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Photo of Matt Kiersted

Matt Kiersted

#26 · Defence · Minnesota Wild

Born Apr 14, 1998 in Elk River, Minnesota, USA (age 28) · 6'0", 182 lb · Shoots left

Compare with a similar player

The defencemen closest to him in points in 2025-26. Pick one to see the two side by side, or choose someone else.

Cameron Crotty OTT · 1 P in 6 GP Caleb Jones PIT · 1 P in 7 GP Maveric Lamoureux UTA · 1 P in 5 GP Dennis Gilbert OTT · 1 P in 8 GP Isaiah George NYI · 1 P in 4 GP

Career

Regular season games only. Pick a season to see its game log below. Cap hit is what he counted against the salary cap that season, where it is known.

012342020-21: 0 points020-212021-22: 2 points221-222022-23: 4 points422-232024-25: 1 points124-252025-26: 1 points125-26

Points by season. The darker bar is the season shown below.

Season Team GP G A P +/- PIM Shots Hits P/GP Cap hit
2020-21 FLA 7 0 0 0 -4 2 6 1 0.00 $859K
2021-22 FLA 10 1 1 2 -8 2 11 10 0.20 $859K
2022-23 FLA 20 1 3 4 4 6 14 13 0.20 $763K
2024-25 FLA 2 0 1 1 1 2 0 3 0.50 $775K
2025-26 MIN 6 0 1 1 0 0 4 0 0.17 $775K
5 seasons Career 45 2 6 8 -7 12 35 27 0.18

2025-26 season totals

GP G A P +/- PIM Shots Hits P/GP Shooting % Avg TOI
6 0 1 1 0 0 4 0 0.17 0.0 15:44

Contract

$775KCap hitends in 2027
$775KCap dollars per point1 points in 6 games

His cap hit for the whole season, set against what he did in the regular season. Lower is better value. In a season still being played the cost per point starts high and falls as the games add up. He rated at or below a spare-part player, so there is no cost per goal to show.

The contract

Signed by the Minnesota Wild on Jul 2, 2025, as a new contract: 2 years and $1.625M, beginning in 2025-26. It runs through 2026-27, with 1 season left after this one.

Season Cap hit
2025-26 $775K
2026-27 $850K

Each season left on the contract. Only its cap hit and its end are known: how the pay is split by season, and any signing bonus, are not.

Contracts he has signed

Signed Signed by Kind Seasons Years In all Cap hit
Jul 2, 2025 Minnesota Wild New contract 2025-26 to 2026-27 2 $1.625M $775K
Jun 28, 2024 Florida Panthers Extension 2024-25 to 2024-25 1 $775K $775K
Jun 27, 2022 Florida Panthers Extension 2022-23 to 2023-24 2 $1.525M $763K
Apr 1, 2021 Florida Panthers Entry-level 2020-21 to 2021-22 2 $2.7M $859K

Every contract on record for him, newest first, with the team that signed him to it and the day it was signed. The one covering 2025-26 is marked. An extension is signed while the contract before it is still running, often a year ahead. A row with no team or date is a contract known only by its cap hit, most often one signed since October 2024.

2025-26 analytics

Rating

-1.1Goals above replacementsix goals are worth about one win
-0.2Wins above replacementgoals above replacement divided by six
-1.4Goals above averagethe five parts below added up
Even-strength offence-0.7Even-strength defence-0.7Power play0.0Penalty kill+0.1Penalties+0.0

The goals he added to his team's goal difference, compared with a spare-part player given the same ice time. Each part is measured against the league, so zero is an average skater. A full season is about two-thirds the player and one-third chance. He has played fewer than 20 games, too few to be ranked.

-2-10122020-212021-222022-232024-252025-26Goals above replacementGoals above replacement, by season

On the ice

What happened at five-on-five while he was on the ice. What these numbers mean

40.7Corsi for %57 attempts for, 83 against
-4.6CF% relative to teamagainst the team without him
36.6Expected goals for %2.7 expected for, 4.7 against
-15.4xGF% relative to teamagainst the team without him
41.2Fenwick for %unblocked attempts
40.0Goals for %2 for, 3 against
98.6PDO7.4% shooting + 91.2% saves
5Attempts takenhis own shot attempts

These are left plain: he has not been on the ice enough to be ranked. That takes at least 200 shot attempts with him out there, about six or seven games, and a quarter of what the busiest skater has. Over a game or two these numbers are mostly chance.

Who he played with

Defence pairGPTimeCF%xGF%Goals
Matt Kiersted · Viking Gustafsson Nyberg226:5937.541.32-1
Jared Spurgeon · Matt Kiersted419:5348.943.60-0
Matt Kiersted · David Jiricek216:0625.027.80-0
Jake Middleton · Matt Kiersted16:1058.827.80-2

The pairs he spent the most time in at five-on-five, with the team's share of the shot attempts and expected goals, and the goals for and against, while they were out. The two shares are coloured as above, against the league's pairs that played a fair amount together. Hover over one for its percentile.

Chances and finishing

Expected goals adds up how likely each of his shots was to go in, judged by where it came from, what kind of shot it was and whether it was a rebound. All situations, leaving out shots at an empty net.

0Goalsnot counting empty-netters
0.0Expected goalsfrom 4 unblocked attempts
0.0Goals above expectedgoals minus expected goals
Chances created 0.03 expected goals per 60 minutes1st
Shot quality 1.0% chance per attempt1st
Finishing 0.0 goals above expected48thOne season of finishing is mostly luck.

Each bar shows the share of defencemen he is ahead of, among the 240 who played 300 minutes or more this season.

00.20.40.60.81Expected 0.0Goals 0

His goals and his expected goals as the season went on. When the goals line pulls away above, he is scoring more than his chances were worth; below, less.

Where he shot from

Every attempt he took this season, in all situations, attacking the net on the right. There is a dot for each attempt, bigger for a better chance. "Show as heat map" shades the ice by where the attempts came from. Click a goal for its details.

Game log

Date Opponent Result G A P +/- PIM Shots Hits TOI
Apr 14, 2026 vs ANA W 3-2 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 20:19
Apr 13, 2026 @ STL L 3-6 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 19:15
Jan 5, 2026 @ LAK L 2-4 0 0 0 -2 0 0 0 08:31
Dec 18, 2025 @ CBJ W 5-2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 17:37
Dec 16, 2025 vs WSH W 5-0 0 1 1 0 0 3 0 16:16
Dec 13, 2025 vs OTT W 3-2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 12:24