The 6-foot-2, 201-pound Trenin’s tenacity shows up especially on the penalty kill, which the Wild have revamped after going an abysmal 74.5% to rank third-to-last in the NHL. Trenin’s strategy is to pressure the power play into a mistake, and he uses his stick to patrol as much of the area around him as he can.
Last season, Trenin was on the ice for only around 25% of the power play goals given up by the Predators and Avalanche while he was with each team. He’s also top-10 in the league in shorthanded takeaways since 2022-23, and his knack for changing possession could also help the Wild at 5-on-5.
“It always makes me feel good when we have O-zone shift and we close the opposite team for like 40 seconds to a 1:30 and played whole shift in O-zone,” said Trenin, who has been skating at wing alongside Marcus Foligno and Ryan Hartman. “Maybe we didn’t create high-danger chance, but we get the puck, we pass to the ‘D,’ shot, we got the puck again, they get tired, double-shift. We change, put fresh bodies.
“It still makes me feel good, and they can build on that shift for next shift.”
Playing more offense than defense, killing off penalties and just being a handful to match up against were challenges for the Wild, but they brought someone in who specializes in all those areas.
And Trenin knows his role.