The Puck Stops Here
An Overworked Defence
by PuckStopsHere on 11/03/10 at 11:44 PM ET
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The Minnesota Wild have had a strong defence this year. They are tied for third in goals against with 2.27 goals against per game. That strength has the Wild in tenth place in the West Conference with a 5-6 record (with two regulation tie points). In other words, Minnesota requires a strong defence in order to be successful and even with that defence they are in tough to make the playoffs.
Minnesota is overplaying the key members of their defence in order to have their defensive success so far. In terms of shifts per game, the top four Wild defencemen are among the six most overplayed in the league. Brent Burns leads the league with 33.7 shifts per game. Marek Zidlicky, Nick Schultz and Greg Zanon are fourth, fifth and sixth respectively in shifts per game in the league.
Edmonton’s overworked pairing of Ryan Whitney and Tom Gilbert break up the wild foursome.
Overworked players often suffer injuries and are not at 100% come playoff time (should Minnesota make the playoffs). Minnesota is running the risk of having their defence hurt by injuries.
Last year, this Minnesota Wild foursome was among the top eight in shifts per game with Marek Zidlicky leading the league. Last year, Brent Burns missed over thirty games with a concussion and a hip injury. He was the only one of the four Wild defencemen to fall to injury, but with their overplay I predict that more defensive injuries are likely this season.
Minnesota does not have much defensive depth beside these four. They have Cam Barker, who is their only other player with significant NHL experience. Justin Falk and Clayton Stoner are largely unproven.
Minnesota depends very strongly upon four defencemen. These defencemen are among the league leaders in shifts and have been since Todd Richards took over as the wild coach. Their number of shifts has increased marginally in the early season so far. This situation is in danger of leading to defensive injury. Minnesota does not have defensive depth to handle this and they seem unable to make the playoffs even when their overworked defensive foursome keeps goals against down. Thus, I am predicting the Minnesota Wild remain out of a playoff berth and probably fall further back from their current position as their defencemen get tired and less effective and likely injured.
Filed in: | The Puck Stops Here | Permalink
Tags: Brent+Burns, Greg+Zanon, Marek+Zidlicky, Minnesota+Wild, Nick+Schultz,
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