For Wild defenseman Jake Middleton, the long ride continues

The lawns in Jake Middleton's Minneapolis neighborhood are neatly manicured, with swatches of flawless green found on baseball fields and backyard barbecues.

On this October day, the temperature maxed out in the 70s, but there was a dusting of leaves around the trees. The seasonal change means hockey is near, and the end of the Wild defenseman cruising around on his motorcycle.

These two passions of Middleton's are on opposite schedules all summer, day and night shifts that have his Harley Davidson parked while he's playing and rumbling down the road when he's not.

In the past, when that kickstand lowered at summer's end for the last time, uncertainty awaited him: Will he make the team?

There's no question this year.

A last pick in his draft class, a guy who received multiple camp invites before repeatedly getting promoted then demoted, Middleton showed up for this season as a lock in an NHL lineup for the first time.

He parlayed a trade to the Wild into a three-year contract all while staying true to the no-nonsense, throwback defenseman he's always been — toothless grin and bushy mustache included.

There were potholes and detours, but he made it. Middleton, 26, has arrived at his destination.

"It's all going to be new to me," Middleton said. "But I'm excited about it and just looking to make the most of it."

Like hockey, motorcycles have been in Middleton's life from a very young age.

His dad, Steve, had an interest, and Middleton graduated from sitting on the bike to going for a spin around the block with Steve when he got older.

"He got the bug," Steve said.

As for hockey, Middleton was shuffling around the kitchen linoleum floor in his socks as a 2-year-old, what he called skating, while wearing an ice cream bucket as a helmet. Steve and Middleton's mom, Darlene, were constantly fishing plastic pucks out from under the stove and refrigerator of their Alberta home.

Middleton woke up an hour before school to skate on an outdoor rink in the front yard, a sheet without any boards illuminated by a 100-watt light bulb, and he was back on the ice when he returned home, staying out until bedtime.

He eventually started playing on a team and after he and his family moved across Canada, Middleton was drafted eighth overall into the Ontario Hockey League.

"I was on top of the world," he said. "Then two years later I got humbled real quickly."

In 2014, Middleton was drafted to the NHL in the seventh round with the last selection, No. 210, from the Ottawa 67s; Los Angeles made the pick. He found out while he was at a Toronto Blue Jays baseball game with his family, Steve showing him the news in a text message from Middleton's agent.

"I was Mr. Irrelevant from that point on," Middleton said with a laugh.

He kept a positive outlook, pointing out that he was drafted one pick before superstar Connor McDavid, who went first overall in 2015.

Middleton went to the Kings' development camp for two years and had a stint with their ECHL affiliate. Although the organization offered him a minor league contract, Middleton didn't see the situation panning out.

He thought of returning to junior for his final year of eligibility and then continuing his career at a Canadian university. But San Jose reached out and flipped the script.

"They never ended up sending me home," Middleton said.

After getting invited to the Sharks' development camp in 2016, Middleton hung around for main training camp before landing a minor league deal.

Because he didn't know how long he would be there, he moved in with friends and slept on the floor.

The partnership, however, turned out to be permanent, and Middleton secured an entry-level contract with San Jose.

After two years he made his NHL debut. But Middleton was with the Sharks only for that lone game before getting assigned back to the American Hockey League.

That started the cycle of him roving between the two leagues, a real-life version of chutes and ladders that persisted for another two seasons. Middleton thought he'd never achieve stability.

"You get sent down at training camp, called up, sent down again," said Middleton, who played in the AHL with younger brother Keaton, now in the Avalanche organization. "You'd go through that whole thing. It was just every so often you'd get into a, 'I wonder what's going to happen?'"

What fueled his determination was his feelings about hockey.

"I just loved coming to the rink every day," Middleton explained. "I loved hanging out with my friends, all doing the same thing. So, it was never a problem to not play in the NHL because I still got to wake up and go to a hockey rink every day."

A year ago, the 6-3, 220-pounder finally cracked the Sharks' opening night lineup out of training camp.

His ice time soared, and he skated with some of San Jose's best defensemen.

Then, before the NHL trade deadline expired, the Sharks' general manager called Middleton, telling him, "We moved you to Minnesota."

The Wild added Middleton on March 21 to beef up their blue line, one of the last pieces of a puzzle that revealed how seriously they were pursuing a Stanley Cup.

And even though the team faltered, getting bounced from the first round of the playoffs in six games by St. Louis, Middleton performed up to his billing as a hard-nosed, shutdown defender and the Wild re-signed him to a three-year, $7.35 million deal in July before he married his longtime girlfriend, Natalie, in Nashville.

"He certainly has the perseverance and the drive," Darlene said. "He's worked hard for it. He's earned it."

Over 21 games last season, Middleton averaged almost 18 minutes and the Wild scored six more goals than they surrendered when Middleton was on the ice at even strength. As the No. 1 pairing with captain Jared Spurgeon, the team gave up eight goals in 19 games when those two were in action at 5-on-5, one less than expected, according to Natural Stat Trick.

"Pass the puck to the forwards and finish my checks and box guys out," said Middleton, who has four goals in 80 NHL contests. "It's always been the same game I've played."

Whether he reunites with Spurgeon or works with Matt Dumba or Calen Addison — duos the Wild have been test driving at training camp — Middleton still plans to deliver the same style.

"You can carve out a really good career if you're really good at what you do," Dumba said. "You've seen him build that stature with his game."

But the stakes have changed.

"There's a lot more expectation," Middleton said. "Before it was just like, 'OK, if he excels, great. If not, no big deal.' Whereas now, it's expected of you. So, it's a different one for me for sure. But … it's exciting.

"It's an exciting opportunity no matter how different it is from the ones I've been a part of before."

While on his bike in the offseason, hockey doesn't cross Middleton's mind when he's riding.

If he notices a house on a lake, he envisions that being his future. And when he passes a horse ranch, he thinks maybe he could live there.

"You're very present," said Middleton, who also has a Sportster in addition to the Softail Cross Bones he bought six years ago. "When you're driving, you might be on the phone or you might be listening to a podcast or something. And when you're on a motorcycle, you're in the moment for however long you're on that thing."

(There isn't an explicit clause in his contract that prohibits motorcycles during the season, but Middleton says he doesn't have the time nor does he want to risk getting hurt.)

Middleton has trekked down to Red Wing and Winona and traversed from California to Colorado. One time in the Rocky Mountains he had to pull over because of golf ball-sized hail.

Just this past summer, Middleton went to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota on a whim, absorbing the scenery of the Black Hills.

But even if it's a trip to the store, he'll hop on his bike.

"Unless it's a big grocery haul," he said. "Then we take the car."

Now the bike is taking a back seat; the Wild open the season on Thursday vs. the New York Rangers at Xcel Energy Center.

"It's Stanley Cup or bust really," Middleton said.

He's here for the journey, and right from the beginning. That means a new challenge and more pressure but also a dream come true, his Minneapolis home the first Middleton has bought where he's playing professionally.

And there's enough room in the garage to store both of his motorcycles until it's time to ride again.

"It's achievable," Middleton said. "You just keep doing it. You can do hard things."