Wednesday, June 4, 2014

2013-14 Season In Review: Matt Cooke

Photo: Harry How/Getty Images
A look back at Matt Cooke's first season in Minnesota.

Stats

Minnesota (NHL): Regular Season-82 GP, 10 G, 18 A, 28 P, 54 PIM, 104 SOG
                             Playoffs-6 GP, 0 G, 3 A, 3 P, 8 PIM, 4 SOG

Review

The signing of Matt Cooke did not go over well with the Wild fan base. It took them all of 35 seconds into Cooke's first Wild shift to forget why they hated him to begin with (he scored a goal). As the season went on, fans got to see that Cooke was a solid third line player in this league, who really had cleaned up his act. Cooke played all 82 games for the Wild this year, and only amassed 54 penalty minutes during that time. His season as a whole was what you would expect from him point wise. 10 goals, 18 assists, fall in around the average season for Cooke at the age of 35. However, Cooke seemed to lose some of that trust in the postseason with his knee on knee collision with Colorado's Tyson Barrie. Barrie did not return to the series, and Cooke was suspended for seven games. He returned to the Wild lineup following his suspension, and played the final three games in the postseason.

Highlights







Status for 2014-15

With a cap hit of $2.5 million per season, Cooke is under contract for the following two seasons. He will more than likely return to the Wild next year in the same third line role he played all of this year.


Follow Giles on Twitter @gilesferrell

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