from Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe,

Jared Spurgeon faces limitations he can do little about. The Minnesota defenseman stands 5 feet 9 inches and weighs 164 pounds. This places Spurgeon squarely in the lightweight category when framed against behemoths such as Zdeno Chara, who stands a foot taller and claims an 86-pound advantage.

The 26-year-old with a bantam’s physical profile has done just fine doing battle with the NHL’s big boys. Through 17 games, only strongman Ryan Suter was receiving more ice time on the Wild roster than Spurgeon, indicating how much his coaches trust his presence. Spurgeon plays his position with brains, guile, and slipperiness to counter his restrictions on the scale.

But while you’d think Spurgeon would be most concerned with physical matchups, the defenseman plays with the appropriate level of caution against smart and technical players.

“Pavel Datsyuk,” Spurgeon answered when asked about difficult opponents, echoing the sentiment of most defensemen. “He was pretty skilled at it. You wouldn’t know which side he was coming on.”

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