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JACK DEMPSEY/Associated Press

Key Strengths

Is Jared Spurgeon better than Ryan Suter? Ger Devine of Hockey Wilderness believes that to be case, writing, "Jared Spurgeon was the Wild's best defenceman this season and drove possession extremely well."

That's a surprisingly common opinion from local analysts who claim that "if you dig a little deeper, you find that the Wild's top d-man would be Jared Spurgeon," as Giles Ferrell wrote at The Team of 18,001.

I'm not sure I'd go quite that far, but Spurgeon certainly strikes me as a close number two, thanks to his strong two-way play.

Offensively Spurgeon led the WHL's Spokane Chiefs defensemen in scoring for four straight seasons. He went on to lead Minnesota's blue line in scoring in 2011-12 and has finished second to Ryan Suter ever since. He also tied Suter for the team lead in plus/minus this year.

The 24-year-old works both special teams; he averaged over two minutes a game on the power play and killing penalties this past year.

Defensively Spurgeon has faced increasingly tougher competition every year, finally finishing second among the team's defensemen this year. He's deployed offensively, of course, which has helped him achieve solid possession numbers all four seasons.

Spurgeon's strong defense comes without a cost in terms of penalties. He is one of the league's most disciplined players, earning only 28 minutes in penalties in 229 NHL games, and draws at least as many penalties as he takes every year, which is uncommon for a defenseman.

Best yet, his cap hit is just $2.67 million for two more years, after which he remains an RFA.

Areas of Concern

Spurgeon wasn't selected until the sixth round in 2008, and even then the Islanders opted not to sign him. Why? For the same reason so many other skilled players are overlooked: because they're short.

Fortunately for Minnesota, the front office looked past Sturgeon's 5'9" frame and secured itself a complete two-way defenseman at a bargain price.

There really isn't much to criticize in Spurgeon's game. Perhaps the only major area for improvement is his shooting. He doesn't take a lot of shots, but what few he takes aren't exactly howitzers.

Potential Impact

Spurgeon is ready for top-line duty, but has Suter and Jonas Brodin ahead of him on the depth chart.

Minnesota nevertheless enjoys a considerable competitive advantage over other teams by having one of the league's strongest second pairings in Spurgeon and Marco Scandella, who may be on this list next year.