Brandon Duhaime Does a Little Bit of Everything

Dennis Schneidler / USA Today Sports

When talking about most of the Minnesota Wild players, there’s a certain skill that they excel at or a specific role they fill on the team. Brandon Duhaime, on the other hand, seems to do a little bit of everything, including being the hypeman. After signing a new one-year, $1.1 million contract, Duhaime is ready to keep playing for the team that drafted him.

Last Season

In his second season with the big club, Duhaime only managed 10 points with nine goals and one assist. That might sound less than stellar, but he only played 51 games. Hampered by repeat concussions, Duhaime struggled a bit as he came in and out of the lineup due to his injuries. In some ways, it seems to be similar to the pace of his rookie season. In 2021-22, Duhaime had 17 points (6 goals and 11 assists) in 80 games, along with a whopping 122 penalty minutes. Despite his struggles, Duhaime did manage one short-handed goal and three game-winning goals. Pretty impressive despite his injuries.

Strengths

Duhaime’s biggest strength is his ability to do a little bit of everything. As mentioned in this article, he doesn’t mind putting the puck on the net. He’ll get physical whenever needed. And in his second season, he had a bigger presence on the penalty kill. He’s also great off of the ice. One of the biggest hypemen on the bench, he isn’t afraid to eat the lineup paper or laugh off when he fell on his rookie lap.

Weaknesses

As mentioned above, his biggest weakness last season was his string of injuries. At least one of Duhaime’s concussions came from a fight. While his physicality is one of his strengths, Duhaime needs to make sure he’s making good choices when it comes to dropping the mitts. The two long absences he had really affected his season. Being out for a long span of time can make it difficult to get back into the pace of the game. 

Next Season

If Duhaime can stay healthy, this could be a good season to show that he’s still developing his skills. With Mason Shaw out of the lineup for a while, Duhaime can continue to grow his presence on the penalty kill. It’ll be interesting to see where Duhaime will end up. He’s capable of skating with the third or fourth line, but his rate of scoring might be determined by who his linemates are. Either way, Duhaime is still young and has more to show the Wild.

2023-24 Minnesota Wild Season Predictions

Kirill Kaprizov

Mats Zuccarello

Ryan Hartman

Freddy Gaudreau

Matt Boldy

Marcus Johansson

Joel Eriksson Ek

Marcus Foligno

Connor Dewar


Discover more from Inside The Rink

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Leave a Reply

2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs: Winnipeg Jets vs St. Louis Blues Series Preview

One more sleep and the Winnipeg Jets and St. Louis Blues battle it out for the first time since 2019 in the postseason. Both teams have a close head-to-head rivalry since the 1999-2000 season, but have only met once in the playoffs. A throwback to the clash in 2019 has shades of the past after […]

Read More

The Connor McDavid Lottery, 10 Years Later

When you have a job writing about the Edmonton Oilers, it’s hard not to type out his name at least once in every article. April 18th, 2015, the 9th year in our team’s Decade of Darkness had just come to a close, finishing 3rd last league-wide. Connor McDavid was the projected top prospect in that year’s […]

Read More
Dougie Hamilton skates in the Devils' final regular-season contest after missing 18 games with injury.

Devils Drop Final Regular Season Game to Detroit Red Wings

The New Jersey Devils lost 5-2 to the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday night at the Prudential Center. It was game 82 for New Jersey, the final regular-season matchup before the team travels to Carolina to begin its playoff campaign. The Red Wings were previously eliminated from playoff contention and have one more contest on […]

Read More