Wild Defensive Pairings This Season

In a follow up to my article about lines on Saturday, I figured I’d make it a mini-series and cover the possibilities for the Wild at the blue line this year. The fun of organizing forward lines can go all night, with four lines, a dozen forwards, and endless combinations, while the defensive pairings have a little less going on. So, I think I can cover some of the conceivable defensive lines here, even though the Wild have a very open competition for the final spot or two going on to finish up the preseason over the next week. To kick it off, here’s the current look at pairings-

Ryan Suter– Jonas Brodin
Marco Scandella– Jared Spurgeon
Keith Ballard– Mat Dumba/Christain Folin/ Stu Bickel/Gustav Olofsson

Now the top two pairings are pretty well locked in for now and have a fair amount of history together. Where it gets interesting obviously is the battle for the sixth and even seventh possible defensive spots. Dumba, Folin, Bickel and Olofsson all seem to have a pretty decent shot at earning an NHL roster spot, even though they bring very different skills to the table. The tantalizing offensive talent of Dumba certainly interests many fans, as he would be a shoe-in for the a power play unit with his skills and hard shot. Folin, Bickel and Olofsson bring more size to the table, which may or may not be needed on a relatively smallish defensive corps, and Bickel’s foray into playing forward in a preseason game also brings a little wrinkle to the plans, but that versatility very well may help him make the team, especially in a seventh defenseman/extra wing type of spot. So with the idea that two out of those four competing players could make the team, here’s some interesting pairings with each one of those prospects that could happen-

Suter-Dumba

Certainly a pretty interesting matchup of talents would be Suter and Dumba, provided there’s a reason to split up the current combination of Suter and Brodin. Suter has plenty of offensive talent himself, but his strength on the defensive side could make up for any defensive shortcomings Dumba might have, especially covering Dumba pinching in or skating with the puck. Another good reason for this pairing is the mentor factor, much like we saw with Brodin as a rookie, Suter can patch up some rookie mistakes, and give one hell of an example to watch.

Scandella-Bickel

Here’s a pair that brings the beef, as the Wild defensive rotation lost some good size when they let Clayton Stoner walk this offseason. Luckily, the Wild have some replacements with size as well, and pairing up one of the bigger ones with the decently sized Scandella gives the Wild a pair of towers at the blue line, which would come especially in handy on the defensive side of the ice.

Brodin-Olofsson

This couple of Swedes are perhaps a little young to be playing together, and I think Olofsson is pretty likely to spend most of the season in Iowa. However, it is an interesting pairing of youth and countrymen that could prove beneficial provided the Wild have a reason to put them together, whether it be injury or solid play from both kids. Olofsson I think looked good at the open practice, and Brodin may have had an up and down season last year, has definitely shown stretches where he looks like a dependable anchoring defenseman.

Spurgeon-Folin

The book on Sprugeon is well established at this point, as he gets the most out of a smaller frame on defense than you would expect, and adds a quick shot to that profile. Folin brings the size to this equation, as I think you want to help Spurgeon’s lack of size by putting him with a considerably bigger teammate. Folin is not a mountain of a man, but listed at 6-3 210, he has decent size and would be up for more of the dirty work in front of the net while Spurgeon uses his puck handling skills to more benefit.

So with each of those pairings, you can see how the young defensemen pair up with some existing members of the Wild, even though the winner of the preseason competition will likely start off the season with Keith Ballard, assuming Ballard’s preseason injury isn’t too serious. At the end of season, I think we probably get to see most of these players called up at one time or another, but it will be interesting to see which one of them spends the most time with the NHL club. What’s even more interesting is to see how the defensive corps as a whole operates this season with this much youth influx, and how that effects the Wild run to the playoffs.