Hunter Haight’s Game Is Starting To Translate

As the Minnesota Wild have found themselves once again ravaged by injuries this season, the “next man up” mentality that has characterized their locker room over the past several seasons has recently turned into “next four men up,” as the team’s game rosters have become increasingly populated with AHL call-ups lately.

One of those call-ups has been 21-year-old center Hunter Haight, who has followed up a strong rookie season by taking another solid developmental step in his sophomore campaign. While his scoring numbers in Iowa don’t jump off the page (7 goals, 5 assists in 26 games), Haight has been a key contributor for the offensively starved AHL team, providing consistently strong two-way play and a physical, hard-working presence that is hard to play against. He was recently rewarded by being named as Iowa’s representative in next month’s AHL all-star game.

As the NHL Wild return to full health, Haight will likely find himself back in Des Moines at some point. That should not detract from the fact that he’s made significant progress and provided a valuable depth presence in his recent three-game (and counting) stint. Over that time, he’s shown he’s learning to translate his game to the NHL.

A key indicator that a player is ready to make the jump to the next level is when they start consistently doing the same things in the NHL that they did in the AHL to impact games. Haight is not a goal scorer; he didn’t score a ton in juniors, and he doesn’t play a key offensive role in Iowa, either. 

However, his ability to impact a game in other ways makes his skill set the most translatable to the NHL among the younger prospects currently in Des Moines. He’s consistently making positive plays to influence game flow, as shown in the clips below, taken from his last game in Iowa before Minnesota called him up.

The speed of the game in the NHL is one of the most difficult aspects of the jump. It’s not just that the pace and many of the players are faster; it’s how they are faster. Skaters are more powerful, cover more ice in all directions with fewer strides, and can also manipulate space by instantly changing pace or direction when they recognize an opportunity. That also requires quicker processing of the play, which is often the biggest hurdle for young players.

When he’s going, the 5-foot-11, 181-pound Haight plays a tenacious, straight-line, physical style, despite his lack of size. He has a strong core, a good base, and a heavy bottom hand on his stick, which enables him to win more than his fair share of physical battles on the wall or when fending off defenders. These attributes make him a handful on the forecheck and as a puck transporter. Haight is a responsible, smart, and decisive player. He trusts his reads and uses his skating in all three zones to impact play. As a skater, he has a smooth stride and can accelerate quickly, especially laterally. He has the quickness to defend against speed and take away time and space, with and without the puck. 

Haight is also able to maneuver effectively as a puck handler, using his play reading and well-rounded puck skills to navigate the ice. He isn’t afraid to go hard to the net when he sees a chance. He’s also becoming increasingly reliable in the faceoff circle. (The AHL doesn’t publish faceoff statistics. However, in recent games I’ve watched, he’s won most of the draws for Iowa.) 

All of this combines to make him a positive possession driver on a lot of nights in the AHL, and that’s also been bearing out in the NHL.

According to Natural Stat Trick, over the past three games, he’s produced an expected goals percentage of 53.71% while centering a line with Marcus Foligno and Vinnie Hinostroza. Meanwhile, he’s broken even in scoring chances and had positive possession numbers. While some of the credit for that goes to his linemates' strong play, those numbers show that Haight is learning to translate his game to the NHL.

Over this same stretch, he’s taken 21 faceoffs and won 11 of them, and is at 48.6% overall in his five NHL games to date. While it’s a small sample size, the ability to win faceoffs adds to his utility as an NHL player. While the Wild probably won’t elevate him above Ben Jones, who has won 53.5% of faceoffs this season and had a solid run of play as of late, it’s good to know that there’s another capable faceoff man on the depth chart.

As expected for a young player, Haight still has room to grow as he continues to develop. At NHL pace, he needs to be willing to get rid of the puck more quickly at times and resist the urge to try to stickhandle through traffic without support. 

He had several turnovers against the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens that resulted from skating himself into the teeth of the defensive structure. It’s easier to do that in the AHL and not suffer the consequences. However, in the NHL, those can quickly turn into goals against. It’s something that Haight will learn with time.

Defensively, he can get lost in coverage in extended defensive shifts, especially in motion sequences where switches occur, or he has to decide whether to commit to puck pursuit or maintain above-the-puck positioning. None of this is alarming, and the Wild’s overall solid structure and commitment to team defense will often cover for that. Regardless, his play over the past week has been another positive development in a season full of them.

On an NHL team with less bottom-six depth than Minnesota, Haight would probably be an NHL mainstay. However, with the Wild near the top of the NHL standings, Haight will probably have to continue biding his time and serve as a depth call-up as players return from injury. 

Still, Haight’s steady development and translatable game mean that John Hynes can insert him into the lineup and know what to expect, because he’s proven he's the same player in the NHL as he is in the AHL. If the Wild go on a deep playoff run, they’re going to need him, and it’s a good bet that he’ll be ready when they do.