Jonas Brodin played in 62 games last year for the Wild. he recorded seven goals, 27 points, and was a plus-22. His plus-22 rating was the second highest of his career. He was a plus-23 during the 2017-18 season.
Brodin, 30, has been a top defensive defenseman for quite some time. Ever since he was drafted in 2011 NHL draft, Brodin has been one of the best when it comes to shutting down offense in the defensive zone.
Last year, Brodin ranked eighth in the entire NHL in xGA which is expected goals against. xGA measures the total expected goal value of all Fenwick shots. According to Evolving Hockey.
In fact, Brodin has been in the top ten in xGA three times in the last five years and even led the league in xGA during the 2019-20 season. He has had two "off years" in the last five years. His off years are still pretty dang good.
He was third in the NHL in xGA during the 2021-22 season with a -2.71. In 2020-21 Brodin ranked 24th with a -2.11 rating. He wasn't that much worse than his third place finish the next year. The only thing that changed was the rest of the league.
Lucky for the Wild, when Brodin doesn't finish in the top ten in xGA, Jared Spurgeon picks up the weight.
Jonas Brodin and Jared Spurgeon's ranks in xGA the last five years.
Data By Evolving Hockey/Photo By Dylan Loucks.
As you can see in the chart above, Spurgeon has finished in the top 15 in the two years Brodin did not.
Last year in Brodin's 62 games played, he ranked fifth in EVD and Def, ranked 28th in Goals Above Replacement, and 31st in Wins Above Replacement.
According to RonoHockey, Brodin ranked as the top defensive defensemen in the NHL based on role difficulty. Guys like Olli Määttä and Trevor Van Riemsdyk had great seasons defensively and both rank ahead of Brodin in EVD and Def but their roles are much different.
Määttä played in 72 games last year for the Detroit Red Wings, ten more than Brodin, but played almost 300 less minutes than Brodin did despite playing in ten more games. Van Riemsdyk played in 70 games last year for the Washington Capitals but played 100 less minutes than Brodin.
Brodin was getting the toughest minutes of any Wild defensemen last year when he was in the lineup and still ranked top ten in basically every defensive metric we have available.
The Wild have Brodin under contract for the next four seasons at just a $6,000,000 average annual salary. Over the years, Brodin has continued to prove that he is one of the most underrated defenders in the game and last year was no different.
