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Paul Bissonnette has already bailed on his 'Wild will miss playoffs' take
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- Paul Bissonnette has already bailed on his 'Wild will miss playoffs' take
Paul Bissonnette's "hot take of the century" barely made it a month.
Back in September, while previewing the NHL's Central Division, the Spittin' Chiclets podcast co-host went out on a limb and predicted that the Minnesota Wild would miss the playoffs in the 2026-27 season.
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Part of his logic was that the Wild didn't have enough at the center position, even though that's been the case for years now and they've still made the playoffs in six of the last seven seasons.
The other part of Biz's case was that he believed the Quinn Hughes contract situation would be a distraction, and that the Wild would eventually be forced to trade Hughes midseason instead of losing him for nothing in free agency.
Well, Hughes hasn't signed an extension yet. But it certainly hasn't affected the Wild's performance. After a 4-2 win on Tuesday night in Philadelphia, Minnesota is 11-3-3 this season, with five of their six losses coming by a single goal. The Wild have the third-best points percentage in the NHL, behind only Edmonton and Carolina, despite playing 12 of their first 17 games away from St. Paul.
Even before the Wild's win on Tuesday, MoneyPuck.com gave them an NHL-best 98.8 percent chance to make the playoffs, and a league-best 10.1 percent chance to win the Stanley Cup.
On Tuesday night, after the Wild's 11th win, Bissonnette bailed on his take. "I think Minny's a playoff team guys," he tweeted.
Welcome to the party, Biz.
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The Wild have allowed fewer goals per game (2.24) than any other team in hockey. Their +18 goal differential in the NHL's fourth-best. They've led for almost 80 more minutes than any other team. Their top line of Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek, and Matt Boldy scored two more goals on Tuesday and has outscored opponents 14-0 at 5-on-5.
Kaprizov has 15 goals and 26 points in 17 games. Hughes has 17 assists and 22 points in 17 games. Boldy and Eriksson Ek are just under a point per game, as well. Depth scoring is chipping in. Jesper Wallstedt is 10-2-3 with a 2.06 GAA. And guess what? Brock Faber, the Wild's second-best defenseman, is getting close to making his season debut .
Biz got too cute with that preseason hot take. At least it didn't take too long for him to realize the error of his ways.
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This story was originally published by Bring Me The Sports on Nov 4, 2026, where it first appeared in the MN Wild section. Add Bring Me The Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
