Rob Grabowski-USA TODAY Sports
The Minnesota Wild have made some significant additions to their roster over the course of the past year. With their marquee players now mixed with some impressive young talent, and coming off of a playoff appearance, expectations have never been higher for the organization.
One of those young players that has the bar set so high for the Wild is that of defenseman Jonas Brodin. Though he didn’t end up with a nomination for the Calder Trophy, he was one of the most impressive rookies in the league last year, given the role he was expected to play.
While Brodin didn’t log the type of minutes that Ryan Suter did, he was no. 2 on the team in ice time, both total and per game. He averaged up over 23 minutes per game. While Brodin didn’t log much time on the power play, though he did get his minutes, he was a key figure on the penalty kill, playing two minutes per game while a man down.
Brodin didn’t bring a ton to the mix from an offensive perspective, finishing with only 11 points on the season, including just two goals, but was a plus-3 for the season. His Corsi per 60, at even strength, was at about a plus-6, a pretty positive figure. Given the minutes he was expected to log, it was an extremely impressive debut.
The question is whether or not he can carry that success over into the new season. Brodin is no secret anymore, and he’ll also be expected to log those types of minutes over a full 82-game schedule. A regression of some sort has to be expected, as we don’t know how his body will adjust to playing those types of minutes over that span.
Regardless of whether or not he takes a bit of a step back this season, the Wild clearly have their top pairing on the blue line established for the next several years.
