Sunday Mop-up

-Looks as if Andrew Brunette could be returning to Minnesota come July 1 as a free agent. Not only is Bruno a class act on and off the ice, he's close with Marian Gaborik and could help with Gaborik wanting to sign an extension to stay in Minnesota. On his blog, Mike Russo also mentions a possible plan of attack when free agency hits especially when it comes to a top 4 defenseman.
-Assistant GM Tom Lynn talks about offer sheets, a term which you'll hear an awful lot of in the next few weeks.
-NHL.com has a nice article about the Wild and the upcoming season. There also is another write-up talking about Minnesota's 2008 Draft.
-The Wild have also signed defenseman Tomas Mojzis to a 2-way deal (meaning he can be sent to Houston), but can't announce it til July 1. Sounds like the prototypical AHL signing to me...

Happy Trails!

Well, it looks like it was a good run for Brian Rolston, Aaron Voros, and Todd Fedoruk. Tom Lynn alluded to the fact that Rolston's agent, Steve Bartlett, is not returning any phone calls (even to Mike Russo) which indicates that Rolston is set to hit the free agent market come July 1. Lynn alludes to the fact that T-Fed and Voros want a bigger, more long-term deal, but it looks like it's not gonne happen, which could have been forecasted considering how Doug Risebrough talked about how he would have roster spots open for guys like Colton Gillies, Cal Clutterbuck, and Benoit Pouliot to win out of camp.

Throw in the fact that Mark Parrish and Pierre-Marc Bouchard were openly being shopped, which could hamper long-term extension negotiations with Marian Gaborik (theee primary source of scoring), and it looks like we may be heading into a rebuilding period.

oh good, good thing ticket prices went up.

A Career Cut Short

Going into the 2008 Entry Draft, Shattuck St. Mary's defenseman David Carle, little brother to San Jose Shark (and former Hobey Baker Award Winner) Matt Carle, was rated highly by many scouting services. A sure bet to go high, he removed his name from contention when he found out he had a serious heart condition during a routine physical. Carle has taken everything in stride, and in a great gesture by the new ownership group of the Tampa Bay Lightning (who will be announcing former Kings Coach, noted TV personality, and mullet wearer Barry Melrose as coach selected Carle with theirfinal pick, 203rd overall. Respect also goes out to University of Denver Coach George Gwozdecky, who was to coach Carle at DU this fall, for honoring the scholarship and will be getting Carle involved into the program one way or another.

Meet Tyler Cuma

From the Horse's Mouth...



And if you want even more footage of Cuma in action, you can see it HERE.

If you listen to Bob Mackenzie in the top video, he mentioned that Cuma was in the Top 10 for a few teams; he was ranked 15 by TSN. NHL.com did a feature on Cuma around the mid-season mark, and managed to cross all 3 items off of his "to-do list."


I'll have more tomorrow on Cuma, the rest of the Wild Selections, and a few extras.

Christmas Eve...er....Draft Eve...

Dear Santa,

I've been a good boy this year; I put up with another 1st round exit, some dicey personnel decisions, and yet another price hike on my season tickets. I feel like I contribute an awful lot to the organization ($$$$$$$$$$$), so here is what I feel would be a nice reward tomorrow night when the 24th pick is announced (live on Versus!)

-Dan


In no order:

- I really like Thomas McCollum of The Guelph Storm. He's a big kid who had a great year last year in the Ontario Hockey League, who is fantastic positionally. Depending on the scouting service, McCollum is the top ranked goalie this year. (It seems as if Mike Russo has discovered that The Wild also likes McCollum quite a bit as well considering he had a second interview today.
-John Carlson is probably my top choice as far as position players go; none of the forwards projected to be available at 24 don't really excite me, but there is a chance that some of the defenseman in the draft may be gone as well, although there could be a number of goalies in the mix so who knows. Carlson is big, has a cannon of a shot, and is very well-rounded already; he's dominated at every level he's been at, and recently opted out of his commitment to the University of Massachusetts to play for the London Knights of the OHL. I can wish, but I don't think he'll be around...
-...but Erik Karlsson could be. Ya, he's smallish, but McKeen's has him ranked 10th overall. In the profile, one scout mentioned that he is awfully reminiscient of Detroit's Niklas Kronwall, which is a lofty comparison. His size (5'11", 165) is his main detractor, but the same thing was said about Kronwall. He and McCollum seem the most likely to be around at 24.

Since the Brian Rolston contract issue won't be resolved by Doug Risebrough's self-imposed Draft Day deadline, don't be surprised if we see a trade of some proportion to help the team in case Rolston doesn't resign; interestingly, Rolston mentioned that he speculated that maybe the last offer was Minnesota's final one.

Draft Week: Wednesday, Thursday, and beyond...

What we do know as far as the prospect depth for Minnesota is that we are sorely lacking as far as goaltending and defense. Josh Harding is on his way, but other than Anton Khudobin (just got done with his first year in the ECHL, probably Houston bound this year), and Niko Hovinen (6th rounder in 2006, still in Finland), we got squat. There is a pretty good crop of goalies this year, and like Max Giese said, perhaps 4 could go in the first round; chances are some could be available with our first and second round picks.
Defense is also rather uninspiring; no one appears to ready to contend for a roster spot, and even then, there are guys like Kyle Medvec, Justin Falk, and Harri Ilvonen that have a ways to go before they even sign.

You want to draft BPA of course, but you also hope you can bolster depth with some great value picks in the later rounds as well (even though we don't have a 3rd, 6th, or 7th.)

Here is what the other guys are forecasting for us:
-Kyle Woodlief of Red Line Report has us taking Jordan Eberle of Regina.
-Gare Joyce at ESPN.com has us taking Harri Sateri, a Finnish Goalie. Joyce wrote an excellent book about the world of hockey scouting, which I highly recommend.
-The Hockey News has us taking Aaron Ness, Future Gopher and current Mr. Hockey.
-The Bleacher Report and Illegal Curve and Pierre Maguire at TSN.CA have us taking Tyler Cuma of the Ottawa 67's.
-SI.com has us taking Windsor Spitfire center Greg Nemisz.
-Fox Sports and Future Considerations are both giving us the local connection with Minnetonka's Jake Gardiner.
-NHLDraftSite.com has us taking Oshawa General Michael Del Zotto.
-MyNHLDraft.com has us taking the smallish Swedish winger Mattias Tedenby.

More Mock Drafts can be found here.

Ryan Malone on the radar?

-The Columbus Dispatch is reporting that Columbus and Pittsburgh are in negotiations over the signing rights to UFA-to-be Ryan Malone, but it also mentions that Minnesota has been talking with Ray Shero, Pens GM, as well about Mr. Malone, current Plymouth resident and former St. Cloud State Huskie.
-I knew I should have gone to one of those Wild Road Trip things. Intriguing stuff nonetheless. Here are some of the concepts done by fans.
-Doug Risebrough has chimed in with his Summer Outline.
-Who wouldn't want to do this? James Sheppard about playing as himself.

Draft Week: Tuesday

I was able to interview Max Giese, a full-time scout for McKeen's (and also a frequent contributor to the blog,) about the upcoming Draft.

1. Tell us about the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, specifically the overall depth compared to recent years, including the talent-bonanza that was 2003.
Giese: The 2008 draft crop is special. Every pick will provide great value, whether a team is picking 1st overall, 5th overall, 25th overall, or 155th overall. It's a draft rich in top-end talent and depth. It's not quite as good as the 2003 draft, I mean just look at the talent that went in the first round in 2003! That draft produced a lot of NHL stars and don't be suprised to see guys like Steve Bernier and Brian Boyle join that group shortly, much like Brent Burns did this past season. I think there will be a few more busts in this crop than in 2003, but overall it's the best draft class since the one we saw in 2003, but I don't believe it surpasses it.

2. -We know that many of the top prospects are defenseman, is that an indictment of the forward crop, or is it just the sheer number of blueliners outweigh the forwards?
Giese: Simply the sheer number of blueliners outweigh the forwards. After Steven Stamkos there is still a lot of talent at the forward positions, but this is definitley the best group of defenseman that I have seen since I began following the draft. Mikkel Boedker is a favorite of mine with his elite speed, creativity, and he simly oozes skill. Colin Wilson is a lock to be a key player in the NHL and Nikita Filatov is the best Russian we've seen since 04. It goes beyond that too, as there is a great deal of talent up front throughout this draft.

3.-The obligatory Minnesota question...who, aside from Ness and Gardiner, are some Minnesota kids to look for this
year, especially in the first few rounds?
Giese: It's honestly not my favorite crop from Minnesota. Corey Fienhage and Justin Jokinen will likely go next, but they're not my favorites. Fienhage has limited puck skills and Jokinen is too soft for my liking. At Mckeen's, we are a microcasim of what NHL scouts think of Fienhage. Fellow McKeen's scout Kevin Way loves Fienhage and thinks he is the next Nicklas Grossman, I on the other hand question his ability with the puck and remain unsold. I've spoken with NHL teams that side with Wey and I've spoken with NHL scouts that side with me as well. Drew Olson is a defenseman teams shouldn't sleep on in my opinion, but overall the guys in Minnesota that I liked this year were either at Shattuck or are 2009 eligible, like Deslisle in Totino-Grace for example. I went to see them to view Nick Nagel, but it was Deslisle that I came away more impressed with.

4. -The goalie crop this year doesn't seem to get much attention...is it because it is relatively weak class, or its just that there are so many more other positional players that may have greater value?
Giese: It's actually a strong year for goaltenders and I predict as many as four could go in the first round. Chet Pickard is my favorite of the bunch and Jakob Markstrom isn't far behind. Jake Allen will surely go in the first round at some point and Thomas McCollum could also rise to the first round, although he's my least favorite of the four. Dustin Tokarski is very underrated as well, people say he was only good beacause he played behind a strong team in Spokane, but he still had to make a lot of difficult saves and you simply can't wrattle him. He's a big-game goaltender with great composure and his lateral movement is superb. His game translates well to higher levels of play. There are no studs this year from the USHL or High School levels in my opinion.

5. -Tell us if there would be any trends to look for this year as far as player projection goes?
Giese: The past few draft's haven't been the deepest, so expect High Schoolers and Tier 2 players go lower than they did in previous years. The CHL will dominate this class and for example, a guy like Ryan McDonagh that almost went 7th overall last year to Columbus and finally went 13th overall to Montreal last year, probably wouldn't go in the top 20 this year. Jake Gardiner would probably be a top 10 pick if he was available last year, but could slip into the 20 range this year.


6. Let's say you are Doug Risebrough with the 24th pick, what would you look for in a player when it comes time to make the selection?
Giese: Simply find the best player. Minnesota won't have to be looking for a needle in the haystack with pick and there will be plenty of promising young men available to choose from. I like what Minnesota has in the system up front, but you can never have enough talented defenseman in the pipeline and I expect them to target that position. It's probably about time they take a chance on an offensive defenseman and either John Carlson or Jake Gardiner would be a great fit. I'm not sold on Michael Del Zotto, but there are sleepers that could be great value picks like an Erik Karlsson. Tyler Cuma from the Ottawa 67s is a rock too if they choose to go that route.

7. -Are there some great value picks in the mid to late rounds?
Giese: Oh yeah, while scouting my territory this year I believe I found several. Center Derek Stepan is a kid I really like and believe is a better prospect than the more highly regarded David Toews. Patrick Wiercioch from the Omaha Lancers is another player I love that I believe would be great value in the second round. Gavin Hartzog is a diamond in the rough that I believe I uncovered this year from Wisconsin High School and I also like Max Nicastro from the Chicago Steel of the USHL. It's a deep, deep draft with talent abundant in all rounds.

8-Finally, is the upcoming Draft the point where all your work from all "scouting year" finally pays off?
Giese: It really is, especially if it goes well for you. Identifying talent for a Scouting service is much different though than scouting for an NHL team. Players take 5-8 years after being drafted to fully develop and that's when NHL teams begin to get judged about their selections (for example, I think it's only now safe to judge the 2000 crop properly). However, as a scouting service we begin to be judged after each pick is made. It's not fair but that's life. Last year I petitioned for Aaron Palushaj to be high on our list and same goes for Will Weber. Both players went high and have had strong years. Those successes when you really put your neck out there for a player when no-one else is publically is risky, but it's very satisfying when it works out well.


Thanks again to McKeens, and Max Giese.

NHL Entry Draft Week: Monday

Indeed, the NHL Entry Draft will be held in Ottawa on Friday (the 1st round only, which is available to watch on the NHL Network and on Versus) and Saturday (NHL Network only), and one I am pretty excited for. Since the Wild went down rather unceremoniously in the first round, all my attention went toward who could and would be available when Minnesota's selections roll around. Those selections (Nos. 24, 55, 115, and 145) are obviously key to the long-term growth and success of a franchise; we recently traded our 3rd round pick (#85) to Anaheim for defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron.
The Organization is optimistic about the Draft and the prevailing thought is that the team will likely take a defenseman in the first round, especially considering the enormous defensive talent available; Doug Risebrough was on Sid Hartman's radio show Sunday morning saying that defense and goaltending are the predominant weaknesses right now. Considering there are a handful of draft eligible goalies that could go in the first round, perhaps we see a netminder taken with the 24th overall, however Risebrough said its The Wild would move up in the Draft.

Here is the Official Wild Draft Guide, although there really isn't anything really groundbreaking in it.

-Tom Powers of the Pioneer Press thinks that the Wild have taken a liking to Eastview's Corey Fienhage.
-Both the Strib and the Pioneer Press report that a deal is sooner than later with re-signing Brian Rolston.
-Could Wes Walz be joining Tampa Bay Tampa Bay in a coaching role?

Yes, even Bottle Rockets go POP

Well, I'm sure that I am not unlike others when I saw Mike Russo's initial post about a possible trade in the works, and it turns out that we Dealt our 3rd round pick to Anaheim for Marc-Andre Bergeron. He's on the small side, has an absolute bomb from the point, and is pretty dandy with the hip check:







Bergeron has some offensive potential, provides depth (considering we had no one else outside of our top 4), but also needs some work in the defensive zone, which is always risky since he is a defenseman.
Me thinks that a 3rd round pick is a bit too much, although the contrarians would reply that Anaheim sent a 3rd to the New York Islanders in order to get MAB (I shall anoint him Da LenchMAB from now on) last year to bolster their blueline for the playoffs. He never saw a minute of playoff ice time this spring. Still, I think a 3rd is still a bit too much for a guy who has never played a full season. And considering that the upcoming Entry Draft has some great overall depth, that pick could have been of great use.
Still I understand that he does fill an immediate need. Also, apparently Erik Reitz is close to signing a 1 year, one way deal which means Reitz will finally have the chance to lock up a roster spot out of camp.

The First Move

Mike Russo of the Strib is reporting that Dougie Risebrough may have something in the works, something with some "pop".

Russo speculates its a Western Conference Defenseman...

Monday Miscellany

-Oh Branko Radivojevic..how we are gonna miss you. Not like we were gonna bring you back, but still.
-In Your Face Tiger Woods.
-Mike Russo of the Star Tribune had a brush with celebrity but really he should be providing us loyal readers (and paper subscribers) with some Draft stuff.
-We're number 9! We're number 9!
-Remember how I told you about Detroit's ability to Draft well? Meet the Man behind it all.
-Sheesh.Go figure.
-Scott Cullen of TSN writes on what we should do.

Let The Second Season Begin!

-Congrats to the Detroit Red Wings for winning the Stanley Cup; obviously the credit goes to the players and coaching staff, but also to GM Ken Holland for assembling a team in the Salary Capped-NHL that was dominant from the opening night to the final horn. Its like every player in red was on the same page all year long...
-What was your favorite Ondrej Fiala moment? The Wild declined to sign Fiala, their 2006 second round pick (40th overall) because of injury concerns, although Assistant GM Tom Lynn humored us all by mentioning they might take a look at him again if he goes undrafted on June 18-19 (any player not signed by the team who drafted him re-enters the draft.) Apparently 4 knee surgeries was two too many for Minnesota; Fiala led the Saskatoon Blades in scoring this year as an overager, and played along with Colton Gillies. That's alright though, since Minnesota is so adept at drafting players...oh wait.
-Hockey's Future Radio has us taking Colten Teubert of the Regina Pats with the 24th pick. If this does come to fruition, I'm loving the pick, because Teubert is exactly the nasty stay-at-home guy we need on the blueline.
-The NHL Combine took place in Ottawa, and Wild Assistant GM Tommy Thompson weighed in on the value of the Combine process. Its nothing really earth shattering, but some good insight to what the organization looks for when it comes to testing and interviewing prospects. I like how he breaks his shoulder patting himself on the back when he talked about selecting Nick Schultz in the 2nd round way back in 2000.
I wrote a column about how our scouts should get scrutinized back in April, writefully so; I feel that this upcoming Draft should be a make or break situation. Minnesota ranked near the bottom of the league as far as drafted players on the active roster is concerned. Again, I understand that ultimately scouting is a crapshoot, but for an organization who peddles the "build within" propaganda, isn't this a bit of contradictory? To their credit they've capitalized on the first rounders (aside from AJ Thelen and the jury is still out on Benoit Pouliot), but the first rounders should make impacts. Look at Detroit, who just dominated their way to a Stanley Cup- the scouts hit home runs with Datsyuk, Zetterberg (Conn Smythe winner), Holmstrom, Lidstrom (the greatest defenseman of our generation), all of whom were found in the later rounds. Not to mention guys like Kronwall, Hudler, and Filipula, who were all higher picks. That's what has to happen for this franchise to be successful.