HW Staff Wild MVP Picks

Aaron Holm @The_Noogie

The Wild season MVP. Man, that is a hard one to figure out now isn't it? I mean, there are a few gems amongst the group. Your Parise's, Koivu's Coyle's and such. Parise led the team in goals, and shots on goal by a country mile. Koivu led the team in points, Coyle led the kids in goals, but was any of it really all that great?

For a team that lacked a pure goal scorer for yet another season, in order to pick an MVP you really have to focus on the secondary statistics. While it's tempting to give the honors to one of the big time names on the team, I'm going to put my confidence and my vote into one of the kids. He might not have the most goals, or the most points, or play in every situation, but his effort level rarely wained.

Charlie Coyle my friends, has had what one might describe as a breakout year. We knew Parise would be good, you know what Koivu is going to bring to the table, and he had a nice rebound year. We know Suter is solid on defence and would notch more than his share of points this year (the 8 goals were a nice surprise too), but Coyle scored on 15% of his shots this year, scoring 10 more goals than last season on 20 more shots. He was given a bigger role on the team and by in large, he stepped up. So with that, my vote for the 2016 Minnesota Wild team MVP goes to Charlie Coyle.

Chris Boyd @ConnoiseurCRay

Nino Niederreiter is the Wild’s MVP. He has been the most consistently good of the candidates, and is near the top or at the top of every category that matters. Coyle has had stretches where he is better (and is my runner up) but Nino has simply been more consistent.

B. @MNgrrrrrl

My pick for MVP is the Wild's captain Mikko Koivu, who had a surprisingly fantastic year, and was everything I wanted from leadership. He leads the team in points, and played in every game. He leads the team with 10 power play goals, which is weird, but super cool. If you had told me that he'd lead the team in power play goals I wouldn't have believed you, but here we are. This is his most productive season since 2008-09. He's thirty-three, and at a point in his career where it would make sense for him to take a step back this happened instead. It's unexpected, and almost certainly an anomaly, but it was a lot of fun. His line with Niederreiter and Zucker at the start of the season was probably the best line the Wild have had all year. Watching them play brought me a lot of joy. In a year where a lot of things have gone wrong there hasn't been an obvious reason to question his leadership. As fans we don't know what's happening inside the locker room, but Koivu's said and done the right things to make me feel confident in the team, probably more than they deserved sometimes. Of the people who wear letters for the Wild he's the only one whose judgement I haven't questioned this year. He sounds excited to see the younger players on the team take larger roles. Leadership might be an intangible, but saying or doing things that make this team seem functional is valuable, even if it can't be measured. If that doesn't mean anything to you, he's still leading the team in points, is a positive possession player, and wins a lot of face offs.

Dakota Case @Dakota_Case

Perhaps a big reason for his break-through is the amount of time spent on the wing, where it's clear he truly belongs at the NHL level. The hulking winger is nearly impossible to knock off the puck, and has a knack for winning puck battles down low and creating time and space for his teammates. I've called him this many times before, and I'll do so again - Charlie Coyle is a moose of a player and, while he may not win Hockey Wilderness' Minnesota Wild Regular Season MVP, ol' Chowdah's still the MVP in our hearts.

Tory Palattao @TorPalattao12

Nino Niederreiter has been a hot, Avs killing forward this season. Nino had only 9 goals when Yeo was fired then scored 11 goals when Torchetti took over and has reached 20 goals, just 4 short of last year's mark. He also has 43 points (20-23=43). As one of my editors, Chris, wrote in his latest article Nino has the most 5v5 goals on the team, is second on the team in 5v5 assists; a team-leading total of 35 points at even strength this season even though he is fourth for TOI among forwards. The success doesn't stop there though, Nino is also tied for the fastest scoring forward on the Wild at 2 P/60 at even strength this season.

Barry Campbell @bjvcampbell

These are some tough choices, as no one's season really stood head and shoulders above the rest. I love the stability Dubnyk brought in the net, I love the big step Coyle took in his development and how he looks at his natural position on the wing, and Nino absolutely blew me away after a slower start. I think it's fantastic that we are talking about two of the young guns in this conversation rather than the expected litany of veterans we usually choose from. It gives me hope that this team can remain relevant for quite some time and sooner or later will find a winning formula and some deep playoff runs. To make this decision, I had to ask myself the same question Chris Harrison asks all of the Bachelors before they hand out their final rose, "which one couldn't you live without?"

Tony Abbott @TonyWiseau

Joe Bouley @JoeBou15

It's really tough to pick any one player that really stuck out. It's been such an up and down year for this team and the players who were once hot, are now old and vice versa. However, my pick for the Wild's most valuable player is Nino Niederreiter.