[Wild About Numbers]: Who Have Been The Wild's Best Even Strength Scorers This Season?

Today I'm gonna look at which Wild forwards and defencemen have been the most efficient scorers at even strength this years. I'll be ranking them by Goals/60 (per 60 minutes), Points/60 and Primary Points/60. Primary points are goals and first assists. I'll only be including players who have played at least 25% of the games this season (14 games). Please note, this data was compiled before the Tampa Bay game, so it's not 100% up to date.

Forwards

-Chart shows the amount of games each forward player, their ES Sh% and their G/60 (which it is sorted by):

	Player	Pos.	Team	GP	Sh%	G/60
1	Justin Fontaine	R	Wild	50	16.4%	1.09
2	Jason Pominville	R	Wild	57	14.4%	1.07
3	Jason Zucker	L	Wild	19	8.3%	0.79
4	Matt Cooke	L	Wild	57	11.9%	0.67
5	Nino Niederreiter	R	Wild	57	7.5%	0.66
6	Zach Parise	L	Wild	42	6.7%	0.64
7	Erik Haula	L	Wild	23	9.1%	0.61
8	Mikko Koivu	C	Wild	44	7.5%	0.51
9	Dany Heatley	L	Wild	57	9.8%	0.5
10	Charlie Coyle	C	Wild	45	6.4%	0.46
11	Stephane Veilleux	L	Wild	24	16.7%	0.35
12	Mikael Granlund	C	Wild	44	5.7%	0.3
13	Zenon Konopka	C	Wild	36	7.1%	0.26
14	Kyle Brodziak	C	Wild	57	3.0%	0.16
15	Torrey Mitchell	C	Wild	53	2.6%	0.13

• Justin Fontaine and his 16.4% shooting lead the way. It's gonna be interesting to see how Fonzy performs when his shooting luck deserts him for a while, because there's no way he keeps scoring at that rate.

• Brodziak has a very good career Sh%, so I imagine he won't be shooting 3% for long. He seems to be lacking in confidence, which isn't helping.

-This chart is sorted by Points/60

	Player	Pos.	Team	GP	P/60
1	Mikael Granlund	C	Wild	44	2.02
2	Jason Pominville	R	Wild	57	1.86
3	Matt Cooke	L	Wild	57	1.75
4	Justin Fontaine	R	Wild	50	1.63
5	Nino Niederreiter	R	Wild	57	1.56
6	Zach Parise	L	Wild	42	1.55
7	Mikko Koivu	C	Wild	44	1.46
8	Charlie Coyle	C	Wild	45	1.38
9	Erik Haula	L	Wild	23	1.23
10	Torrey Mitchell	C	Wild	53	1.2
11	Dany Heatley	L	Wild	57	1.08
12	Kyle Brodziak	C	Wild	57	1.03
13	Jason Zucker	L	Wild	19	0.79
14	Zenon Konopka	C	Wild	36	0.51
15	Stephane Veilleux	L	Wild	24	0.35

• Mikael Granlund, the guy who was called garbage, too small and a bust before the start of the season, is scoring ES points at a faster rate than any other Wild player this season. This has been aided by Jason Pominville's lights-out shooting but still, the kid is doing a damn fine job.

• Matt Cooke's scoring is very impressive, given his defensive role and minutes.

-This chart is sorted by Primary Points (P1)/60. That's goals and first assists:

	Player	Pos.	Team	GP	P1/60	A/60
1	Jason Pominville	R	Wild	57	1.57	0.79
2	Matt Cooke	L	Wild	57	1.42	1.09
3	Justin Fontaine	R	Wild	50	1.41	0.54
4	Mikko Koivu	C	Wild	44	1.37	0.94
5	Nino Niederreiter	R	Wild	57	1.31	0.9
6	Mikael Granlund	C	Wild	44	1.31	1.72
7	Zach Parise	L	Wild	42	1.19	0.91
8	Dany Heatley	L	Wild	57	0.92	0.58
9	Charlie Coyle	C	Wild	45	0.83	0.92
10	Torrey Mitchell	C	Wild	53	0.8	1.07
11	Jason Zucker	L	Wild	19	0.79	0
12	Erik Haula	L	Wild	23	0.61	0.61
13	Zenon Konopka	C	Wild	36	0.51	0.26
14	Kyle Brodziak	C	Wild	57	0.48	0.87
15	Stephane Veilleux	L	Wild	24	0.35	0

• Granlund and Parise fall down the rankings a bit here, while Miko Koivu jumps up to 4th.

-This table shows Shots/60, Fenwick For (individual unblocked shot attempts)/60 and Corsi For (shot attempts)/60. It is sorted by CF/60:

	Player	Pos.	Team	GP	S/60	FF/60	CF/60
1	Jason Zucker	L	Wild	19	9.5	13.2	15.8
2	Zach Parise	L	Wild	42	9.5	11.9	15.1
3	Nino Niederreiter	R	Wild	57	8.7	11.6	13.8
4	Mikko Koivu	C	Wild	44	6.9	10.5	13.8
5	Jason Pominville	R	Wild	57	7.4	10.5	12.9
6	Stephane Veilleux	L	Wild	24	7.3	9.4	12.5
7	Erik Haula	L	Wild	23	6.7	9.5	11.6
8	Justin Fontaine	R	Wild	50	6.6	9.1	11.3
9	Kyle Brodziak	C	Wild	57	5.3	7.9	11
10	Charlie Coyle	C	Wild	45	7.2	8.5	10.6
11	Matt Cooke	L	Wild	57	5.6	7.8	10.5
12	Dany Heatley	L	Wild	57	5.1	7.1	9.5
13	Torrey Mitchell	C	Wild	53	5.2	6.7	9.5
14	Mikael Granlund	C	Wild	44	5.4	6.8	8.6
15	Zenon Konopka	C	Wild	36	3.6	5.4	6.4

• These numbers give me a lot of hope for Jason Zucker's future development. He generates shot attempts at a faster rate than any other Wild player. Getting the puck on net more leads to more goals, so if he keeps doing this he will find himself lighting the lamp more and more.

• Mikael Granlund just doesn't attempt enough shots. He's a great passer so it's understandable but when Torrey Mitchell is attempting shots more regularly than you, then there's a problem.

Defencemen

-Sorted by G/60:

	Player	Pos.	Team	GP	Sh%	G/60
1	Nate Prosser	D	Wild	31	12.5%	0.29
2	Keith Ballard	D	Wild	36	9.1%	0.27
3	Jonas Brodin	D	Wild	54	10.0%	0.22
4	Marco Scandella	D	Wild	54	4.8%	0.21
5	Ryan Suter	D	Wild	57	4.3%	0.14
6	Jared Spurgeon	D	Wild	43	0%	0
7	Clayton Stoner	D	Wild	51	0%	0

• No surprise to see Nate Prosser on top here. He's shooting 12.5%, so I wouldn't expect to see him up here much in future.

• Brodin is also shooting at a pretty unsustainable percentage.

• Something to be happy about; Suter, Scandella and Spurgeon are due some goals. #20 and #6 are both shooting around 4%, which seems a bit low for two guys who can shoot really really well and are generating plenty of shots and shot attempts (Scandella in particular). Spurgeon hasn't scored yet, but he is generating so many shot attempts (as you will see below) that it's only a matter of time before he starts cashing-in.

-Sorted by P/60:

	Player	Pos.	Team	GP	P/60
1	Marco Scandella	D	Wild	54	1.1
2	Keith Ballard	D	Wild	36	0.95
3	Nate Prosser	D	Wild	31	0.87
4	Ryan Suter	D	Wild	57	0.79
5	Jared Spurgeon	D	Wild	43	0.67
6	Jonas Brodin	D	Wild	54	0.43
7	Clayton Stoner	D	Wild	51	0.39

• Marco Scandella has been the Wild's most efficient defenceman in terms of scoring at even-strength. This is pretty amazing considering he is shooting at a pretty low percentage himself.

-Sorted by P1/60:

	Player	Pos.	Team	GP	A/60	P1/60
1	Keith Ballard	D	Wild	36	0.68	0.54
2	Jared Spurgeon	D	Wild	43	0.67	0.5
3	Marco Scandella	D	Wild	54	0.89	0.48
4	Nate Prosser	D	Wild	31	0.58	0.29
5	Ryan Suter	D	Wild	57	0.65	0.28
6	Jonas Brodin	D	Wild	54	0.22	0.22
7	Clayton Stoner	D	Wild	51	0.39	0.2

• Jared Spurgeon jumps up the rankings here, with Ballard going to number one.

-Sorted by CF/60:

	Player	Pos.	Team	GP	S/60	FF/60	CF/60
1	Jared Spurgeon	D	Wild	43	4	6.8	10
2	Marco Scandella	D	Wild	54	4.3	6.2	9.4
3	Clayton Stoner	D	Wild	51	3.6	4.6	7.7
4	Keith Ballard	D	Wild	36	3	4.6	7.5
5	Ryan Suter	D	Wild	57	3.3	4.7	7.5
6	Nate Prosser	D	Wild	31	2.3	4.5	6.2
7	Jonas Brodin	D	Wild	54	2.2	3.4	5.8

• It's no surprise that Spurgeon and Scandella are generating the most shot attempts and unblocked shot attempts given that they are the Wilds best puck possession defencemen. They are generating around 2 unblocked shot attempts more per 60 minutes than the rest of the pack.

• Brodin is notable at the bottom here. Once again, it isn't surprising given his poor puck possession numbers.