By Bekki Antonelli -
The Minnesota Wild continue to have a great season, but their fourth line has almost nothing to do with it.
Minnesota is currently third in the Central Division and has only one regulation loss. The Wild was on their way to breaking an NHL record for the most minutes not trailing to begin a season. The Boston Bruins hold the record at 457:21 minutes in the 1969-70 season, when the NHL had 12 teams, including the Minnesota North Stars.
The Wild beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2 last Thursday. However, the Lightning scored 11:31 into the second period, making the score 2-1 and taking the lead. Still, Minnesota clinched second place with 391:31 minutes of being tied or ahead in regulation time. While many players are producing, a few younger players still need to.
Marat Khusnutdinov, Jakub Lauko, and Liam Ohgren have spent the last few games on the bottom of the lineup. Over the past 5 games, Khusnutdinov had one assist, Lauko had one goal, and Ohgren didn’t get a single point.
In Saturday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers, Lauko, Khusnutdinov, and Ohgren played on the 4th line. In the games prior, Gaudreau centered the 4th line, while Khusnutdinov played on the 3rd line with Marcus Foligno and Yakov Trenin.
The Flyers highlight why these players are still struggling to get ice time. One line alone wasn’t responsible for the 7 goals against, but the 4th line certainly contributed to the loss. Khusnutdinov, Lauko, and Ohgren were on the ice for the 2nd and 3rd goals and may have cost the team more if any of them had gotten more than 8 and a half minutes of ice time.
The second goal against, 3:51 into the first period, started by the Flyers rushing up the ice.
There are 2 defensemen back, and Khusnutdinov and Lauko are on the puck carrier. Lauko is in the right lane but doesn’t successfully block a pass up to old friend Nick Seeler, the Philadelphia defenseman. Seeler was wide-open and able to shoot and score.
Understandably, Lauko might have considered the puck carrier a greater threat than the late-to-the-play defenseman. However, Lauko doesn’t move his feet once he makes the pass. He watches Seeler skate in and shoot.
At 18:16 into the second period, Philadelphia scored its 3rd goal against Minnesota. Matt Boldy was out on the ice this time instead of Ohgren, and there was a delayed penalty against the Wild. Essentially penalty killing, the Wild forwards needed to fill shooting lanes. Lauko and Khunutdinov failed to do this, and Flyer’s forward Matvei Michkov was able to shoot by them both. They needed to get a stick on the puck sooner or fill the lanes.
These goals against are small mistakes; they made the difference in the Wild's winning or losing the game. However, all three players are young and in their first few seasons.
All 3 of these players are young, but Liam Ohgren, 20, is the only true rookie. This is his second season in the NHL and with the Wild, with just 10 games total. He played in only 4 games last season, spending a lot of time in the AHL and other leagues. Ohgren has been rostered for 6 games this year. He’s so early in his career that there’s little data to make future predictions, but he has a ton of potential and probably just needs more time.
Khusnutdinov is only in his second season with the NHL and the Wild, but he has played 8 games this season and 24 total. Unfortunately, his visa issues last season contributed to his not playing for Minnesota or Iowa. While Khusnutdinov got plenty of ice for HK Sochi, he may have had more developmental success in Iowa.
Lauko has more experience than Khusnutdinov and Ohgren combined, having played 91 games over 3 seasons, including this year. He has 19 points in that time. However, he played his first two seasons for the Boston Bruins and needed more time to adjust to the Minnesota systems and coaching style and find chemistry with his teammates.
Notably, much more veteran player Frederick Gaudreau has also had a difficult season and bounced around the bottom two lines. However, in the same way being teamed up on a line with Kaprizov or Zuccarello will make a player look better, Gaudreau’s difficulty producing may result from less experienced linemates.
Let's look at the Central Division leaders, the Winnipeg Jets, to give some context to these stats. 9 games into the season, they have 3 players who have played 8 or more games and only have 2 or fewer points. Last season, the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers had only one player who dressed for most games but had less than 15 points – Ryan Lomberg, with just 7 points. Minnesota isn’t wildly behind the Jets or the Panthers regarding 4th line producers, but there’s room for improvement.
Something to consider is how players with similar starts to their careers fared later on. Kirill Kaprizov may have gone straight to the NHL and scored 51 points over 55 games in his first season, but not every great player does that. Marco Rossi played only 2 NHL games in his first season and 63 AHL games. He also had complications from COVID-19.
He improved significantly in his third season for the NHL and the Wild last year and put up 40 points over 82 games. Ryan Hartman has a similar story. He played only 8 games and got 1 point in his first two NHL seasons combined, along with plenty of points and ice time for the AHL. By his third season, he played 76 games and had 31 points.
Age and extra ice time in the AHL helped these players develop and become the major contributors they are today. Khusnutdinov, Lauko, and Ohgren have growth potential and have faced setbacks, but they need to quickly figure out how to produce to help Minnesota this season.
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