Jonas Brodin Is the Glue Holding the Wild Defense Together

While Jesper Wallstedt got his flowers for shutting out the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night, it's hard to argue that the difference for the Minnesota Wild wasn't Jonas Brodin. The shutdown defenseman is notorious in Alberta for coming the closest to anyone in the NHL to putting a lid on Connor McDavid, and Tuesday was no exception. In nine five-on-five minutes against McDavid, Brodin played Edmonton to a draw in scoring chances -- three per side. And then, of course, he potted the only score of the night, beating Stuart Skinner clean on a slap shot.

Everyone in Minnesota knows Brodin's game. He's spent nearly a decade and a half being one of the NHL's premier one-way defensemen -- and that's no insult. Brodin's mobility rarely translates to offense, but he's such a good shutdown option that the Wild are perennially an elite defensive team.

Or at least, were, until this year. The Wild are sixth in Goals Allowed per hour at 5-on-5, but that's mainly due to Wallstedt and Filip Gustavsson's performance in net. When you isolate the Wild's defense, the results are alarming. They're third-to-last in the league in allowing shots at 5-on-5 (30.0 per hour), and tied for 23rd in Expected Goals Against per hour (2.85). Even if we ignore October and focus only on their November turnaround, the Wild are still middle-of-the-pack in allowing expected goals (2.74 per hour, 17th). 

It's a shaky position to be in, but Minnesota would be in much worse shape if it weren't for Brodin being automatic in his own zone.

You won't find Brodin among the league leaders in expected goals allowed, and that's primarily because of the Wild's slippage in team defense. When you stack him up against the rest of the Wild blueline, though, there's no doubt that he's still an ace defenseman. 

5-on-5 Expected Goals Against per hour, Wild Defense, 2025-26:

1. Jonas Brodin: 2.45
2. Jared Spurgeon: 2.59
3. Jake Middleton: 2.66
4. Brock Faber: 2.83
5. Daemon Hunt: 3.19
6. Zeev Buium: 3.29
7. Zach Bogosian: 3.41
8. David Jiříček: 3.74

Brodin's defense holding to his usual standard would obviously be a huge difference-maker for the Wild by itself. But now is the time to reveal that we're burying the lede a bit here. Brodin is one of the league's best defenders and is a near-constant, it's old news. What's more interesting is that Minnesota is pushing the pace more with Brodin on the ice than with anyone else. 

That's a fact that might make you feel like we're in the Upside Down, but it's true. Brodin has played 38.0% of the Wild's 5-on-5 minutes, but the team has scored 23 of its 45 goals (51.1%) during that time. Faber is second with just 18 on-ice goals at 5-on-5. This isn't just a factor of shooting percentage, either. Brodin's 23.91 on-ice expected goals also lead the club.

Add up both sides of his game, and you're talking about a defenseman who's punching well above his usual weight. Through the first third of the season, Brodin is in the top-10 league-wide in terms of all-around impact, according to Evolving-Hockey's Standings Points Above Replacement metric:

SPAR, Defensemen, 2025-26

Josh Morrissey, WPG: 3.5
Esa Lindell, DAL: 3.2
Moritz Seider, DET: 3.2
Miro Heiskanen, DAL: 3.2
Cale Makar, COL: 3.0
Matthew Schaefer, NYI: 2.9
Nate Schmidt, UTA: 2.8
Jakob Chychrun, WSH: 2.7
JONAS BRODIN, MIN: 2.7
Mattias Samuelsson, BUF: 2.7

Overall, he's 14th in the NHL in SPAR, with the forwards ahead of him being Nathan MacKinnon, Jason Robertson, Roope Hintz, Leon Draisaitl, and Mitch Marner. You'll notice that none of those names are Matt Boldy or Kirill Kaprizov (2.3 SPAR each). No one's going to give a defensive defenseman on-pace for a 28-point season MVP consideration -- and they probably shouldn't -- but that doesn't make what Brodin's doing any less impactful.

If we were handing out a trophy for the Team MVP for the first third of the season, you can bet Brodin would be in the mix for it. He's maintained his usual excellence and even seems to be finding another notch as the team has largely slipped around him. The Wild are six points ahead of the Western Conference's top Wild Card spot, and it's tough to imagine that happening without Brodin.