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The NHL offseason continues for the Minnesota Wild, and while the NHL Entry Draft draws closer along with free agency, there’s still nearly a month left until the draft. That means it’s time for another report card on one of the Wild’s players. We’ve already covered both goaltenders, Filip Gustavsson and Marc-André Fleury, so now it’s time to move on to the defensemen.
The Wild’s defensive core was shaken up this season, with several key players injured, and others had to step up. One of those players was Alex Goligoski, who will receive the next report card. Despite being a veteran defenseman, Goligoski found himself on the outside looking in a lot this season, and that’s where we’ll start and move on to the good before giving his overall grade.
Goligoski’s Age Became a Factor
Unfortunately for Goligoski, he’s on the tail end of his career, and even before this season, the number of games he played had started to drop. In his first season with the Wild, 2021-22, he played in 72 games. The next season, it fell to 46 games played, with a number of those being scratches, and finally, this season, it was 36 games played again with healthy scratches.
In the few games he did play, it’s clear his game has started to slow down, which is normal as he is 38 years old. He’s not playing badly, just not as quickly as his teammates, and that has caused more turnovers and mistakes than in the past. Despite the dwindling number of minutes he’s played, he did spend more time in the penalty box, with 18 minutes compared to 16 the season before.
This season, he had 12 turnovers, three takeaways, 41 blocks, and 27 hits. Those numbers were down due to his decreased play, but the turnovers were still a little high, especially for a defenseman. With most of the season watching from the sidelines, he’ll likely want to move on if another team has an interest in him because the Wild will also need to move on.
Goligoski’s Bright Spots
Every player has bright spots in their play, even the ones who’ve struggled the most. Goligoski wasn’t horrible, but he wasn’t a star either. However, he did shine in a few spots that deserve mentioning. Since he’s a defenseman, and his main priority is preventing goals, his blocked shots are the first area to point out. He had 41 this past season, which was about a block per game, and that’s what every defenseman should aim for at a minimum.
So, despite having decreased playing time, he still managed to help prevent goals as much as possible and even helped score a few. He didn’t find a way to score any goals, but he did assist on 10 of them for 10 points in 36 games and two of them were on the power play, an area the Wild struggled in all season.
While these aren’t big areas of play, they still helped his team and were ways he contributed when he was in the lineup. Unfortunately for him, the Wild have a few up-and-coming young defensemen, and with his age plus expiring contract, he likely won’t have a roster spot this next season.
Goligoski’s Grade
Again, without the postseason, Goligoski’s grade will be based on his 36 regular-season games. While he did have some bright spots, he also had quite a few struggles that led to his healthy scratches most of the season. After reviewing his numbers and play, he earned a C-. He struggled enough to be pulled from the lineup, but he also wasn’t given enough of a chance to do better.
It may seem high and although his teammate Gustavsson did get a slightly lower grade, he also had more expectations of being the starting goaltender compared to Goligoski, who was the seventh defenseman. However, he didn’t earn higher because he could’ve done slightly more when he was in the lineup.
Due to his age and minimal contract space, this was likely the last season for Goligoski in a Wild jersey. He’s been valuable for experience, but it’ll be better for both sides to move on. Hopefully, he can either find another team or have a great retirement.
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