By Nick
I'm working on a longer piece that will outline the keys to the season for the Wild. But, in the process of putting that together, I crunched a bunch of numbers. It occurred to me that some other people might be as into this kind of data as I am, and if I posted them, it could serve as a reference point for the season keys piece. I used CapFriendly and hockey-reference as sources. This means the ages are a snapshot (as of mid-August). And some data points are missing (Foligno's cap hit, for example). I used goalies for purposes of salary cap expenditure, but not for GP. This will be worth updating once opening day rosters are set.
Here's the Wild's profile:
Forwards: Parise, Koivu, Granlund, Niederreiter, Ennis, Staal, Coyle, Zucker, Stewart, Cullen, Kunin, Eriksson Ek, Ferraro, Foligno.
Defense: Suter, Spurgeon, Brodin, Dumba, Quincey, Olofsson, Murphy.
Goalies: Dubnyk, Stalock.
Average Age
All Players: 27.39
Forwards: 27.50
Defense: 26.29
Goalies: 30.50
Salary Cap
Total Expenditure: $70.36M
% Total Cap Hit to Forwards: 61.48%
% Total Cap Hit to Defense: 31.43%
% Total Cap Hit to Goalies: 7.08%
'16-17 Season
Total GP: 1,267
Total Points (G+A): 646
5 Highest Salary Cap Hit Players
% of Total Points (G+A): 41.18%
% of Total Salary Cap Expenditure: 46.66%
Average Age: 29.60
5 Oldest Players
% of Total Points (G+A): 47.06%
% of Total Salary Cap Expenditure: 54.03%
Average Age: 34.20
Now, here are the same categories, showing where the Wild ranks within the Central Division:
Average Age (1st = oldest, 7th = youngest)
All Players: 4th
Forwards: 2nd
Defense: 6th
Goalies: 3rd
Salary Cap (1st = greatest, 7th = least)
Total Expenditure: 4th
% Total Cap Hit to Forwards: 3rd
% Total Cap Hit to Defense: 4th
% Total Cap Hit to Goalies: 7th
'16-17 Season (1st = most, 7th = least)
Total GP: 3rd
Total Points (G+A: 1st
5 Highest Salary Cap Hit Players (1st = highest, 7th = least)
% of Total Points (G+A): 6th
% of Total Salary Cap Expenditure: 4th
Average Age: 2nd
5 Oldest Players (1st = highest, 7th = least)
% of Total Points (G+A): 5th
% of Total Salary Cap Expenditure: 2nd
Average Age: 2nd
Takeaways:
The Wild is right in the middle of the division in terms of age. Older than Colorado, Winnipeg, and Nashville. Younger than Chicago, St. Louis, and Dallas.
The Wild's cap hit expenditure is reasonable, both in general, and at the positional level (and Duby and Stalock are cheap).
The Wild's five highest-paid players accounted for a nearly 20% smaller percentage of the team's overall points than Chicago's 5 highest-paid players did (Chicago's were the highest in the division). This suggests they're not getting enough scoring from the top of the payroll.
The Wild's five oldest players are not contributing on the scoresheet as much as the five oldest players from other teams in the division. Yet, they take up a relatively high percentage of the total cap outlay, as compared to the other teams in the division. And that group is relatively old, vs. the division. However, we also know they scored a heck of a lot last season. This suggests they are not as reliant on their top/oldest players. In other words: they have depth.
As always, please drop by our message boards to discuss topic.
