Jake Middleton is a dork. Old-school, as blue-collar as it gets, kind of like a cartoon character.
He proudly claims to own only five white t-shirts, five black t-shirts, three jackets, three hoodies and three pairs of jeans. That’s it!
When he’s smashed them to bits, he throws those clothes in the trash, logs onto Amazon, and replenishes his supply.
Underneath his gear when he plays hockey, Middleton wears next to nothing — cut-resistant socks and only a jockstrap — so much so that equipment manager Tony DaCosta offered to get him a bathrobe for when he gets down. hurry.
When he was traded to the Wild last month from the San Jose Sharks, he couldn’t make the flight his new team originally wanted to put him on because he had to run to the mall to buy a suitcase. . The mall didn’t open until 11 a.m.
And his thick, black mustache, which would be perfect if he was an 1800s shooter in the old Wild West, is there in part to cover up his four missing front teeth that he hopes to get fixed this summer.
“For what, 26, he acts like he’s 40,” said team-mate Marcus Foligno with a laugh. “He’s brilliant. What a great addition this guy has been for our dressing room. Just low maintenance.
The 6-foot-3, hard-nosed Middleton earns the league minimum of $750,000 and is literally “just happy to be here.”
On the other hand, Jared Spurgeon is no fool. Fancy clothes, a big house, a nice family, a couple of giant dogs.
Six years older than Middleton at 32, the 5-foot-9 Spurgeon is an established NHL player, one of the league’s top defensemen, a team captain and in the second year of a contract. seven years of $53.025 million on average. $7.575 million per season.
“And I tried to start my mustache three weeks ago to try to catch up with Jake,” said Spurgeon, who still looks 22.
“Look at him now,” Spurgeon said sarcastically of the few whiskers above his lip. “It’s pretty thick now. Of course, his is more into a full beard, though. It will take me a year or two to catch up on that.
Middleton and Spurgeon have become the Wild’s odd couple – two very different defensemen at very different stages of their careers doing a terrific job at the helm of the Wild’s best defensive pairing since the acquisition of 26-year-old Middleton, the March 21st. And especially in this playoff as the Wild hope to take a 3-2 series lead Tuesday night at home against the St. Louis Blues.
“We don’t have facial hair, we have a lot. One is ‘six-(foot)-something,’ the other ‘five-foot-four,'” Foligno joked. It balances out, doesn’t it? It worked well. Those guys have been great together. I think Spurgey thinks Middsie gives him a good cushion there with just the physical side of things and (Middleton) makes a good first pass. They read each other and they’ve been huge ever since we got these guys together.
Spurgeon is entering his ninth playoffs in 10 years. Middleton attends his premiere.
“It was hard to sleep last night just thinking about all the scenarios that could play out, but it’s something you’ve been dreaming about for a while to have that opportunity,” Middleton said before the start of the series. “So I’m excited.”
Middleton had quite a journey to the NHL.
Last and 202nd choice of the 2014 draft of the Los Angeles Kings, the former defenseman of the Ottawa 67’s began his professional career in the ECHL by playing two games in Manchester. Dropped by the Kings, Middleton had to sign an AHL contract with the San Jose Barracuda in 2016. A year later, the parent team, the San Jose Sharks, signed him to an NHL contract. He would spend the entire 2017-18 season on the other side of the Shark Tank playing for the Barracuda and then most of the next three seasons before establishing himself as a full-time NHL player for the first time this season.
“You give him all the credit in the world because he paid for his time,” said Dallas Stars center Joe Pavelski, the former Sharks captain who was selected 205th in 2003 and scored the eighth-greatest number of goals (421) in NHL history among American-born players. “He worked hard to get where he is. I didn’t know Jake very well during my time there, but you could always tell how hard he worked every time he was with us and what type of guy he was. And the San Jose guys have nothing but good things to say about him from a character standpoint, from a teammate standpoint.
“Just such a solid guy. And it shows in his game, in his style, I think. He just wants to go there, wants to play hard, to be the first team. That’s what you get every night from him.
If Middleton’s road to “The Show” sounds familiar, it’s because Spurgeon’s early career was similar. Just as the Kings dumped Middleton, Spurgeon was dumped by the Islanders in 2010 two years after being drafted in the sixth round. He had two tries with the Wild, eventually signed a contract and the rest is history.
The difference between Spurgeon and Middleton is that Spurgeon made his NHL debut on his 21st birthday and hardly ever left. Middleton’s AHL odometer shows 253 regular season and playoff games, compared to Spurgeon’s 46.
Twelve years into his NHL career, Spurgeon ranks second in Wild history with 772 regular season games, first among defensemen with 99 goals, 32 power play goals, 17 game-winning goals and 1 266 shots. He is second among defensemen with 246 assists and 345 points.
In the playoffs, Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin are scheduled to play their 60th playoff games on Tuesday night, which would break Mikko Koivu’s team record. Spurgeon also assisted on his 18th playoff goal on Sunday, which passed Koivu for second in team history. He also leads Wild defensemen in playoff history with eight goals and 26 points.
“I never take it for granted, and I guarantee you neither does Jake,” Spurgeon said. “Everyone has a different journey to the NHL and we’ve had unique ones for sure. Getting him here just before the playoff push as we were trying to get in and try to get the ice home definitely helped. It fits perfectly. A great, clumsy guy and an excellent player.
Middleton and Spurgeon have been the Wild’s most consistent defensive pair through four playoff games. In 42.6 minutes five against five with Middleton and Spurgeon in tandem, according to Hockey in Evolution, the Wild have generated 53.5% in shot attempt share and have a 68.6 expected goal ratio. Basically, the Wild created a lot of offense and didn’t give up much when on the ice.
The Wild outscored their opponents 6-0 with them on the ice five-on-five.
In Sunday’s loss at St. Louis, Middleton was the Wild’s top defenseman and played one of his best games in a Wild jersey. The Wild outshot the Blues 14-2 5-on-5 in Middleton’s 12:54 of even-strength ice time. He controlled 93% of expected goals, assisted on Matt Boldy’s first career goal, scored a plus-2 differential and earned a penalty.
When asked why the Middleton-Spurgeon pair worked, coach Dean Evason joked, “We’re really small. One is really big.
Seriously, Evason said, “I just think they’re both really smart hockey players. Middleton has a lot of offensive abilities that we probably didn’t know about. Makes good passes. That said, I think you could put anyone with Jared Spurgeon and he’d be pretty good. They’ve been a really good pair since he got here.
Spurgeon said Middleton arrived and was so “easy going”. He asked a lot of questions and that communication led to great chemistry on the ice.
“We’re both pretty straightforward, so it’s easy to read each other,” Spurgeon said. “He’s a big, strong guy, but he moves really well too, and I think since maybe the first two games his confidence with the puck has taken off. I think it looks like he was more in that defensive role in San Jose playing with (Erik) Karlsson and Burnzie (Brent Burns). He was told to sit there, to protect himself when these guys attacked. Here we encourage everyone to join the game. It’s just a smart player who makes good games.
Wild’s teammates admit they didn’t know much about Middleton when he arrived. He’s only played two games before against the Wild, and both this season, including one where he fought Jordan Greenway.
“I think the first game we played them, the mustache stuck with me right away,” Spurgeon said. “And I know how difficult it was to play against him and how good he was in defense. But other than that, not much. »
Foligno also said, “I’m not going to lie, I didn’t know much about him until this year. He has a hard nose. It just shows what type of person he is. That’s the kind of character you got guys that get drafted late that might shut down or not think they’re worth it and this guy just kept working and put his work boots on and now he is there and he is an important part of our team.
“It’s with guys like that that you build a winning culture.”
Boldy added: “I think he’s just a happy human being. I think he shows up and gives this funny smile, and just jokes around with the guys. And just little things like that bring a lot of energy to the room. This makes it lighter. It makes it more fun to be there and show up, basically, work on showing up to have fun with your buddies. He does a really good job of keeping it light and having fun with everything he does.
Middleton is grateful for how things have gone since the trade deadline. Coincidentally, he was planning on getting an Airbnb this summer in Minnesota because his fiancée, Natalie, is a traveling, licensed nurse in Minnesota.
Now he hopes to settle here and buy a house. He’s a restricted free agent and knows he’s got a big raise coming, especially since he’s suddenly gone from being the last draft pick on a one-year contract to a first-pairing defender for a competitor eight years later.
“Learning to play with a special talent like Spurge has been quite — not easy, it’s still the National Hockey League, but having a partner like that on your right side is something good,” he said. .
(Middleton and Spurgeon Photo: Randy Litzinger/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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