By Tony Abbott -
Coming off a frustrating season in which the Minnesota Wild missed the playoffs with little salary cap room to improve, Bill Guerin and the front office had few options. Minnesota was going to have to make internal improvements.
Was that help going to come from prospects stepping up? Older players getting bounce-back seasons? Superstars giving even more than before? Who knew? All that Minnesota knew was that they needed something to be different.
After a 13-3-3 start that gives them the second-most standings points in the NHL, there is no shortage of heroes in St. Paul. Filip Gustavsson is back to his 2022-23 form with a .926 save percentage and a 9-3-2 record. Freddy Gaudreau, Jake Middleton, and Marcus Foligno are having much stronger seasons than last year. Offensive bellcows like Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy, and Marco Rossi are all reaching new heights.
But the biggest difference between last season and this is that No. 46 is back in the Wild lineup. Captain Jared Spurgeon has been back for 13 of Minnesota's 19 games, only three away from matching his total from last season.
Spurgeon has arguably taken a bit of a backseat this year; he's fourth among Wild defensemen in points (6) and average time on ice (19:47). Still, Spurgeon is an undeniable part of Minnesota's bounce-back year.
That was the case last night when the Wild faced off against the Edmonton Oilers, an on-paper improvement over last year's Cup finalist teams. Jonas Brodin has the reputation of being the Connor McDavid-stopper, but Spurgeon was right with him on the ice last night.
Brodin and Spurgeon logged over 10.5 minutes head-to-head with McDavid at 5-on-5. McDavid got one unblocked shot attempt in those 10-plus minutes last night, which came 36 feet away from Gustavsson.
That should be no surprise to anyone who's watched Spurgeon play this year... or frankly, any of the 14 seasons that have come before it. He's doing what he's always done, getting the better of the play and often the better of the other team on the score sheet. Spurgeon has out-scored his opponents by a 12-to-7 margin this season, a 63.2% of the goal share that ranks 23rd among the 176 defensemen with 200-plus 5-on-5 minutes.
That's ridiculous, but let's go one step further: He's not getting the results to match his stellar underlying numbers. Spurgeon controls 65.8% of the expected goals share, tops in the NHL among those 176 defensemen, and it's not that close. Second place is Shayne Gostisbehere (63.4%), who is on a 5-on-5 juggernaut out East.
Spurgeon is a 5-on-5 juggernaut all to himself. As great as Brock Faber or Middleton have been this year, Spurgeon is leading Minnesota in expected goals for (2.77) and against (1.44) per hour. Spurgeon is celebrating his 35th birthday next week and reaggravated a season-ending injury earlier this season. Still, he's been playing at this high of a level. As long as Spurgeon can take the ice, nothing is slowing him down.
It also helps that his offensive contributions have nearly all come in the clutch. Of his six assists, four gave the Wild the lead, two of them as game-winners, and a fifth one was on an insurance goal in the third period. Of course, none were bigger than his heads-up, defense-to-offense play in overtime against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Wild must have a team effort to get back to the playoffs, and Spurgeon is far from the only player leading their charge up the standings. But there's no doubting this: Spurgeon's once again being a rock for the Wild and making a difference. We know where the Wild were last year without him and where they are with him, and any Wild fan would easily choose the latter.
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