Article: Jake Middleton Is the Most Interesting Man In Minnesota's Defense Corps

[Justin Hein]

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[vonlonster67]

Faber was one of the best defensive defensemen in the NCAA in 2022-23, but the Wild heavily sheltered him from the Dallas Stars’ most dangerous weapons in the playoffs. 

Did they? Do you remember his linemate? John Klingberg was the sheltered player on that blue line.

Kudos on the "Middy" article, love his nonchalant presence and cool demeanor. He's one of my favorite D-men we have. He's a lunchbox throwback and I'm loving every minute of his ice time. I hope BG can pull another rabbit out of his hat for a linemate. 

Great article!

 

Edited May 23, 2023 by vonlonster67

[Imyourhuckleberry]

Faber is a top 4 level defenseman with excellent skating and solid puck skills.

I imagine the Wild will consider putting Faber and Middleton together and pairing Spurgeon with Brodin. Either that, or they put Faber with Brodin, giving the Wild 2 very solid defensive units either way they go.

Merrill can play with Addison on the 3rd pairing(assuming they sign Addison back as a RFA). Also assumes no trades and none of the prospects beating them out. Perhaps the message has sunk in with Addison and he's going to become a better, more mature version of the player we had seen.

They may give Addison all those PP minutes early again to at least pump up his trade value before turning the page if that is what they decide to do. Also possible they find a trade to help their cap situation and re-sign Dumba, but difficult to bank on that at this moment.

[Protec]

Or Spurgeon with Faber. Age before beauty Cochise.

[jgodwin17]

Spurgeon and Brodin becoming a consistent pairing will be a nightmare offensively for our opponents.

To be fair though, I think we will probably see Brodin playing alongside Faber. I also think Faber won’t have any trouble slotting in next to him. The pairing probably won’t have a lot of offensive upside, but when you have a Brodin who is that good at defense, and a Faber who can likely get close to that level defensively that will be a pretty successful pairing.

Also love Middleton, he was a real find. Really glad we were able to give him a solid deal and I believe he has definitely outplayed expectations.

[Will D. Ness]

I psyched to see what Faber brings next season.  Who knows if he is limited offensively.  It has yet to be proven.

[vonlonster67]

1 hour ago, Will D. Ness said:

I psyched to see what Faber brings next season.  Who knows if he is limited offensively.  It has yet to be proven.

Faber showed a willingness to take the puck into the "O" zone later in the playoff games.

I believe we have just scratched the surface with him and Brodin  alternating and flashing in Brodin down deep and Faber taking shots from the perimeter.

The Wild have more plans for Faber than protecting the blue line.

[WheelSnipeCelly]

Would love to see the lines jumbled / re-arranged a bit more this season every now and then across the lineup so more teammates are able to slot in, in case of injuries. I understand Evason's reluctancy to not mess with a good thing, but each player should have some sort of an understanding of how to mesh well with other players.

Side note: the IIHF World Championship Quarterfinals start tomorrow. Despite Team Austria not making it into the final 8 teams (out of 16), Rossi did get the team MVP with 1G, 5A, 6P in 7 games, which isn't too shabby considering Austria's GF:GA was 11:27, meaning Rossi was involved in more than half of Austria's points.

As for Team Sweden, they finished the Preliminary Round with the 3rd most points (after USA and Switzerland). Wallstedt played 3 of the 7 games (might have had the lighter workload compared to Johansson), but has one of the best SVS% in the tournament with 94.74% (5th out of 22 goalies) and tied for the best GAA with 0.67.

And the only other Wild player still in the tournament is Middleton, who's 2nd in +/- with +6 after Weegar on Team Canada.

[mnfaninnc]

13 hours ago, vonlonster67 said:

I believe we have just scratched the surface with him and Brodin  alternating and flashing in Brodin down deep and Faber taking shots from the perimeter.

The Wild have more plans for Faber than protecting the blue line.

Defensive partners have a lot to offer in the case of mentoring and is one reason why switching them around a little makes sense with Faber. When Suter first came over, he had a young Brodin as his partner. How much did Suter teach Brodin? I would say a lot.

When Dumba was struggling they paired him up with Suter for awhile. Was it just the 2nd half of a season that had Dumba play well, or was it Suter's calming game that helped him? 

Of course, all of this happened prior to Suter's ankle injury when he had better speed. Later, after Scandella left, Spurgeon was Suter's partner and it was a good pairing until Suter could no longer keep up, and Spurgeon couldn't really take risks in the offensive end.

Now it's Spurgeon, Brodin and Middleton's turn to mentor. Spending some time with each isn't a bad plan, though I doubt that Faber will ever be Spurgeon's partner. But, Spurgeon is likely the loudest voice in the defensive room. 

I think I'd match Faber up with Brodin to start, and switch to Middleton after about 20 games. I'd want to see how Brodin-Spurgeon play together too. 

Brodin plays a very conservative game, but he can skate the puck up and provide a little offense. Middeton's game is far more simple, his offense comes from a point shot or a cross ice pass to Spurgeon. (and the occasional sneaky stretch pass that nobody expects)

 

[Up North Guy]

i really like Mids but he needs to play a more physical game. His size should make him an absolute monster but at times he looked more like the "Cookie Monster".