The NHL announced its award finalists this past week, and while most were no-brainers, some were surprises. We already gave out the NHL awards amongst the Minnesota Wild roster, and while those awards are entertaining, we thought we’d add a few more. The Wild have a lot of fun personalities, and they deserve some awards, too.
Often, these players aren’t nominated for the big-time awards; rather, they’re the ones doing all the work behind the scenes. In this article, we’ll look at who has the best hair, style, personality, and a few others thrown in to think about the players differently. We’ll start with the best hair and move on from there.
Best Hair: Marcus Foligno/Marat Khusnutdinov
If you’ve been a hockey fan for any length of time, you know the term “hockey hair’. There’s at least one player, if not more, on every team that has hair that stands out; in the Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament, there’s even a video montage made of the best hair throughout the tournament.
As far as the Wild go, this award went to Marcus Foligno last season, and understandably so. He has some of the best hair on the team, which also stands for this season. His hair is always styled just right, nearly the definition of hockey hair. However, he’s got some competition.
Newcomer Marat Khusnutdinov has quite the head of hair. It may not be as styled as Foligno’s, but the length and curl give it an edge Foligno doesn’t have. Their hair may differ in style and color, but they earned the Wild’s hockey hair award this season.
Best Style: Kirill Kaprizov & Marc-André Fleury
Everyone is aware of their respective team’s walk-ins, where various team members get to show off their suits as they walk to their locker room. While the Wild team has pretty good suit style, Kirill Kaprizov and Marc-André Fleury are always dressed to impress. Every player has their own suit style, but the shoes all seem to copy each other, with dress-style tennis shoes.
Kaprizov follows the tennis shoe style, but Fleury goes the extra mile and wears dress shoes with his suits. Some believe NHL teams should do away with the suits on game day rules and allow the players to wear whatever they want, and some believe the suits take away a player’s individual style. While I understand the rule and wouldn’t mind the team relaxing it, I also love seeing how creative these players come to suits and still keep that professional look.
Best Mentor: Marc-André Fleury
This award goes to Fleury, as he isn’t only a mentor to other goaltenders like Filip Gustavsson and Jesper Wallstedt but the entire team since he’s the most veteran member. In his 2.5 seasons with the Wild, he’s been the player the entire team can look up to and follow his example. He’s nearly always composed, and even when he gets upset, he tries his best not to show it on the ice. In one of their recent games before the end of the season, when he was visibly upset, he waited until he got off the ice and almost out of the camera’s view before he broke his stick.
It’s important to see the players show some emotions, but they can’t allow them to get out of control, and Fleury is a prime example of control. That’s only a part of his mentor duties. He always gives 110 percent when he’s playing, and his play helps raise his teammates’ play, similar to Kaprizov’s effect on his linemates. Fleury is a player everyone should base their game on, and hopefully, he will continue to mentor players in his final season.
Most Improved: Marco Rossi
Marco Rossi had already improved his game when he started the season, but as the months went on, his game got better and better. He showed more confidence, allowing his true abilities to shine through. While he still made some mistakes, they were fewer and farther between. He did well on the power play and even had some time on the penalty kill.
Rossi did pretty well for his first full season in the NHL. He was bounced around between the lines, but he adjusted well. Watching his game throughout the season, it was easy to see he was always watching his teammates to see where he could improve his game and pick up on how they played. His game closely resembled Joel Eriksson Ek’s, and it was easy to see he paid attention to how Eriksson Ek plays.
Great players always improve their game, and while Rossi isn’t at that status yet, if he keeps improving, he will get there. It will be fun to see how far his game is next season.
Best Prankster/Funniest: Marc-André Fleury
As if there was any other option, especially after his most recent prank war with former teammate Brandon Duhaime. Fleury has been known throughout the NHL to be a prankster, and he’s pulled some great ones over the years on some big names, including Sidney Crosby. Duhaime showed everyone in the NHL that although Fleury may be one of the oldest players, he’s not to be topped when it comes to pranks.
Others have tried, but Fleury, for some reason, has a knack for tricking others and also making it pretty funny. It’s good for every team to have someone who can lighten the mood and make others laugh. While it’s important to be serious, it’s also important to have fun.
Most Serious: Matt Boldy
I would’ve said Jared Spurgeon, but he doesn’t seem as serious as Matt Boldy. Sure, Boldy shows happiness when his team scores a goal, but he’s pretty serious any other time. He rarely cracks a smile and always seems to be figuring out the next move. It’s great to have Fleury, who’s the prankster, but they have to balance it out with the seriousness, which is Boldy.
Watching him, I can see that he’s always analyzing the situation; even when the situation is heightened, like a controversial call, he keeps calm. He could easily be one of the Wild’s captains but is also very young. It’s surprising to see someone so young being so serious, but that’s exactly who Boldy is.
Best Personality: Jake Middleton
Finally, the best personality award, again the Wild are pretty lucky in this area. They have a lot of unique players on their team, but they all get along well, and they’re like a family. I have to say Jake Middleton stands out in this area as he isn’t the typical hockey player. He doesn’t have one-line answers in his interviews and says it like it is, whether good or bad. He’s an easy-going guy who considers himself lucky to play at an NHL level. How can you not like a guy like that?
Related: Wild’s Middleton a Hidden Asset to Their Defensive Core
Someone who considers themselves lucky to be playing hockey every day of their life is a player I can stand behind. Every player on the Wild is great, but Middleton just gives you that relaxed, relatable vibe, and he can probably talk to almost anyone. He’s more like an everyday person than a millionaire athlete, and many Wild players seem like that, but Middleton exemplifies it every day.
Wild Wrap Up
These awards were meant to look at the players away from the game and show their more personable side. These players are human beings and are more than just their stats. It’ll be interesting to see who steps up over the next season and whose names will take these awards.
