Timely scoring and a dominant defense have the Minnesota Wild on pace to rewrite their record books.
Jason Zucker, Ryan Suter, Jared Spurgeon, Mikael Granlund and Mikko Koivu now lead the league in plus/minus rating, and will also own the top five single-season ratings in franchise history at their current pace.
Plus/minus is a measure of a player's effectiveness at even strength (5-on-5) and while shorthanded, with a "plus" representing a goal scored while that player is on the ice and a "minus" representing a goal allowed.
Suter, Zucker and Spurgeon are on track for a franchise record at plus-26, with Granlund and Koivu not far behind at plus-23.
NHL plus/minus leaders, 2016-17
| Player | Team | GP | G | A | PTS | +/- | ATOI |
| Jason Zucker | Wild | 43 | 12 | 17 | 29 | 26 | 14:20 |
| Ryan Suter | Wild | 43 | 6 | 20 | 26 | 26 | 27:12:00 |
| Jared Spurgeon | Wild | 39 | 6 | 15 | 21 | 26 | 23:49 |
| Mikael Granlund | Wild | 43 | 10 | 26 | 36 | 23 | 19:04 |
| Mikko Koivu | Wild | 43 | 13 | 19 | 32 | 23 | 19:33 |
| Justin Schultz | Penguins | 43 | 7 | 23 | 30 | 22 | 18:49 |
| David Savard | Blue Jackets | 43 | 2 | 10 | 12 | 21 | 21:37 |
| T.J. Oshie | Capitals | 36 | 15 | 13 | 28 | 20 | 17:17 |
| Michael Grabner | Rangers | 44 | 19 | 8 | 27 | 20 | 13:44 |
| Brooks Orpik | Capitals | 44 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 20 | 17:42 |
Wild Franchise Record -- Plus/Minus
| Player | Season | GP | G | A | PTS | +/- |
| Jared Spurgeon | 2016-17 | 39 | 6 | 15 | 21 | 26 |
| Ryan Suter | 2016-17 | 43 | 6 | 20 | 26 | 26 |
| Jason Zucker | 2016-17 | 43 | 12 | 17 | 29 | 26 |
| Mikael Granlund | 2016-17 | 43 | 10 | 26 | 36 | 23 |
| Mikko Koivu | 2016-17 | 43 | 13 | 19 | 32 | 23 |
| Keith Carney | 2006-07 | 80 | 4 | 13 | 17 | 22 |
| Jonas Brodin | 2014-15 | 71 | 3 | 14 | 17 | 21 |
| Erik Haula | 2015-16 | 76 | 14 | 20 | 34 | 21 |
| Zach Parise | 2014-15 | 74 | 33 | 29 | 62 | 21 |
| Mathew Dumba | 2016-17 | 43 | 7 | 13 | 20 | 19 |
The Wild's skaters have had plenty of help this season thanks to goaltender Devan Dubnyk, who leads the league with a .937 save percentage and a 1.85 goals-against average.
He ranks second with five shutouts.
The franchise plus/minus record is currently held by former defenseman Keith Carney, who played in the NHL from 1991-2008 and spent the final two seasons of his career in Minnesota.
He was a plus-22 during the 2006-07 season, helping the Wild to a second-place finish in the Northwest Division while playing in front of a goaltending tandem that featured Manny Fernandez and Nicklas Backstrom.
While plus/minus tends to be a team-wide trend a clean sweep of the top five is a relatively rare occurrence and has happened just once since 2000.
The last team to do so -- the 2011-12 Boston Bruins -- lost in the first round of the playoffs but won the Northeast Division with a record of 49-29-4.
Statistics courtesy of STATS LLC and Hockey-Reference.com
