3 Reasons Why the Minnesota Wild Can Win the Stanley Cup

Young Talent

The Wild's offense has been clicking on all cylinders in the first half of the season largely due to their young players taking the next step.

Perhaps no one on their roster has been a bigger contributor than Mikael Granlund. In 48 games this season, Granlund has accumulated 42 points, putting him on an 82-game pace of 72 points. Assuming he stays healthy, Granlund will crush his previous career-high in points (44). Granlund, only 24 years old, has flourished as a winger on Mikko Koivu's line and is a big reason the Wild have the third-most goals in the league.

Another 24 year-old, Charlie Coyle, is also making a splash on the top line for the Wild. Coyle, too, is on pace to smash his career-high in points (42) as he has already posted 38 in 48 games. The addition of Eric Staal (41 points) has pushed Coyle to the wing, allowing the Boston University product to get better goal-scoring chances (14.3% shooting percentage) and pick up a career-high 25 helpers.

Career highs in points will be a trend for the Wild this season, and Nino Niederreiter is another name on the list. Niederreiter's career high in points is 43, and he already has 36 this year, putting him at a 62-point pace. Jason Zucker, 25, has already exceeded his previous career high in points (26 in 2014-15) with 33 this season.

Not only is Minnesota seeing production from their young wingers, but they're also getting great play from their 22-year-old defenseman. Blue-liner Mathew Dumba is approaching his career high in points (26) already, totaling 22 on the season. Dumba's plus/minus is the seventh-best in the league at plus-20, and he is being rewarded by playing almost 20 minutes per game and getting minutes of the first power play.

The wild have as much young talent as any team in the NHL, and those youngsters are excelling alongside veterans like Ryan Suter, Zach Parise and Staal.