[Wild About Numbers]: The Great Nino Niederreiter vs Charlie Coyle Debate

I figured that the best way to approach this would be to examine the numbers for each player this season in terms of usage, TOI, competition, teammates, scoring, possession etc. to see how they are being deployed and who is producing better results.

Before I begin, it's worth noting that Coyle missed 12 games this season through injury has spent most of his time playing RW but did spend some time as a C earlier in the year. Niederreiter has been used at LW and RW and has played every game this season.

-Here's a quick glossary of some of the abbreviations I have used in the tables below:

Coyle:

Coyle:

Nino:

Coyle:

Nino:

One of his assets that makes coaches drool over him (and maybe the reason for his disproportionate ice time) is his size, or his "NHL body" as a scout might call it. This makes some sense, particularly on the powerplay where he can use his size to disrupt things in front of the net.

But Nino is a big player too, coming in at the same height as Coyle but 1 kg heavier and something that Nino has done this year that Coyle has failed to do is to make his presence felt game after game by punishing defencemen and by causing havoc in the crease. It's become a common sight in Wild games to see 2 or 3 opposition players trying to tear Nino to shreds while he pokes at the puck under their goalie. They're both big bodied young wingers (Coyle is 22, Nino is 21) and, in my opinion, the prime opportunities should be given to the one who earns it, which has been Nino up to this point.

Another argument as to why Coyle is now being put on a line where he won't have to carry the play as much could be that Mike Yeo has recognised that Niederreiter doesn't need mentoring and can give some spark to that 3rd line while Coyle has struggled somewhat. If this is true, I'm not sure I agree with it. For a team that is fairly mediocre at generating offence, a player like Nino should be given the chance to play with a playmaker of Koivu's stature to see if they can cash in and generate some goalscoring.

Nino is scoring ES points at a faster rate than any Wild player except for Mikael Granlund and Jason Pominville and yet is getting less TOI per game than Dany Heatley. There is something very very wrong there. Not only is he a more efficient scorer than Heatley, he can actually drive play and isn't a puck possession black hole or a defensive liability.

During some of the discussions on this topic that we've had in several recent threads it has been implied once or twice that the people pushing for Nino to get more minutes over Coyle have some kind of personal grudge against Coyle or think he's a bad player. This is a ridiculous point of view. It's about what makes the team better, nothing personal at all. These are the kind of issues that become part and parcel of discussions when your team is actually good. These are the kind of issues we should welcome.

I know people are very attached to Coyle and like him a lot because he's a Wild prospect who we've watched come up through the ranks and into the NHL, but right now he is behind the younger Niederreiter in terms of overall skill. As a fan, you should want what's best for the team, not what's best for the players you like the most. What's best for the team right now, in my opinion, is for Niederreiter to be getting prime minutes in situations where he can use his considerable skillset to maximise the Wild's advantage.

I think the best lines going forward are: