that Zuccarello and Kaprizov are playing together on the Wild’s No. 1 power play, which ranked 10th in the league last season and was exceptional in the preseason with a 53 percent conversion rate.

Wild finishes in the top three in the Central

Maybe the experts are just bored with the wilderness being in the muddy middle every year, but some of the predictions I’ve seen about the wilderness are exaggerated in my eyes.

If they’re healthy, this is a playoff team.

If they had been healthy last year, they would have been a playoff team.

Some experts believe they finished seventh in the Central.

Seriously…come on.

Not only do the Wild have a lot of talent with Kaprizov, Zuccarello and strong center Joel Eriksson Ek at the top and experienced defenders like Jonas Brodin and a healthy Jared Spurgeon, but their core of young talent is also all 23 years old or younger – Boldy, Rossi and Faber. We’ll also see if Marat Khusnutdinov, who had a great camp, takes a step in his first full season and if Ohgren and Wallstedt can start making an impact.

We may even see Zeev Buium at the end of the year when his season at the University of Denver ends.

I don’t think these guys are serious contenders, but I also don’t think last season was the real Wild.

In fact, I see both the Avalanche and Winnipeg Jets taking a step back, so I can see the Wild fighting for a top three spot in a very difficult division.

Will they now win a round?

I’m not willing to go that far.

That would simply be far too bold a prediction.

(Photo by Matt Boldy and Kirill Kaprizov: James Guillory / USA Today)