We are the home of the latest and greatest from across the sporting horizon, Minneapolis, Minnesota, the new home of superstar defenceman Quinn Hughes. Acquired, yesterday in the early evening, Hughes is a noted great friend of Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk. This game is sure to bring the best out of everyone. Welcome back to NHL Predictions, with us here at Last Word On Hockey. Check out our statistical breakdown, analysis, storylines, and predictions for not just this one, but games all season long. Who’s going to emerge on top in this one between the Sens and Wild, after the dust is still settling from the major day of trades Friday.
NHL Predictions Ottawa Senators at Minnesota Wild
2025-26 Season Series first of two meetings. Ottawa outscored Minnesota 9-1 in two games last year.
Start Time: 2:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST)
How to Watch: TVAS, TSN5, FDSNNO, FDSNWI
Location: Grand Casino Arena, in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Where else to start than the acquisition of Quinn Hughes for Minnesota. That will be a huge boost to the franchise. However, as we see, Hughes will not play today. That means Minnie will be playing with a bit of a depleted lineup. Likewise, Ottawa will be motivated, to spoil the news. They are coming off a convincing 6-3 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets. They want to keep the good vibes going, as they have yet to get going since Tkachuk returned to the lineup.
Quinn Hughes will debut Sunday against the Boston Bruins, not tomorrow against Ottawa
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) December 13, 2025
The Story Out of Ottawa
Some injury news for the Ottawa Senators, is that Lars Eller will miss some action. He took a blocked shot, and immediately did not want to put weight on it.
Otherwise, even though Shane Pinto is out, their forward group seems to be clicking. If they have scoring throughout their lineup, they are a much different team. Drake Batherson leads the team in points at 29, and second in goals with 13. He flip-flops with Tim Stutzle, who leads the team with 14 goals and is second with 28 points.
Ottawa needs to make a statement. Not just in this game, but for the rest of the 2025-26 season. The Eastern Conference is up for the taking. Are they going to stand idly-by, or are they going to be proactive? It might be time for the them to swing for the fences after all. This was after Elliotte Friedman had tried to pour cold water on such an idea, just last week.
Stephen Halliday was a healthy scratch last game. He will likely get in to replace fellow centre-iceman Lars Eller. Furthermore, Halliday was a name that teams would naturally ask about, along with Ridly Greig. That is one reason general manager Steve Staios is hesitant, because he doesn’t want to trade important pieces like them.
In Sens Today, Jackson Starr breaks down the Senators’ win over Columbus, updates the absence of Lars Eller who will miss the rest of the road trip, discusses the next-man-up mentality, and previews tomorrow’s matchup against the Minnesota Wild
pic.twitter.com/XBPXfnPnPu
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) December 13, 2025
What About the Matchup With Minnesota
This is an interesting time to play Minnesota, to say the least of this edition of NHL Predictions. They have been playing very well, at 7-2-1 in their last ten. They are fairly tight defensively, as they rank seventh in the NHL with 2.65 goals-against a game. Meanwhile, Ottawa is 23rd at 3.30 GA/GP. Offensively, the two teams are again reverse of one another. Ottawa has a goals-for-per-game of 3.10 (12th), versus Minnesota’s 24th ranked 2.81 GF/GP.
Offensively, Matt Boldy and Kirill Kaprizov are having big years for Minnesota. Boldy has 17 goals and Kirill is at 18. Adding the component of Hughes for the power play, for instance, makes them a huge threat. Their 11th ranked power play at 21.5% will likely see an increase. Ottawa is sixth at 25.3%.
Let’s Jump in Net
Minnesota does have a good split in net, and one of the goalies being a former Ottawa Senator. Filip Gustavsson is supposed to be their starter, but Jesper Wallstedt is playing like a rookie of the year candidate. Wallstedt is 8-1-2, while Gustavsson is (only) 9-8-3. It is expected to be Gustavsson versus Linus Ullmark for this one. However, this is a good chance to add our disclaimer. Please check social media for the very latest lineup news before locking in your daily fantasy rosters. Ullmark has a .877 save percentage versus Gustavsson, who is at .907. Good thing for Ottawa perhaps, as Wallstedt is absolutely on fire with a .936 SV%.
NHL Predictions
Okay, given the freshness of Hughes out of the box, we are going to say Ottawa takes this one. Losing two players, like Marco Rossi and Zeev Buium from your lineup, is a major adjustment. Ottawa is hungry after Thursday’s victory.
Prediction: Senators 3 – Wild 1
Prop Bets
To go along with our score prediction, check out a couple anytime scorers. We like Kaprizov to find the back of the net for Minnesota. Meanwhile for the Sens, to go slightly off the board, Michael Amadio. Sens fans know to not sleep on this guy, but granted, he’s not a big goal-scorer or anything. Hence, the big payout.
Main Photo Credit: Marc DesRosiers-Imagn Images
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