Before Sunday’s games, Wild left winger Yakob Trenin led the NHL with 72 hits. Teammate Marcus Foligno was 10th with 53, making the Wild the only team with two Top 10 hitmen.
For now, they’re playing on the same line, bracketing rookie center Danila Yurov on the fourth line in last Friday’s 5-2 victory over the Islanders in Long Island, N.Y., and again for Sunday’s home game against Calgary.
So, is this the NHL’s bad-ass line?
“I don’t know, maybe,” Trenin said after Sunday’s morning skate at TRIA Rink. “That’s what we want to be.”
Last season, Foligno and Trenin finished 10th and 12th in regular-season hits with a combined 494 in 153 games.
Foligno, listed at 6-foot-3 and 226 pounds, has always played heavy. At 34, he has a career 2,667 hits in 14-plus NHL seasons. Trenin, a solid 6-2 and, officially, 201 pounds, has 1,018 in six-plus seasons.
“I think if you look at guys like him and Marcus, that’s part of their identity as a player, to be physical,” coach John Hynes said. “Now, it’s not running around and taking yourself out of position to do it, but when Trenny has an opportunity to bump guys or be physical, it’s a factor.”
Both players have the same style, Hynes said.
“When they hit, they hit through people,” the coach said. “They’re not like a regular guy who can come in contact with people.”
Trenin, 28, had a career-high 241 hits for the Wild last season, his first after signing a free-agent deal with Minnesota. He was well aware Sunday that he was leading the NHL, and proud of it.
“Always been hitting a lot, always been in, like, the top 10,” he said. “This time, I’m just there.”
Any difference between a Trenin and Foligno hit?
“Not much, maybe just a couple pounds different,” Foligno said. We play a game similar to each other, and being on the same line now, hopefully it’s a good thing for our team.”
Grand game
Wing Marcus Johansson was set to play his 1,000th career NHL game on Sunday. Playing his 16th NHL season, Johansson, 35, entered the game with a career-high eight-game points streak (5-5–10) and extended it to nine with a second-period assist on a goal by Matt Boldy.
“I had him in New Jersey years ago (2018-19), and he still looks the same — his fitness level, his ability to skate, his hockey sense,” Hynes said. “He can play multiple roles, you know: three on three, four on four, power play, penalty kill. So, I think his ability makes him a valuable piece to a team.”
Briefly
Nico Sturm, a Stanley Cup-winning veteran signed in part for his career 56.5 faceoff success, is nearing a return from an upper body injury that has kept him off the ice all season. He has started skating with skating coach Andy Ness, and Hynes said his initial prognosis of 6-8 weeks would get him back with the team around the end of this month.
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