Even if the Wild’s pursuit of a Western Conference playoff spot comes up empty, this season has had its share of bright spots, including the team’s general improvement since a late-November coaching change, to Marc-Andre Fleury chasing and catching NHL history.

Don’t forget Brock Faber and Marco Rossi, who have played so much and so well this season that it’s easy to forget they’re playing their first full NHL season.

With 11 regular-season games remaining, Faber ranks second in points (40) among NHL rookies and Rossi ranks second in rookie goals (20), with each trailing Chicago’s Connor Bedard — the No. 1 overall pick in last summer’s entry draft. If they take their regular spots in the lineup on Thursday against the San Jose Sharks in a 7 p.m. puck drop at Xcel Energy Center, Faber and Rossi will remain on pace to be the first Wild rookies to play a full 82-game season.

Rossi already ranks second in goals by a rookie in team history, two more in 71 games than Marian Gaborik, the franchise’s first draft pick, scored in 71 games in 2000-01. Faber has demolished the franchise rookie mark for assists, set last year by Calen Addison, with 33. Jordan Greenway owns the rookie record for games played with 81 in 2018-19.

“For your team moving forward, that’s certainly something that has to happen,” coach John Hynes said. “Particularly in the salary cap era where you have to be able to have young guys come into your lineup — lots of times, on entry level contracts.”

In last Saturday’s 5-4 overtime loss to St. Louis, the Wild played four rookies: Faber, Rossi, Marat Khusnutdinov and Adam Beckman. Rossi had two goals, Faber added the tying goal in the third and an assist.

“To have younger players in your lineup and play important roles, and not only just play but be real productive players for you, it’s certainly good for them as individuals and their confidence levels as players,” Hynes said.

Minnesota has struggled to get over the hump in its pursuit of a fourth straight postseason appearance — counting the abridged 2020 COVID-19 season — but it still has a pulse. Its six points behind eighth-place Vegas before Monday night’s games. It’s a faint pulse, but it’s a pulse, especially with two more games against Vegas on the schedule, starting Saturday at the X.

But even if the Wild fall short, there are reasons to feel good about the future, such as the team’s 29-18-5 record since Hynes replaced Dean Evason as coach on Nov. 28. And Faber and Rossi, both of whom are on the books for less than $1 million next season, are bargains for a team that will still be dealing with $14.7 million in dead cap space from the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts.

Rossi won’t catch Kirill Kaprizov’s rookie goals record of 27, but he’s only the second Wild rookie to score 20 goals in a season with the two he scored against St. Louis.

Asked about the accomplishment, Rossi said, “If we would have won the game it would be different. Yeah, it’s nice. I try to help the team.”

Faber won’t catch Kaprizov’s rookie points record of 51, but the former Gophers star has been nothing short of a revelation — a big, responsible defenseman who runs the top power-play unit and already displays the maturity that makes players a captain.

“He’s mature in a lot of ways,” Hynes said. “I think he’s physically mature, to be able to play the way that he plays and handle the situations he’s been in this year as a first-year pro, but I also think when I talk to him, I think he’s a great teammate. He’s coachable. He’s accountable to himself, but he’s also accountable I think to the team game.

“It’s hard to find … that combination sometimes as a young guy, but he has it.”

Democratic-Farmer-Labor lawmakers are advancing about a half billion dollars in new spending on top of Minnesota’s current two-year budget.

While the Legislature already passed a new $72 billion budget in 2023, this year, lawmakers are making additional tweaks and adding spending.

In an even-numbered year at the Legislature, the biggest order of business for lawmakers is traditionally a public works borrowing bill. But they can also pass what’s known as a supplemental budget, which carries additional spending decisions to fine-tune the running two-year budget.

Gov. Tim Walz.

Last Monday, DFL Gov. Tim Walz pitched a supplemental budget of $226 million that included a $45 million boost to a child tax credit for lower-income families.

But that amount has grown. In an agreement with DFL legislative leaders announced Friday, the sides settled on about $477 million in additional spending for the current two-year cycle, and another $62 million in 2026-2027. Walz, House Speaker Melissa Hortman and Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy signed off on the proposal.

“Our supplemental budget agreement makes needed short-term investments, builds on the work done last session, and maintains the state’s fiscal stability,” Murphy said in a statement last week.

Fine-tuning details

Sen. Erin P. Murphy, DFL-St. Paul. (Courtesy of the Minnesota Senate)

The House Ways and Means Committee on Monday advanced the supplemental budget goals on a party-line vote with all Republicans opposed.

Those goals will give other committees a framework as they work to fine-tune the details of last year’s $72 billion budget, which used most of a $17.5 billion surplus.

“What you see in front of us is a prioritization of high needs … while also balancing the future of our state budget,” said House Ways and Means Chair Liz Olson, DFL-Duluth.

The supplemental budget aims to leave the state’s $2.9 billion rainy day fund intact — extra padding which should allow the state to keep the budget balanced.

By far the biggest item in the supplemental budget now moving forward is about $109 million for a court related to property forfeitures. Walz’s initial supplemental budget did not include the settlement.

Last year the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled Hennepin County had violated 94-year-old Geraldine Tyler’s Constitutional rights when it seized her Minneapolis condo due to back property taxes, sold it and pocketed the profits.

State law permitted the practice, but in the wake of the Supreme Court decision, counties will have to reimburse property owners in similar circumstances to the tune of about $109 million as part of a class action settlement related to the case. Lawmakers continue to work on a fix to Minnesota’s property forfeiture laws.

Other items

Besides a large chunk of cash for the Tyler settlement, some bigger spending areas in the agreement between DFL leaders and the governor include education, public safety and taxes. Among them:

• K-12 education, $61 million.

• Children and families, $58 million.

• Tax cuts and credits, $58 million.

• Health and human services, $57 million.

• Capital investment $40 million.

• Judiciary, $39 million.

• Public safety, $32 million.

There’s also $16 million for struggling rural emergency medical service providers across the state.

Spending constraints

Minnesota Management and Budget in February projected a $3.7 billion surplus for the state, though budget officials warned too much additional spending could result in shortfalls in the future as the state is currently spending more money than it is taking in.

Lawmakers can approve a maximum of $2.2 billion during this legislative session without risking a deficit in the future. The supplemental budget does not exceed that amount, though minority Republicans have raised concerns about additional spending on top of a record budget that grew government spending by 38% over the last two-year budget.

Rep. Pat Garofalo, R-Farmington.

Rep. Pat Garofalo, R-Farmington, said spending backed by DFLers was ultimately unsustainable and cast doubt on whether a DFL majority would practice restraint on spending in the next budget cycle. He said the state would have to cut spending by about $5 billion to meet a budget goal of around $66 billion in 2026-2027.

During Monday’s Ways and Means hearing, he said the GOP would back shifting resources, but could not get behind this year’s new spending goals.

“The idea that the government of Minnesota doesn’t have enough money and is not spending enough money, and needs to do more is simply not in conjunction with the mathematical reality,” he said.

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