Whilst the Minnesota Wild were recently sent crashing back to Earth upon their return to the Xcel Energy Center, they were still in fine form when most of the Power Rankings around the league were adjudged.
As such, it shows in their rankings by the various media outlets; they’re looking at a Minnesota Wild team that only lost two games on a seven-game road-trip, doing so by limiting shots against and no longer approaching the California stretch with fear.
They also found the strength to grind out at least one of those results, not allowing themselves to be overwhelmed despite a lot of late pressure against the St. Louis Blues.
During that time, it helped that they saw huge growth from Mikael Granlund, who could arguably be classified as a superstar player. Likewise, Nino Niederreiter started to find his game at exactly the right time, giving greater depth to an already well-constructed lineup.
To finally be seen, not just as that outlier team that makes play-offs every year and does so with a consistent 100 or so points, but as a team that actually has a roster capable of running second in a very strong Central Division is hugely satisfying.
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This is reflected firstly in the Power Rankings over at Sportsnet. From an outlet that often can be seen to show a slight Canadian bias (understandably so!), for them to place the Minnesota Wild in 6th is an admission that we can’t be ignored.
Granted, they still place division rivals, the Winnipeg Jets above us, but for the most part it’s a fair placing.
Placing us in third, Cody Benjamin of CBS Sports clearly is impressed by the recent run of form. He reckons only the Nashville Predators and Tampa Bay Lightning are better. That’s a compliment if ever I heard one!
He has the following to say about what needs fixing for the Minnesota Wild:
"Get more shots on goal. Simple, yes, and they’ve surprised regardless of their middling scoring rates, but more attempts would benefit them down the road. – Cody Benjamin (CBS Sports)"
It’s a very fair comment. Shots on goal haven’t been something that the Minnesota Wild has been dominant in statistically this season. We’ve done just fine, but can’t rely on elevated shooting percentages or a defense that is being viewed among the league’s best every single night.
Ryan Lambert over at Yahoo Sports shares a very similar sentiment, ranking us in 4th (last week: 8th), but highlighting that we don’t score a ton, instead relying on big contributions from the team defense and goaltending.
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At Rotoworld, Michael Finewax marks us as a consistent performer, not moving us from his 5th spot (last week: 5th). Goaltending is his focus, with Devan Dubnyk‘s elite performance suggested to be key to ongoing success.
Finally, Sports Illustrated drops the Minnesota Wild down by three places, placing the team in 8th (last week: 5th). Another outlet to point out the flaws in points production, suggesting that whilst the veterans are showing up right now, there might not be enough in the team for a play-off run.
All in all, it’s nice to see that finally the Minnesota Wild are getting their dues and not just from one or two outlets. People are starting to realise that despite no so-called superstar player, this team is for real.