Jared Spurgeon Quietly Having A Career Year For Minnesota Wild

When it comes to offensive production from defenseman, most Minnesota Wild headlines go to offseason free-agent acquisition Ryan Suter. Sneaking under the radar is the talent of third-year defenseman Jared Spurgeon, who is putting together a fine season as well.

After a pretty quiet January and February, Spurgeon has been heating up in March and has a goal and four points in the last three games. The Wild have won six straight games and have shot to fourth place in the Western Conference behind the strong play of Spurgeon, Suter and goaltender Niklas Backstrom. Spurgeon has three goals and nine points in March, which is almost five times more points than he started the month with. He has three multi-point games, and is showing that his 2011-12 season was just a sign of things to come. Last season Spurgeon scored three goals and had 20 assists for a career-high 23 points. He has now matched his career-high in goals with four, and if the Wild keep winning he could surpass his career-best point total as well.

Despite his recent surge in production, Spurgeon is still on the third defense pairing for the Wild, alongside Clayton Stoner. With Suter on the top pairing with Jonas Brodin, the Wild are relying on a lot of young talent along the blue line, and so far it has paid off.

The Wild don’t have a lot of cap space at the moment, and with Spurgeon set to be a restricted free agent, he may be headed elsewhere as he will likely command more than his current $526,000 salary on his next deal.

Jonathan Katje is an NHL senior writer for Rant Sports. Follow him on Twitter @JKatje or add him to you network on Google.