Following their 6-2 loss to the Utah Mammoth that dropped the Minnesota Wild five points behind the Winnipeg Jets and the third playoff spot in the Central Division, head coach John Hynes was asked about the lack of physicality from his defensemen. As the reporter pointed out in his question, four of the top-six defensemen on roster had six hits or fewer heading into the game.
Hynes acknowledged that is an area of concern stating,
“Yeah, I think that is a big part of it. When you’re able to get physical in certain areas, that could be on the rush, coming into the zone, finishing guys coming in on arrivals, closing hard in those areas, that’s something that could be better. “
Jared Spurgeon (19 hits) and Jake Middleton (12) hits are the two exceptions to the trend, but the rest of the defense hasn’t quite laid the boom on opponents entering the zone. Brock Faber, who leads the defensive corps with 204 minutes of ice time has three hits. Zeev Buium has just two while Jonas Brodin and David Jiricek have one each.
Part of that is based on their style of play. Faber, whose career high in hits is 65, and Buium are more offensively-minded players focused on bringing the puck up the ice. They aren’t on the ice to send opponents into the third row with jarring hits.
However, they do, at some point, have to be a little more physical. Even if it’s just taking players out as they enter the zone and stopping the rush as Hynes referenced. The Wild haven’t given up a ton of rush goals during their sputtering start, but they are allowing teams into the zone and it’s leading to too much offensive time for their opponents. If the blue liners can step up and eliminate a puck carrier, it will give the Wild easier breakouts and allow them to spend more time with the puck.
While they haven’t been giving up a lot of rush goals, the front of the net has been an issue. The early goals allowed against the Mammoth highlight that problem. On the first one, Logan Cooley gets position on Buium in front of the net and is able to deflect a puck into the net. On the power play goal, Cooley is in front of the net and able to get multiple swipes at the puck without any member of the Wild making sure he is taken out of the play.
The Wild are allowing the third-most high-danger chances and the second most scoring chances in the league so far this season. They have to cut that down if they want to start moving up in the standings, especially in a very physical Central Division.
They don’t need Buium to turn into Kevin Hatcher 2.0, but a few more hits, and little more physicality from the entire defensive unit should help them start piling up the wins.