The Minnesota Wild’s season came to an end on Wednesday night and fans have spent the last 24 hours figuring out what the hell happened. A 3-0 first period lead evaporated into a 4-3 overtime loss to the Colorado Avalanche and there are several people that could be blamed. But one that has to shoulder the biggest load is defenseman Jake Middleton.
Middleton was awful against the Avalanche and was on the ice for 13 of Colorado’s 20 goals without an empty net during the five-game series per Dylan Loucks of The Hockey News. While he is signed through the 2028-29 season at $4.35 million per season according to Puckpedia, the Wild can’t afford to have him come back if they want to be a serious Stanley Cup contender next season.
Jake Middleton’s rough playoffs could be the end of his time with Wild
Middleton is serviceable for what he is, but also was a massive liability during the Wild’s playoff run. In 11 games, Middleton had just one assist and a minus-2 rating but those numbers took a dive against the Avalanche where he posted a minus-7 rating over the five-game series.
Brett Marshall of the Wildly Informed Podcast and The Sota Pod dove deeper into Middleton’s performance, noting that 14 of those goals had come during five-on-five play and the Wild were outscored 9-3, outshot 45-23 and had a 40.2% expected goals share. He also pointed out that Middleton was on the ice for four more goals while serving on the penalty kill unit and was on the ice for 19 of the 39 goals allowed during the playoff run.
Some of these things can be pinned elsewhere. The loss of Jonas Brodin to a lower body injury elevated Middleton to a second-line pairing with Jared Spurgeon and the two never found chemistry as they began to bleed chances. Even then, John Hynes didn’t make the necessary adjustments, even going back to Spurgeon and Middleton as a pairing late in their Game 5 collapse, giving him some of the blame.
But while Middleton is a fan favorite, it feels like he’s run his course. Acquired in a 2022 trade with the San Jose Sharks, the 30-year-old has played in 322 games over five seasons with the Wild, scoring 21 goals, recording 82 points and a plus-20 plus/minus rating. But after posting a positive plus/minus of 10 or more during the 2022-23 (15) and 2024-25 seasons (11), Middleton was only a plus-2 and now has created questions about his future.
Middleton isn’t the only Wild defenseman with big questions this offseason as Minnesota could revamp their blue line behind Brock Faber and Quinn Hughes. This will only intensify if Hughes doesn’t sign a contract extension with the Wild this summer and Middleton could be one of the players shown the door in an effort to build the type of depth they didn’t have this year.
Perhaps the Wild feel comfortable with Middleton on the third pairing and his limited movement clause, which gives him the right to make a 15-team no trade list, could keep him in Minnesota another year. But they can’t afford to have him in the high-profile spot he floundered in during the playoffs and it may be time to ship him out for someone that can get the job done.
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