At the trade deadline, the Minnesota Wild swung a little trade for Jeff Petry, sending the Florida Panthers a conditional seventh-round pick for the veteran defenseman.
After adding Quinn Hughes, the Wild’s defensive core seemed to be set. When healthy, the Wild arguably have the best defensive corps in the NHL. Jake Middleton and Zach Bogosian served as a veteran bruiser pair, and captain Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin are the shutdown defensemen. After acquiring Hughes, they paired him with Brock Faber to play heavy minutes and drive offense from the top.
The Wild seemed set on the blueline, and Petry would just be an extra defender who has seen a thing or two with over 1,000 NHL games played.
But the Wild have endured a string of injuries, and Petry has drawn into a few games. The results have been better than expected. Playing mostly with Middleton, that third pair has played better than expected. More importantly, better than what the Wild were getting with the Bogosian-Middleton pair.
So, what is the best Minnesota Wild lineup come playoff time?
I don’t think Middleton is coming out of the lineup anytime soon. He’s been an iron man this season and has settled into a better role as a third-pairing player rather than a top-four defender.
Bogosian came to the Wild for the same price Petry did, a conditional seventh rounder. Bogosian doesn’t drive winning, but he plays a limited role well.
Teams don’t need much from their third-pair defensemen. Essentially, as long as a team’s third-pair defensemen aren’t a defensive liability, they’re doing their job. They barely play for more than 10 minutes a game.
The Wild like Bogosian because he brings a physical edge and is an imposing presence at 6-foot-3, 231 lbs. That’s a big boy on the back end.
Hughes, Spurgeon, and Faber move the puck well, seemingly making Petry’s strength redundant. Petry is not a physical player by any stretch, but he’s still 6-foot-3, 208 lbs. And, believe it or not, Petry has more hits per 60 minutes than Bogosian in his time with Minnesota this year.
Petry has made a bigger offensive impact than Bogosian. He ranks ahead of him in individual expected goals, goals for, and expected goals per 60 minutes, all stats that indicate a player’s offensive impact.
Bogosian blocks 2 shots per game more than Petry has since joining the Wild, and has the trust and tenure with Wild head coach John Hynes. That alone probably gives Bogosian the edge.
Petry has nearly 50 playoff games of experience, slightly less than Bogosian, who has 60 and won a Cup. Both have way more than Middleton, who has 18 playoff games under his belt. This season, Petry, 38, played 58 games for the Panthers and has collected eight points, but hasn’t scored a goal.
Daemon Hunt has also played well in limited minutes. He’s a younger defender (23) who’s not as big in body (6-foot-1, 193 lbs.) or as experienced as the other two. Therefore, he’ll be riding the pine pony unless injuries strike the team hard in the next few weeks.
The only way I could see Petry starting game 1 in Dallas, aside from injuries, is if the Wild wants to roll their pairs a bit more. Petry is far better at breaking out of his own zone and moving the puck than Bogosian, allowing the Wild to play a more balanced style on the back end. Hughes leads the league in time on ice, and they’ll probably ride him even more in the playoffs. But playing Petry gives the team the ability to play him a little less.
As it stands now, the Wild have had Bogosian playing, and they seem to like the pair of him and Middleton. They acquired Petry as insurance. While he’s been good in a small sample size, it would be a shock to see him in the press box when the playoffs start.
All stats and data via HockeyDB and Evolving Hockey unless otherwise noted.
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