The Wild will be without Jonas Brodin for about a month or more. How big of a loss is this for the Wild?
The Wild were without their captain and one of the best defenders in the league in Jared Spurgeon for the first 13 games of the season. During that span the Wild went 5-6-2 and allowed the second most goals in the NHL at 52 which was exactly four goals against a game.
Since Spurgeon returned on November 10th, the Wild have gone 5-6-2 but have allowed the fourth fewest goals per game in the league at 34 which is 2.62 a game.
The Wild's record with Spurgeon and without is the same but the overall defensive play has gotten a lot better with him in the lineup.
But now they will be without Brodin who has arguably been even better than Spurgeon when it comes to the defensive side of the game.
Brodin, 30, has played 25 games this season and has one goal and seven points. According to Evolving Hockey, Brodin currently ranks tied for first in the NHL in EVD, among defensemen. Who is he tied with? Brock Faber, his defensive partner. Brodin ranks fifth in the NHL in 'Def' and Faber ranks third.
EVD and Def are cumulative defensive metrics that take into account a player's defensive ability.
Brodin also ranks second in the NHL in xGA/60 amongst all defensemen. The only defender in front of him is Faber. You could make a case that both Faber and Brodin have been the best defensive defensemen in the entire NHL.
Actually, you don't need to make a case. Brodin and Faber have been the two best defensive defensemen in the NHL and all the stats back it up.
Both of them have played a lot of their minutes together so as you would imagine, they have been the best shutdown defensive pair in the league.
When Spurgeon was out to start the year, the Wild tinkered with Faber and Jake Middleton as a defense pair but quickly went back to Brodin and Faber because of how well they played together.
Now, without Brodin for the next month, the Wild will go back with Faber and Middleton together and in the last game against the Seattle Kraken, the defensive pair worked well.
Whenever you lose a defenseman like Brodin it hurts and to make matters worse, Spurgeon did not practice yesterday and will not play tonight.
For a Wild team that is only four points out of a playoff spot with two games in hand on many teams in the West, missing Brodin long-term and Spurgeon for tonight could hinder their chances at gaining ground in the division and hopefully making the playoffs.
Nonetheless, losing Brodin for a long period of time is huge. Hopefully not big enough to hinder the Wild's chances at making the playoffs though.