Returning regular · 2025-26
Justin Kirkland
Minnesota Wild · C · L shot · age 30 at the dated snapshot.
- Team
- MIN
- Lane
- C
- Age
- 30
Production and deployment
How the points were built
Official NHL 2025–26 regular-season reports. A missing split stays “—”; it is never converted to zero.
Organizational context
6 C regulars in MIN
The all-team median is 7. MIN’s farm system ranks #26 in the maintained two-board consensus.
Questions a GM still has to answer
- How much of the scoring comes at five-on-five, on special teams, or into an empty net?
- Is the player creating the play, finishing it, or receiving a secondary point?
- Does deployment reveal trust, scarcity, underuse, or a role the roster cannot offer?
- What contract, acquisition cost, development alternative and Cup-window effect complete the argument?
Contract · MIN
$0.85M cap hit
2026–27 through 2026–27 · UFA at expiry. Certified
Cup signal › Costs more per point than the position median, but earns it with five-on-five creation or penalty-kill work.
- He did not reach the five-on-five sample (20 games and 10:00 a night at five-on-five), so the rate test cannot pass.
- He kills penalties (1:37 a night), which points do not capture.
- At 0.8% of the cap, almost any NHL production is surplus.
- 7 real points at this cap hit would pass the cost test (he had 2).
Comparables at the same age
Who looked like this at 26 to 29
Careers are compared as league-adjusted points per game by age, over the same ages. The comparables below are the closest lines, and what matters is the spread of what they did next, not any single name.
This player so far: age 13 AMBHL 0.22 → age 14 AMBHL 1.21 → age 15 SMHL 0.81 → age 16 SMHL 1.11 → age 17 WHL 0.71 → age 18 WHL 1.02 → age 19 WHL 0.97 → age 20 AHL 0.38 → age 21 AHL 0.27 → age 22 AHL 0.40 → age 23 AHL 0.53 → age 24 AHL 0.44 → age 25 AHL 0.73 → age 26 AHL 0.56 → age 27 AHL 0.70 → age 28 NHL 0.38 → age 29 NHL 0.10
| Player | Distance (lower is closer) | What he did afterwards |
|---|---|---|
| Nathan WalkerL · matched at ages 26, 28, 29 | 0.06 | age 30 NHL 0.29 → age 31 NHL 0.22 → age 32 NHL 0.24 |
| William CarrierL · matched at ages 26, 27, 28, 29 | 0.06 | age 30 NHL 0.26 → age 31 NHL 0.26 |
| Zemgus GirgensonsC · matched at ages 26, 28, 29 | 0.08 | age 30 NHL 0.22 → age 31 NHL 0.07 → age 32 NHL 0.27 |
| Jordan MartinookL · matched at ages 26, 27, 28, 29 | 0.09 | age 30 NHL 0.41 → age 31 NHL 0.39 → age 32 NHL 0.46 → age 33 NHL 0.38 |
| Ryan LombergL · matched at ages 26, 27, 28, 29 | 0.10 | age 30 NHL 0.16 → age 31 NHL 0.16 |
| Cameron LundC · matched at ages 26, 27, 28 | 0.10 | age 30 ACH 0.32 → age 31 ACH 0.14 |
| Radek FaksaC · matched at ages 26, 27, 28, 29 | 0.11 | age 30 NHL 0.26 → age 31 NHL 0.21 → age 32 NHL 0.29 |
| Adam LowryC · matched at ages 26, 27, 28, 29 | 0.11 | age 30 NHL 0.44 → age 31 NHL 0.43 → age 32 NHL 0.47 → age 33 NHL 0.30 |
Reading it
If most comparables became NHL regulars and their later peak sits well above this player's current line, the numbers say there is room to grow. If most did not, the numbers say the odds are against it. Either way it is what the data shows, not a name chosen to flatter.
Goal archive ·
Every goal, with the league's video
Preseason, regular season and playoffs are kept apart. Each row links to the NHL's own highlight page; no video is hosted here. Where a clip has been reviewed, the reading of it is a model judgement of the frames, not a measurement.
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Availability
Games missed
The NHL publishes no injury feed. This counts games his club played while he did not dress, for any reason: injury, illness, a healthy scratch, a suspension or a trade gap. No cause is claimed.
Either side of that absence: 0.7 points per 60 in the ten games before, 0.6 in the ten after. A rate change over a small sample, not evidence of a lingering injury.
NHL EDGE tracking · 2025-26
Speed, shot and ice
From the NHL's own player-tracking data. Percentiles are the NHL's: the share of the league below this player.