Minnesota Wild: Charlie Coyle’s recent form certainly ups his market value

Charlie Coyle is a name perennially linked with trade rumours and the Minnesota Wild forward is really upping his market value with his recent performances.

In the Minnesota Wild’s 4-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday, it was Charlie Coyle and his line mates that probably stood out the most. It was quite the performance, which is saying something given Jared Spurgeon‘s three-point night and Devan Dubnyk‘s multiple impressive saves.

Since being partnered with Luke Kunin and Zach Parise on the second line, we’ve seen Charlie Coyle far more willing to get into the dirty areas and dig for pucks, we’re even seeing him use his size in puck battles.

Couple this with a clear confidence boost stemming from his 5 points in the last 6 games; most of which have been nights that the Minnesota Wild struggled badly to net any goals.

You can obviously hang some of his recent success on the partnership he’s rapidly been able to form with young upstart Luke Kunin and Zach Parise, but just from the eye test alone, it appears that Charlie Coyle is working a lot harder and it’s paying off.

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Whether it’s a case of Minnesota Wild head coach Bruce Boudreau having a quiet word in his ear or whether it’s actually directly related to the fact that he is always mentioned as a potential trade candidate, I don’t know, but I’m not complaining.

Given his relatively small cap hit and his relative youth, it’s always been understandable to hear him mentioned, but most of the time the returns you’d expect were relatively poor; a third round pick and a B-grade prospect maybe.

Right now, his drive and willingness to use his physical attributes have probably upped that closer to a second round pick minimum.

His fore-checking in particular would likely appeal to multiple teams around the league, as tactics shift to a mentality of pressuring the opposition even behind their own red line. Stop the break-out and exit from the defensive zone, rather than deal with them at center ice or in the offensive zone.

Against the Maple Leafs, Charlie Coyle did struggle on face-offs but the whole team seemed to such is the elite group of centers the opposition was able to ice.

Likewise, his recent form could also possibly be associated with starting so much time in the offensive zone, but this isn’t Charlie’s to control, thus we can’t really hold it against him.

Perhaps most telling is that outside of Eric Fehr, he played the most shorthanded time of all the Minnesota Wild forwards as they surrendered four powerplays to the Maple Leafs.

The fact that the penalty kill was able to shut down a power-play unit boasting Auston Matthews, John Tavares and Mitch Marner among others is testament to the fact that he doesn’t need to be in the offensive zone to do well. His defensive attributes and 200-foot game were on full display as a penalty-killer.

Whether he ends up remaining with the Minnesota Wild or not, it’s fair to say that Charlie Coyle is right now playing very well and actually standing out, possibly for one of the first times in his career with the team.