Marat Khusnutdinov's first practice ST. PAUL - The Wild reportedly signed defenseman Jake Middleton to a four-year contract extension on Monday. The team announced on Tuesday the details. The Wild announced Middleton's contract extension at four-years worth $4,350,000 million a season. He was entering the 2024-25 season on a one-year deal but will now be locked up for the next five years. Middleton, 28, was eldible for a contract extension starting Monday July 1st. The Wild wasted no time by locking him up for four more years. He is now signed the longest of any Wild defenseman. That is until Brock Faber gets his eight-year deal. The stay-at-home defenseman posted career-highs in almost every catorgory last season for the Wild. He recorded a career high in goals (7), assists (18), points (25), hits (148), and blocked shots (161). The 6-foot-3 defender has played in 180 games with the Wild in parts of three seasons and has recorded 11 goals, 34 assists, 45 points, 292 hits, and 351 blocks. He was acquired by the Wild at the 2020 NHL Trade Deadline in exchange for Kaapo Kahkonen and a 5th-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. There is no doubt that the Wild are hoping for Middleton to get back to what he was when he first joined the Wild as a physical shut-down defender. Middleton will be paid just $150,000 less than what Chris Tanev got with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Tanev, 34, has been one of the best if not the best, shutdown defensemen in the NHL for the last five to ten years. Middleton had a bit of an off-year last year in terms of what he provided the Wild with defensively the two years before that. Part of that was, he did not play with Jared Spurgeon. Since the Wild acquired Middleton he has had a +15 goal differential when playing with Spurgeon and a -36 goal differential when not playing with Spurgeon. He has played 1553:10 total time on ice (TOI) without Spurgeon and 1415:40 TOI with the captain. He has a 54.1% expected goals (xG) share with Spurgeon and a 44.8% xG share without him. As you can see, Middleton has preformed significally better when Spurgeon is his d-partner. Good news for the Wild, Faber and Jonas Brodin where arguably the best shutdown defensive pair in the entire NHL last year. This means that with a healthy Spurgeon, the Wild should have two really good shutdown d-pairs. According to MoneyPuck [https://moneypuck.com/index.html], the Brodin and Faber d-pair ranked tied for 13th with Devon Toews and Cale Makar for the best expected goals against per 60 mintues. They ranked seventh for the fewest shot attempts against as well. The Middleton-Faber pair ranked as the 12 highest shot attemps against per 60 mintues in the entire NHL. They were essentially the 12th worst d-pair in the league in shot attemps against per 60 mintues. The Brodin-Faber pair ranked as the 23rd best. In 2022-23 the Middleton-Spurgeon pair ranked 18th in the NHL in fewest goals allowed per 60 mintues and 13th best in goals against. Their on ice goals % was the 11th best in the NHL. In 2021-22 the Middleton-Spurgeon pair ranked fourth in the fewest expected goals allowed as a d-pair in the NHL and the ninth fewest shots against of any d-pair in the NHL. There is no doubt the Wild are banking on Middleton to bounce back next year and for the next five years. When he is playing with Spurgeon, that will be almost a guarantee. Make sure you bookmark The Hockey News' Minnesota Wild page [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/minnesota-wild/] for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns and so much more. OTHER WILD NEWS
