Minnesota Wild: Sharing the scoring amongst the line-up

By Luke Ryan | Nov 8, 2018

ST. PAUL, MN - OCTOBER 25: After scoring a 2nd period goal Jonas Brodin #25 of the Minnesota Wild is congratulated by Charlie Coyle #3 of the Minnesota Wild during a game between the Minnesota Wild and Los Angeles Kings at Xcel Energy Center on October 25, 2018 in St. Paul, Minnesota.(Photo by Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images) /

The Minnesota Wild have scored 26 goals this season; good enough for 19th in the league in teams of goal scoring.

Despite ranking low in terms of Goals For, they’re not conceding too many so are able to turn limited scoring into wins, which as we all know, are what really count. Realistically, it wouldn’t matter if every single one of those 26 were lucky bounces or if the Minnesota Wild were just racking up empty-net goals; they all count.

The interesting thing is that all but five players (among those that have seen ice time) have been involved in that goal scoring. Of the five that haven’t, one is Nate Prosser, who only has one game this season seeing a meagre 3:03 ice-time; as such, he hardly counts.

What is nice to see is that the Minnesota Wild goal-scoring would likely survive an injury to the likes of Eric Staal, as we are seeing currently. Or a cold streak from a player that scored 50 points last year, such as Matt Dumba.

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Ever single one of those players that is contributing points has at least one goal to the name. Nino Niederreiter is the sole exception and it’s surely only a matter of time before he shakes himself out of his current funk.

At the top of the list, you have Ryan Suter, Zach Parise and Mikael Granlund all averaging 0.92 points-per-game, each with 13 points to their name. After that you have Eric Stall with 11 points and Jason Zucker with 9.

In terms of actual goals, you have that same cast notching them, plus Matt Dumba who ranks equal second on the team in goals with 5 so far, despite the fact he doesn’t rank in the team top five for points.

That statistic in itself is enough to highlight the way that the Minnesota Wild have been able to spread point-production throughout the line-up.

Considering recent games, you saw the third-pairing defenseman Nick Seeler step up and have a three-point night.

It’s not a line-up that relies on a Taylor Hall or Connor McDavid to dominate and lead league scoring. Instead, it’s perfectly comfortable and perfectly well set-up to allow for the burden of point production to be shared among everyone.

The fourth line even got in on the act in the recent 5-1 rout of the St. Louis Blues, with Eric Fehr and J.T. Brown notching markers.

Next. Defying the statistics of a top-half team this season. dark

Safe to say that the Minnesota Wild aren’t ever going to be league dominating goalscorers. Not with their current make-up, at least. They can however continue to carve out their niche with scoring by committee. It’s working so far, after all!

Statistics courtesy of NHL.com.