The Minnesota Wild finished last season 27th in the league on the penalty kill. Having their penalty kill in order will be key if they hope to have successful run next season.
This past season saw the Minnesota Wild regress in most areas compared to past seasons. The area in which the team struggled the most was the penalty kill. Coming off a season in which the team finished first in the league in penalty kill and with largely the same cast of players, the team was expected to once again finish among the league leaders in this category.
That did not prove to be the case, as the Wild finished the regular season ranked 27th in the league in penalty kill percentage at 77.94%. So what went wrong with the team down a man last year and how can the team return to the form that saw them lead the league in 2014-15?
The most obvious difference in the team’s penalty kill compared to a season ago was the loss of Kyle Broadziak via free agency to the St. Louis Blues. In his tenure with the Wild, Broadziak was a steady defensive presence and a fixture on the penalty kill unit. In addition to being among the best defensive forwards on the team, Broadziak was also successful in the faceoff circle. Both roles were supposed to be filled by Jarrett Stoll. Suffice to say the Stoll experiment did not payoff in the way the Wild would have liked.
Broadziak is not coming back to the team, so the Wild would do well to identify a player or group of players that can bring the same intangibles Broadziak did. The Wild do possess defensively responsible forwards and defensemen to choose from, so it may just be about new coach Bruce Boudreau putting the right groups of people together in a way neither Yeo nor Torchetti was able to last season.
The group of players the team should be choosing from in no particular order should be Koivu, Parise, Haula, Fontaine, Suter, Brodin, Scandella, and Spurgeon. The team needs to have to have two lines of successful penalty killers, so expect Boudreau to experiment with different pairings throughout training camp and the regular season.
The Wild already know what they are going to get from Koivu, Parise, Spurgeon and Suter. Of the group, Jared Spurgeon should be the one in line for a larger role as he led the team in blocked shots with 157, a skill that can be very valuable when down a man. For what it is worth, Suter also is adept at this skill, finishing second on the team with 142 blocked shots.
Given that both are also regarded as sound positional defensemen, there’s no doubt they should both be included on the penalty kill. Spurgeon and Suter also were 1st and 2nd among Wild defensemen in goals allowed per 60 minutesshorthanded with averages of 6.1 and 6.5. Considering they were also regular defensive partners all of last year, it would be wise to make that pairing the top defensive pairing on the penalty kill.
In Brodin, the Wild have a potential defensive stalwart who is just entering his prime (Brodin is 22). Brodin should be included in the penalty kill given the fact that he has been on the unit for four years now which should carry weight since that represents his entire time in the league plus the Wild with the exception of last year are usually good on the penalty kill, so Brodin must be part of that past success.
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And that is supported by an unusually high number of 7.4 goals given up per 60 minutes shorthanded, that total finished 5th among Wild defensemen. Brodin had a down year last year as he also scored a career low 7 points, he must pick his play up to improve the Wild’s PK next season.
As for a replacement for the intangibles Broadziak brought, the team should give Justin Fontaine (should he be back next season) a larger role on the penalty kill. He only averaged a little over a minute a game shorthanded, but his 4.2 goals per 60 minutes average was tops among players who averaged over a minute shorthanded. He deserves more ice time on the penalty kill.
For reference, Stoll had an average of 12.5 this past season. Although he is not a center (those roles can be filled by Koivu and Haula) Fontaine has shown a knack for not allowing the puck in the net shorthanded, and was the best the team had to offer last season in that respect.
Next: John Anderson to Complete Wild Coaching Staff
The Wild have options in-house to correct this problem now. With new assistant coach Scott Stevens slated to take over the PK duties, the future has gotten much brighter. As Stevens institutes his system for the Penalty Kill he’d do well to take into account many of the things mentioned earlier. Bottom line though is the Wild need to fix this issue if they ever want the next level success they are craving.