Moving along with the Minnesota Wild’s third-line report cards, next up is Sam Steel. He was highly regarded when the Wild brought him on board last summer and he started out the season looking strong. It fizzled out and became somewhat of a rollercoaster after that. He struggled to stay consistent when he was in the lineup but still managed to make an impact.
Surprisingly Steel was one of the only Wild players to tally any points during the postseason. He helped give the team hope when it really needed it but everyone knows how it ended. However, we’ll go back in time to cover his regular season results first.
Steel’s Inconsistent Regular Season
Steel was in and out of the lineup quite often which led to him playing 65 of the 82 games and none of the games he missed were reported injuries. He started out the season in the lineup and scored a couple of goals and then dropped off. He did stay on the roster until February when he was pulled in favor of other players.
In those games, Steel scored 10 goals and 18 assists for 28 points. He was able to register those points by his shooting efforts, as he took 85 shots and just missed out on the top 10. He did his team a favor by staying out of the penalty box for the most part, as he recorded just 18 minutes in penalties the entire season.
After reviewing Marcus Foligno’s season and how many hits he registered, switching to Steel was quite the opposite. He’s not one to throw his smaller frame around as he only registered 46 hits and he wasn’t big on blocking shots either with 15. He did have 21 takeaways but struggled with 22 giveaways. He definitely needs to improve his all-around game, mainly in the defensive area, going forward.
Steel’s Small Postseason
Steel did play in five of the six games of the playoffs, partially due to Mason Shaw’s season-ending injury, but he did give them hope in Game 1. His linemate Kirill Kaprizov got the game started with the first goal of the game but the Dallas Stars forged ahead with two goals to take the lead. That’s where Steel came in and tied the game up to send it to overtime. He then set up Ryan Hartman for the game-winner in overtime for his team to take a one-game lead.
Following that win, his scoring touch stopped quite abruptly, possibly because he took fewer shots with just six, plus, he threw his body around a bit more. He had seven hits and two blocked shots along with three giveaways and one takeaway. Steel may have fallen into the same trap Foligno was in, where he focused more on hitting than scoring goals.
It’s hard to see a player’s scoring just stop; even more so during the postseason when every goal is extremely important. He had found a way past Jake Oettinger and they needed it to continue, but again it wasn’t just on Steel’s shoulders. He’s one of the many free agents the Wild have to decide on, and if they re-sign him, he needs to figure out how to score again.
Steel’s Grade
Steel was a very hard player to give a grade to, he contributed points but not on a consistent basis. He would be good to start with and then struggle the longer he was in the lineup. Then the Wild would pull him for a certain amount of time and when they would bring him back, he’d find that scoring power but it would disappear the longer he was in the lineup. That’s something that can’t happen, they need a consistent offensive player, however, he did have his moments. Overall he earned a B+, it wasn’t lower because he did register points, but it wasn’t higher because he wasn’t consistent.
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As far as the postseason goes, nearly the same thing can be said. He did step up big in Game 1 but he couldn’t keep it up when they needed it most. Of course, he’s not the only one to blame, however, he did show promise that fell apart quickly. His grade will be the same, a B+, and the same can be said for the reasoning. So for the entire season, he earned a B+ and he has a lot of improvements to make over the offseason no matter who he ends up playing for next fall. Hopefully, if it’s for the Wild, he realizes the true potential he has shown small glimpses of so far.