Sustainable? Nope. But the Wild Power Play Is For Real

It's hard to emphasize just how weird this feels to type: The Minnesota Wild have the best power play in the NHL.

If that's ever been true before, it's never been for long. Since the Wild's inception in 2000-01, their power play percentage has been 18.0%, 24th of 32 teams. (I refuse to split up Arizona/Utah's stats.)

The best Minnesota power play we've ever seen was in the 2023-24 season, where the Wild put up a 22.7% conversion rate. For context, 16 teams have combined for 33 seasons of a power play at 25.0% or higher. The highest they ranked league-wide was in 2006-07, when their 18.9% power play was good enough for sixth.

So, no, Wild fans have never seen something like what they've gotten through the team's first four games. 10 power play goals. A 47.8% conversion rate. Not just sitting atop the NHL leaderboard, but clearing the second-place Anaheim Ducks by over 10%. 

How rare is this in Minnesota? When you look back at their October splits, the Wild are already tied for ninth in franchise history in power-play goals. There are eight games left to reach their franchise record of 15. 

It's also pretty unusual league-wide. We've seen just four teams have a stretch like this in the last decade. The Wild haven't seen 10 PPG in four games since 2008, and this is only the fourth (or third, given that two of these stretches overlap) time in team history that they've done it. As for doing it at the start of the season, they're just the ninth team to accomplish this since 1933. 

Given that the arc of Wild history bends toward mediocrity, it's tempting to say Enjoy it now, because this isn't going to last. And look, it's not. Not like this. The highest power play percentage of all time belongs to the 2022-23 Edmonton Oilers, who converted on 32.3% of their opportunities. The other four teams to score at a 30% rate achieved this back in the 1970s. The highest "realistic" percentage a team is likely to fall in is somewhere between 27 and 29%.

But maybe the State of Hockey can expect the power play party to go on for the season, because the Wild may just have what it takes to join the elite of the elite teams.

It's felt like a long time coming. Kirill Kaprizov has 66 power-play goals since entering the league in 2020-21, tied with Alexander Ovechkin for the seventh-most during that span. Joel Eriksson Ek has become one of the best net-front scorers on the man advantage. Matt Boldy is immensely skilled. And yet, Minnesota's power play has never felt quite like the sum of its parts.

Enter Zeev Buium, who completes the puzzle and elevates the whole. 

Buium is just 19 years old, but is already operating a power play like one of the NHL's best. His five points in four games already have him tied for the most from a defenseman alongside Cale Makar, Thomas Harley, and Jake Sanderson. That's impressive, but not even his most jaw-dropping comparison to Makar. Scoring five points in his first four career games also makes him the first defenseman to get off to that hot a start since Makar stepped into the league.

The results are incredible, both individually and for the team, but it's about more than the power play getting hot. Buium's not just putting up numbers, but he's looking incredibly dynamic while doing so. 

Think of the power play quarterbacks that Minnesota has had over the years, and you'll find a bunch of defensemen who weren't ideal candidates for the job. Ryan Suter could direct traffic to low-risk areas of the ice, but lacked the speed to open up space. Matt Dumba had the speed and the shot, but lacked the pure puck skills to be a true quarterback. Jared Spurgeon is good at everything a power play quarterback needs, but doesn't have a superpower.

Buium has everything. He's an elite skater -- his top speed (22.7 mph) ranks fifth among defensemen so far this season, and he's strong at his edges. He can dangle defenders with his hands and beat goalies with his shot. And he doesn't just have everything, he's also everywhere. He's been on the ice for eight of Minnesota's power play goals, and here's where he's been as the puck crossed the goal line for each of them.

That might not even be enough to capture just how mobile Buium is. Let's watch his goal against Columbus again, this time, through NHL EDGE's Goal Visualizer. Follow number 8:

Buium goes from the middle to the left circle, then breaks all the way down to the right, finding open space to pot a behind-the-net feed. The Los Angeles Kings' penalty kill backs off, focusing on defending Kaprizov to the outside and Boldy and Eriksson Ek at the net, and Buium makes them pay.

The benefits of that mobility extend way beyond that individual play. It sets a tone. You can't leave Buium to his own devices to shadow Kaprizov and Boldy. More weapons to account for means that more space opens up, as seen on Kaprizov's goal against the Dallas Stars.

We don't see Buium moving all over in this one, and his pass to Kaprizov looks routine, something Suter or Spurgeon or Dumba could've easily done. At first glance, the credit should go entirely to Kaprizov's shot -- and it is incredible -- but upon watching how the defense moves, we see something else factoring into the play: respect.

This is what fear looks like. At first, Dallas' concerns are entirely centered on Kaprizov (97 white), with Radek Faksa (12 green) and Dumba (55 green) bracketing him to start the play. When Kaprizov dishes the puck to Buium, you start to see the respect kick in.

Sam Steel (18 green) is in Buium's shooting lane, in position to contest a pass to Boldy (12 white) or Vladimir Tarasenko (91 white). Buium doesn't even have much space to play with. But Faksa still zeroes in on Buium's path to the net, leaving Kaprizov to be single-covered by Dumba in the slot, where Kaprizov can use his defender as a screen.

In previous seasons, teams had to respect Kaprizov's scoring touch, Boldy's skill, and Eriksson Ek's ability to trample around the crease. Once the puck bounced to the outside or the point, that fear went away, as the Wild's power play quarterbacks didn't offer a threat to do much with the puck other than pass it to one half-wall or the other. Buium's presence changes all that.

The rookie sensation is the reason why, even if the Wild can't possibly score on half its opportunities on the man advantage, we shouldn't see this hot start as a mirage.

Looking at the best power plays in recent memory, they have had two elite forwards and an all-world power play quarterback running the show. Connor McDavid/Leon Draisaitl/Evan Bouchard in Edmonton, Nathan MacKinnon/Mikko Rantanen/Makar in Colorado, Nikita Kucherov/Brayden Point/Victor Hedman in Tampa Bay. We'll have to wait for the end of the year to see how things shake out, but it's clear the Wild finally have the basic ingredients for a special unit.