Minnesota Wild: What’s the issue on defense?

The Minnesota Wild are off to a solid start in their 2015-16 season, currently sitting at third in the Western Conference standings. However, the buzz around the Wild lately has been in regards to the weak defensive play they’ve displayed recently.

In Michael Russo’s latest column at the Minneapolis Start Tribune, head coach Mike Yeo stressed that the team has worked hard to become a better offensive team. In turn, the Wild have suffered defensively, as they have allowed 2.91 goals per game this season, good for 21st in the NHL.

“We’ve worked awfully hard to try to become a better offensive team, and that’s helped get us through some of our areas that haven’t been good enough [this season],” coach Mike Yeo says in Russo’s article. “It’s also helped contribute to some of the reasons why we’re not as strong [defensively].”

So, what has exactly been the issue on defense for the Wild?

An article over at the Minnesota Wild SB Nation blog Hockey Wilderness took a deep look into the statistics of the issue. Surprisingly, the Wild are fairing as good or better in many defensive categories. For example, the Wild are actually allowing goals at the same exact rate per 60 minutes as last season in 5v5 situations (2.2). Additionally, the Wild are allowing 22.9 regular scoring chances per 60 minutes, compared to last season’s rate of 23.6.

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Moreover, the Wild are actually allowing less shot attempts this season compared to last season. In 2014-15, the Wild finished 13th in the NHL in shot attempts allowed in 5v5 situations per 60 minutes with 51.2. This season, that number has decreased to 50.5 shot attempts per 60, good enough for 7th in the NHL.

From this information, there appear to be two answers to the question of the title of this article. First of all, Devan Dubynk has not lived up to expectations after his fantastic season a year ago. Despite his 7-2-1 record, he’s put up a modest 2.59 goals-against average and a .898 save percentage. Should we be concerned about it? Not really. According to the Hockey Wilderness article linked above, Dubnyk has given up seven low-danger shots in 11 games this season, compared to 12 in 38 games last season. This trend will almost certainly not continue.

Also, the Wild have been poor on the penalty kill this season, as they rank 24th in the NHL at just 76 percent. This is the biggest area of concern for me moving forward for the Wild. If they can get this resolved, I expect this team appear much more stingy on defense.

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