Minnesota Wild: Defying the statistics of a top-half team this season

Minnesota Wild can’t keep taking penalties

Maybe it’s just the make-up of the Western Conference and further to that, the Central Division, but the Minnesota Wild are giving up a lot of penalties.

Per 60 minutes, they’re in the top five for the penalty minutes they’ve taken, giving up an average of 4.14 minor penalties in that time.

If we do some quick maths based on the fact they’re all two-minute minors, that’s somewhere around eight minutes a night that you’re potentially short-handed. Granted, that is very rough maths as it doesn’t factor in the other team scoring a power-play marker or if there are coincidental penalties to name a few scenarios.

However, ignoring the other scenarios, eight minutes a night short-handed isn’t good for anyone.

At 85.2%, the Minnesota Wild have the fourth-best penalty-kill in the entire league, but do you really want to be putting them out there and relying on that percentage to remain the same?

Probably not.

The team needs to ease up on the number of penalties it gives up each night, starting with the fourth line – both Eric Fehr and Matt Hendricks give up more than a minute of penalty time per game played.

As a team, the Minnesota Wild can take some comfort from the fact that the previous two Stanley Cup winners were ranked within the top twelve teams in terms of penalty minutes they’d conceded per 60 minutes.

The Washington Capitals last year were the 7th worst team for minor penalties per 60 minutes – there is of course hope that the Wild replicate that and continue to penalty-kill at a high percentage.

In all honesty, it’d be nicer if they kept the penalty-killing down and kept the percentage high that way instead.

Statistically, they’re not the best team, in fact the Minnesota Wild are quite average in a lot of areas. But the one that counts – the standings; that’s looks decidedly above average right now!

Statistics courtesy of NHL.com and Natural Stat Trick.