The over-reliance of the Minnesota Wild on Devan Dubnyk in their first two games this season has been notable.
Without him, the Minnesota Wild would’ve gone down on both occasions by significant margins. However, we can’t spend games relying solely on heroics from Devan Dubnyk to bail us out. At some point, the defensive group and equally the forward group to provide some support.
By the end of last season, a similar story had played out, albeit one whereby the team was rarely at full-strength due to a myriad of injury troubles.
Either way though, by the time it came to playoff action, the Minnesota Wild were heavily reliant upon an exhausted Devan Dubnyk.
Not the sort of look you want going into game one of a series.
If the Wild are to improve this season, and this is speaking somewhat in hyperbole; you don’t blow everything up on the back of two bad results; they need to find a way to lessen Devan Dubynk’s workload between the pipes.
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I’m not sure the answer is to ice Alex Stalock regularly to give Dubnyk recovery time. I think the answer is from the group out on the ice with the goalie.
They need to limit the high-danger scoring chances that the goalie is facing.
Across teams that have only played 2 games, the Minnesota Wild hold an unenviable spot at the top of the leader-board for shots against, allowing 82.
A total of 64 were seen to be scoring chances; 18 of which were adjudged as high danger chances.
Whilst breaking it down this way, it doesn’t appear as bad – the sheer volume of shots and chances always increases the likelihood of the opposing team scoring.
When you compare it to the output of the offensive group, you realise that these numbers are somewhat concerning, should they continue to tally.
Compared to the 82 shots they’ve given up, the Minnesota Wild have only managed 51 themselves.
With 42 being viewed as scoring chances, you can argue a point that their shot generation is leading to a better percentage of chances. Exactly half of those chances, 21, are viewed as high danger.
Maybe there’s something to be said for how economical they are on offense, but either way it doesn’t change the fact that Devan Dubnyk is facing too much puck traffic.
Over the course of the season, the team need to bring these numbers down. That way they have a bit more room to rest their starting goaltender before hopefully heading to the playoffs.
Statistics courtesy of Natural Stat Trick.