An NHL executive once told me that
Jonas Brodin would be the first shutdown defenseman he’d pick out of the entire league to defend
Connor McDavid one-on-one. The numbers this season appear to agree. Playing on a shutdown pair next to
Matt Dumba, Brodin has been an essential bedrock on Minnesota’s blue line for years.
Brodin is also symbolic of how the definition of a shutdown defender has changed. The 28-year-old doesn’t bully players physically, intimidate or block a ton of shots like the defensive defensemen of yesteryear — Brodin wins because of his mobility, impeccable positioning and clever defensive stickwork. Wild GM Bill Guerin did a fantastic job explaining what makes Brodin special in
Michael Russo’s feature story a few months ago.
“He’s got kind of that (Nicklas) Lidstrom quality to him where he doesn’t kill you with a bodycheck, he doesn’t do anything to physically harm you or anything like that, but after the game, you’re confused as to why that was so difficult,” said Guerin. “That was the same thing playing against Nick. He never laid a hand on you, but you couldn’t get by him, you couldn’t dump a puck past him, you couldn’t get a hit on him, and he just broke out. Anytime you’d get to a puck at the same time, he’d be a little quicker than you. Brodes has some of those elements to his game.”