Noon Number for 9-4-2013: (-9)

The Wild got 95 points from their defensemen in 2011-2012.

I can't find the numbers by team, but I'm fairly sure at the time that we were talking about it as if it were last in the NHL. The league leader in goals, Pittsburgh, had 153 points from their blueline. The fifteenth-highest scoring team (New Jersey, who also lacked big names on their blueline) had 107. Even Los Angeles, who finished 29th in goals, ran circles around the Wild in terms of defensemen scoring with 142 points from their defensive corps.

And what did they get for their troubles? A measly 86 points from their blueline last year.

86.

That's 9 less than the year before.

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! SPENDING 98 MILLION DOLLARS AND IT MAKES THE OFFENSE WORST THEN LAST YEAR, MIKE YO SHOULD BE FIRED AND I CANT BELEAVE TAHT FRAUD RYAN SUTER COULDN'T MAKE THE OFFENSE ANY BETTER FIRE FLETCHERFIREYOFIREKOIVUFIRESUTER-

what?

...Really?...

Oops, I guess that was in only 48 games.

Moving on.

So yeah, the Wild actually improved their blueline production last year- the numbers from last year, extrapolated over a full season, would have gotten the Wild 147 points from their defensemen, an improvement of over 50 points.

But it's nice to see that our 98 million dollar man and 19-year-old übermensch made such a big impact on this team.