By Justin Wiggins -
The Minnesota Wild have consistently made the playoffs in the last decade. Having a competitive hockey team to cheer for well into the beginning of spring each year has made for fun winters.
It’s not easy icing a team that can compete each season. The nature of the NHL world typically doesn’t allow for such sustained success, let alone frequent playoff runs.
So, what has been the common denominator for Minnesota's regular-season success? At the start of this run, you could point to the early veteran leadership, with stalwart Mikko Koivu leading a forward group consisting of long stretches of Zach Parise, Jason Pominville, Eric Staal, and others like Jason Zucker.
However, consistency at forward isn't what has allowed the Wild to compete every year.
Perhaps the goaltending, then? The end of Niklas Backstrom’s career jump-started this successful run. But it’s been a rotating door ever since. Only Devan Dubnyk provided multiple years of starting-level caliber goaltending in that time.
Minnesota's back end has been the true reason for its sustained success. The Wild’s defensive core has been the backbone of their team for over a decade now, buoyed by Ryan Suter, Jonas Brodin, and Jared Spurgeon's long careers. The latter two have been mainstays on the blue line long after they bought Suter out.
The Wild's ability to anchor the top two lines defensively and carry whoever their partners are has been instrumental to their ability to have a high floor annually. That continues today, even if injuries have impacted their ability to stay in the lineup throughout a season.
But they are entering the final laps of their careers. A few years ago, it was fair to wonder what the transition plan would be once each player retired or moved on late in their careers. However, it seems the Wild suddenly have their long-term replacements ready to lead the next decade of relevance.
Brock Faber and Zeev Buium are starting to emerge as replacements. For Faber, that realization is now. He’s quickly emerged as the Wild’s No. 1 defenseman, and they already have locked him in for the next eight years following this season. The right-handed defenseman from Maple Grove has quickly engrained himself into the top pairing. Faber has proven he can anchor a unit by himself, elevating whoever his partner may be (see: Jake Middleton).
Buium is a University of Denver sophomore who must prove he belongs in the conversation as Brodin’s eventual replacement. Still, all the signs are there.
As a freshman, he led the NCAA in points as a defenseman. His national title run last year was impressive enough. Still, after leading Team USA’s junior team to their second of back-to-back world championships earlier this year, he’s starting to make opposing GMs regret letting him fall to the Wild at pick 12 in the 2023 draft.
Buium didn’t pace Team USA offensively in the tournament, as he has done since arriving in Denver. But that is perhaps what is most impressive about his performance as captain of the team.
Team USA was loaded with talent this year, as evident by their march to another gold medal. USA's defensive core was a driving force behind their dominance. The Red and Blue entered the tournament with a unit comprised of other offensively-inclined defensemen. As a result, Buium had to use his smooth skating and supreme passing to play a larger role as the team’s shutdown defenseman and captain.
For many hockey pundits, his lack of appearances on the score sheet didn’t impact how they viewed his potential. His ability to focus on a purely defensive style of hockey only elevated the excitement for what he could become in the NHL.
Buium has quickly evolved from an offensive threat to an all-around defensive prospect. That has to have Wild fans salivating at the idea their franchise could pivot from a decade of Spurgeon and Brodin anchoring their blue line to another decade of Faber and Buium taking that mantle.
We already know Faber possesses all the skills to take on the yeoman’s work Spurgeon has brought from the right side for over a decade -- and perhaps the captaincy one day. Buium was a bit of a wild card compared to Brodin. Buium always projected to provide more offense than the smooth-skating Brodin ever did, but it was right to question how much they would miss his shutdown abilities.
However, Buium’s recent performance at the World Juniors against the top talent in the world at his age showed he’s more than capable of stepping into such a role.
For years, the Wild have leaned Spurgeon and Brodin to elevate their rotating cast of partners next to them. However, they each had a mainstay for many years to build chemistry with. It was Suter for Spurgeon; Brodin paired nicely with Matt Dumba. Still, even after Dumba and Suter left the team, Spurgeon and Brodin have transitioned to new partners with the same success.
Spurgeon and Brodin's ability to constantly carry a line by themselves has allowed the Wild to continue chugging along each season with their consistent play. It seems they are creating a familiar future, with Faber and Buium taking the mantle soon.
There is still plenty of work to put the final touches on a true Stanley Cup-contending team. But Faber and Buium look like the building blocks the Wild need on the back end to keep their window open for another decade.
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