Wild’s Joel Eriksson Ek’s hot start is legit
When you think of the Minnesota Wild’s top offensive weapons, you think of Kirill Kaprizov or Quinn Hughes, right?
But what about Joel Eriksson Ek?
Through the first month of the season, Eriksson Ek, a player that many love as a solid two-way center, has been one of the surprising scoring threats for the Wild. Through 17 games, the 29-year-old has posted six goals and nine assists for 15 points, placing him tied for third in goals and assists, and fourth in overall scoring. If he manages to stay healthy and keep scoring at that rate, he’ll blow his previous career best, 64 points in 2023-24, out of the water.
On Friday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Brock Seguin joined Tyler Yaremchuk to discuss how impressive Eriksson Ek has been in the early going this year.
Brock Seguin: For me, just because he was a player that I was really high on coming into the season…He’s been great thus far. 15 points in 17 games. Six of those are assists. He’s on pace for 74 points, 30 goals. The 74 points would blow away his previous career high. Really nice start for him. The shot volume has always been kind of the calling card for Joel Eriksson Ek, and the big reason why I’ve liked him in the past, and I really liked him this year, so far, 3.4 shots on goal per game is the 14th best. He’s averaging six shot attempts per game, which is incredible.
It’s not just the shot volume; it’s been the shot quality for him. He’s second in the NHL in inner slot shots per game. He’s 19th in the NHL in individual expected goals, and he’s actually scored 2.6 goals below expected, which is the 16th-worst mark in the league. So it’s possible that we haven’t even seen his ceiling yet. But you know, you’ve got this team that’s just got no centers, right?…[Eriksson Ek] is on that top line. They’ve been hesitant in the past to go with Kaprizov, Eriksson Ek and Boldy and really load up that top line, but they haven’t been hesitant to do that this year. That line is dominating every single night, and the power play is absolutely incredible as well.
You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…
