On his best day Brodin hopes to be as good as Larsson . I know people don't like to use advance stats but the do have their place so go look at their stats from last year . Larsson blows Brodin away and he was playing top pairing Brodin was playing 2nd pairing against weaker competition . Minnesota D is not that good a little overrated on here . The problem with saying that is the sum of all the parts work well together . Like the NYR D a few years back now they can not wait to move a few of those D out . I just think in the next few years we will see a repeat of this with the Wild . I hope I am wrong as I like the Wild and their fans like Winnipegs deserves some success . I would hate to lose my team and wait years to get it back so my heart goes out to the fans of both teams .
Sorry Wild fans I just don't see that D as as good as they are made out to be
Was waiting for the inevitable hyping of Larsson by EDM fans. First Yakupov, then Nurse, now Larsson.
Brodin is a good young defensive Dman . So is Larsson. One is bigger, one is more mobile. Otherwise quite similar. If Larsson played on the Wild he'd be second pairing...not because he is bad, but because Spurgeon is a better fit on the first. Previously, Brodin played on the first pairing for two years. Brodin, Larsson, Spurgeon, Scandella....all on a similar level. Spurgeon had the best year last year, but his stats were pumped up by playing with Suter and by being on the PP. Brodin didn't have a good year points wise, mainly because he didn't play with Suter...he never plays much on the PP...and also because he broke his foot blocking a shot. Otherwise it was business as usual, except that now the business was him frantically trying to make up for the mistakes of Prosser and Dumba rather than him benefitting from Suter's superb play.
To have an EDM fan say that MN's D are overrated is hilarious. How would they know what good D looks like?
MN's problem continues to be a lack consistent scoring and overall talent from the forward group. They at least used to be fast, but with aging vets and the addition of Staal and Stewart I fear they are going to be even slower this year.
Suter, Brodin, Spurgeon, Scandella, Dumba, and Reilly are all well above average to excellent skaters.
Staal, Koivu, Stewart are below average. Pominville average. Granlund and Nino slightly above average. If Parise's back doesn't heal he will go from being well above average to slightly above average. That's a lot of mediocrity in the skating department. While Koivu had an excellent year last year, only Nino and Granlund are likely to improve this year, whilst the others decline due to age. Not a winning recipe.
Unless Tuch or Ek( unlikely) comes up and produces from the forward spot the Wild will be meh up there again. If Haula proves to be a mirage, and Zucker has a repeat of last year's awful showing, they will be worse than meh, with the defense once again shouldering the load.
Brodin was overhyped in his FIRST year, because it was so odd to see an unheralded 19 yr. old come in and play good D in the NHL. Expectations went really high, because he seemed to have no physical limitations. Now that he had settled in as a 22 yo " vet", there are observations about what he can't, or won't do. Some are correct, but for the most part, people who haven't seen him play merely look at the scoresheet and register his point totals, not paying attention to the differing conditions he played under last year vs. the previous two.
Skin deep, and ultimately valueless observations. He is a better player than he was as at 19. He is filling out, and is starting to be less the victim in physical play and more the aggressor. Spurgeon has gone through a similar progression in that respect.
There is a reason that Brodin continues to be put on the ice in the last minutes of games that matter( EDM fans might not know what these are...there are things called PLAYOFF games, or games that might affect their PLAYOFF status. PLAYOFFS are thing that happen after the regular season for teams that are above average), And has since he has come into the league, while Dumba sits on the bench.
So probably a winger prospect.
