Wild Offseason

[Bear55]

Well the Wild decided to take up Golf instead of the playoffs this year so lets see what they can do via the draft and free agency to make the team better this offseason.

They select 9th in the draft this summer, we should be able to pick up a great prospect but we seem to be just outside of the top 5-7 players who are considered to be the best of the best.

Here is your Scount/TSN/Bob McKenzie top 10 along with other players who have a chance to be selected in the top 10.

The Top 10

1. TAYLOR HALL

Profile

2009-10 Team: Windsor League: OHL

Position: Left Wing Ht/Wt: 6-1, 185 lbs.

2009-10 Stats: 57 GP, 40 G, 106 PTS

Scouting Ranking

International Scouting Services: No. 2, Central Scouting Bureau: No. 2 (North America)

2. TYLER SEGUIN

Profile

2009-10 Team: Plymouth League: OHL

Position: Centre Ht/Wt: 6-1, 186 lbs.

2009-10 Stats: 63 GP, 48 G, 106 PTS

Scouting Ranking

International Scouting Services: No. 1, Central Scouting Bureau: No. 1 (North America)

3. CAM FOWLER

Profile

2009-10 Team: Windsor League: OHL

Position: Defence Ht/Wt: 6-2, 190 lbs.

2009-10 Stats: 55 GP, 8 G, 55 PTS

Scouting Ranking

International Scouting Services: No. 3, Central Scouting Bureau: No. 5 (North America)

4. ERIK GUDBRANSON

Profile

2009-10 Team: Kingston League: OHL

Position: Defence Ht/Wt: 6-3, 201 lbs.

2009-10 Stats: 41 GP, 2 G, 23 PTS

Scouting Ranking

International Scouting Services: No. 6, Central Scouting Bureau: No. 4 (North America)

5. BRETT CONNOLLY

Profile

2009-10 Team: Prince George League: WHL

Position: Right Wing Ht/Wt: 6-2, 181 lbs.

2009-10 Stats: 16 GP, 10 G, 19 PTS

Scouting Ranking

International Scouting Services: No. 11, Central Scouting Bureau: No. 3 (North America)

6. BRANDON GORMLEY

Profile

2009-10 Team: Moncton League: QMJHL

Position: Defence Ht/Wt: 6-2, 190 lbs.

2009-10 Stats: 58 GP, 9 G, 43 PTS

Scouting Ranking

International Scouting Services: No. 5, Central Scouting Bureau: No. 6 (North America)

7. NINO NIEDERREITER

Profile

2009-10 Team: Portland League: WHL

Position: Left Wing Ht/Wt: 6-2, 203 lbs.

2009-10 Stats: 65 GP, 36 G, 60 PTS

Scouting Ranking

International Scouting Services: No. 9, Central Scouting Bureau: No. 12 (North America)

8. RYAN JOHANSEN

Profile

2009-10 Team: Portland League: WHL

Position: Centre Ht/Wt: 6-3, 188 lbs.

2009-10 Stats: 71 GP, 25 G, 69 PTS

Scouting Ranking

International Scouting Services: No. 17, Central Scouting Bureau: No. 10 (North America)

9. ALEX BURMISTROV

Profile

2009-10 Team: Barrie League: OHL

Position: Centre Ht/Wt: 6-0, 170 lbs.

2009-10 Stats: 62 GP, 22 G, 65 PTS

Scouting Ranking

International Scouting Services: No. 12, Central Scouting Bureau: No. 11 (North America)

10. DEREK FORBORT

Profile

2009-10 Team: USNDTP Team League: USHL

Position: Defence Ht/Wt: 6-4, 195 lbs.

2009-10 Stats: 26 GP, 4 G, 14 PTS

Scouting Ranking

International Scouting Services: No. 10, Central Scouting Bureau: No. 9 (North America)

Other Potentials:

Jack Campbell

Vladimir Tarasenko

Beau Bennett

Riley Sheahen

Nick Bjugstad

John McFarland

Emerson Etem

Mikael Granlund

Dylan McIlrath

[Bear55]

Ok I will try to give my best amateur/puck head opinion on some of these players and see if we can't narrow down this list to a hand full of players the wild might be targeting.

Right off the bat you might as well take Hall, Seguin, Fowler, Gudbranson, Connolley off your wish list because they are not dropping to us, you can probably take off Gormley too.

Most years I would always say take the best player available but this year might be a little different, we have some solid D prospects, we got a pretty decent goalie last year and we badly need forwards/scoring prospects so unless one of the D from the wish list drop to us I just can't see us taking anything but a forward. (Disclaimer: I thought the same thing last year and I was dead wrong.)

So that should leave us with a few forwards as potential candidates.

Nino Niederreiter - 65 GP, 36 G, 60 PTS - CHL

Ryan Johansen - 71 GP, 25 G, 69 PTS - CHL

Alex Burmistrov - 62 GP, 22 G, 65 PTS - CHL

Vladimir Tarasenko - 42 GP, 13 G, 24 PTS - KHL

Beau Bennett - 56 GP, 41 G, 120 PTS - BCHL

Riley Sheahan - 37 GP, 6 G, 17 PTS - NCAA

Nick Bjugstad 30 GP, 35 G, 69 PTS - High School

John McFarland 64 GP, 20 G, 50 PTS - CHL

Emerson Etem - 72 GP, 38G, 65PTS, - CHL

Mikael Granlund - 43 GP, 13 G, 40 PTS

Now the hard part is projecting these guys into the NHL, they play in many different leagues and against different talent levels so while Nick Bjugstad might look like he has great stats and great potential he is playing against high school players while others are playing in professional leagues in Europe and the best JR players in Canada or against NCAA competition.

So any draft experts out there with any ideas? I'm not sure who I like yet but I'm sure I will know it all by the time draft rolls around I will be just another obnoxious know it all fan.

[solbes]

We need a true #2 center for the future of this team. I realize it may take many years for that individual to mature and be ready. But it would be nice to know we have someone in the system who could someday take that role.

[Bear55]

I'd also be happy with a scoring winger. I have a feeling the team might pick up a center in free agency/trade but it certainly wouldn't hurt to have another one in the system.

[scsavre]

I have no faith in us drafting a player and say trade for 3 and 4th year good players. I would have to think that just about any team would trade their #2 center or maybe their #1 center for our #9 pick. Either to save money or to rebuild. We do have 2 2nd round picks this year too, I think. Trade at least 1 of those. Get rid of harding in the deal.

[Bear55]

Wild not renewing Tommy Thompson's contract. I think most people expected this to happen. For the past 5 years our drafting has been well below average. Lets see what the next 5 years bring in.

[setterguy]

I think we have a #2 center -Koivu. What we really need is a #1.

[Bear55]

That would be nice but #1 centers that push Koivu to 2nd line duty don't grow on trees.

[OnAFly]

Who would we get that could push Koivu to the 2nd line?

[scsavre]

Man Kiovu would be a hack of a second line center. Wow. He is a heck of a first line center. There were only 10 centers with more points last year.

Maybe we can pick off Carter from Philly, likely not.

Kesler free agent next year, any takers?

[OnAFly]

Is Kessler a UFA next year? He would cost a lot. The way the cap is, the NHL is much more about prospects than big trades. Teams used to just be able to buy up players and go for a cup, now it's a 5 year process of being consistently terrible enough to get good picks... or be like Detroit and pull them out of the later rounds.

[Bear55]

Centers - 2010 NHL Unrestricted Free Agents

Player Age Team 09-10 Salary Notes

Patrick Marleau 29 SJ $6,300,000

Olli Jokinen 30 CAL $5,500,000

Marc Savard 31 BOS $5,000,000 Re-signed with the Bruins. 7 years, $28.05 million.

Saku Koivu 34 ANA $3,250,000

Matt Cullen 32 OTT $2,800,000

John Madden 36 CHI $2,750,000

Tomas Plekanec 26 MON $2,750,000

Matthew Lombardi 27 PHO $2,350,000

Mike Modano 39 DAL $2,250,000

Chris Higgins 26 NYR $2,250,000

Doug Weight 38 NYI $2,000,000

Jeff Halpern 33 LA $2,000,000

Eric Belanger 31 MIN $1,750,000

Matt Stajan 25 CAL $1,750,000 Re-signed with the Flames. 4 years, $14 million.

Jason Williams 28 DET $1,500,000

Brendan Morrison 33 WASH $1,500,000

Wayne Primeau 33 TOR $1,400,000

Kyle Wellwood 26 VAN $1,200,000

Ryan Johnson 33 VAN $1,200,000

Mike Comrie 28 EDM $1,125,000

Vaclav Prospal 34 NYR $1,100,000

Craig Conroy 37 CAL $1,000,000

Glen Metropolit 35 MON $1,000,000

Jim Slater 26 ATL $840,000

Ryan Craig 27 TB $800,000

Adam Mair 30 BUF $775,000

Scott Nichol 34 SJ $750,000

Adam Burish 26 CHI $725,000

Joel Perrault 26 PHO $625,000

Jamie Lundmark 28 TOR $600,000

Ryan Shannon 26 OTT $600,000

Krys Barch 29 DAL $575,000

Stephane Yelle 35 COL $550,000

Derek MacKenzie 28 CBJ $550,000

Toby Petersen 30 DAL $550,000

Cam Paddock 26 STL $525,000

Andrew Ebbett 26 MIN $500,000

Rich Peverley 26 ATL $500,000 Re-signed with the Thrashers. 2 years, $2.6 million.

Michael Ryan 29 CAR $500,000

Colin Stuart 26 CAL $500,000

Yan Stastny 26 VAN $500,000

Zenon Konopka 28 TB $500,000

Alexandre Giroux 28 WASH $500,000

Cody McCormick 26 BUF TBA

Dwight Helminen 26 SJ TBA

Derek Armstrong 36 STL TBA

Rickard Wallin 29 TOR TBA

[OnAFly]

The Islanders are still paying Doug Weight $2Mil a year...no wonder they're terrible!

Olli might be available for a better price after his performance in Calgary. I wouldn't mind him for $4Mil as a 2nd liner BEHIND KOIVU!

I think the only player there that Koivu would play 2nd to would be Marleau. I can tell you that's not happening at $6.3Mil.

Good info Bear!

[walleyes12]

The wild are stuck between a rock and a hard place. They have no money to spend, and fans want them to win now, and the organization doesnt seem to want to build on prospects!!! Its going to be intresting offseason

[Bear55]

I can't see us getting Marleau even if we had the $$$. We have about 41 million in cap space spoken for 2010-11 on the following signed players. That leaves about 10-12 million to play with but keep in mind we need to lock up Koivu & Latendresse long term and fill out the rest of our roster so yes we are in a tough spot.

Signed Players:

Havlat

Koivu

Kobasew

Brunette

Miettinen

Brodziak

Clutterbuck

Burns

Schultz

Zidlicky

Barker

Zanon

RFA:

Sheppard

Latendresse

Earl

Ebbett

Harding

UFA:

Nolan

Boogaard

Hnidy

Scott

[scsavre]

Latendress might eat up over $3mil of that too. We need to sign an enforcer, there goes another $750, I would like to get Nolan, but not more than $2.25. Hnidy, not for more than $1mil.

That would leave us around $3mil, good bye Ebbets, Sheperd Earl can do a 2 way. $3mil isnt a lot of room, we might have to pass on Nolan.

[OnAFly]

I don't think we'll spend that type of money on Latendress. He had one good year following two not so good years. They'll give him a dangle-the-carrot type contract to see if he can do it again. IF he does, then it's payday.

Still, we don't have much in the way of free spending money. We're at the cap with a roster rich with 2nd/3rd liners. Trade time for prospects is my guess.

[Bear55]

Looking back at the history of the Wild hiring Lemaire was a terrible move, he made us too competitive too early. Instead of drafting in the top 5 most of the time we found ourselves in the middle of the first round, often just outside of the elite skill you need to win. We should have hired a terrible coach and loaded up on prospects in those early years.

[scsavre]

Well with Kobesew, mietnan and Brunette all making $2.3mil and Cluterbuck making $1.4 mil, what do you pay your young and highest goal scorer, LTD?

You have to offer more than Cluterbuck. I would want more than the other guys. Maybe a deal rich with bonuses and markers to hit. Or maybe one that increases after another similar year.

[OnAFly]

I would say $1.5-2mil would be about right for a 1 year contract depending on bonuses.

We just don't want another Parrish situation. I'm sure that's in the back of their minds as they prepare his offer.

[Bear55]

Without much cap space there is a good chance we see a trade for a center this off season, maybe from a team who is in worse cap trouble then we are. This might allow us to still have a little room to pick up a winger but I wouldn't expect too much.

Left Wingers - 2010 NHL Unrestricted Free Agents

Player Age Team 09-10 Salary Notes

Ilya Kovalchuk 26 NJ $7,500,000

Paul Kariya 34 STL $6,000,000

Alexander Frolov 27 LA $4,000,000

Vyacheslav Kozlov 37 ATL $3,850,000

Ray Whitney 37 CAR $3,550,000

Fredrik Modin 34 LA $3,500,000

Markus Naslund 35 NYR $3,000,000

Raffi Torres 27 BUF $2,750,000

Alex Tanguay 29 TB $2,500,000

Alexei Ponikarovsky 29 PIT $2,500,000

Darcy Tucker 34 COL $2,300,000

Tomas Holmstrom 36 DET $2,250,000

Keith Tkachuk 37 STL $2,150,000

Ruslan Fedotenko 30 PIT $1,800,000

Jere Lehtinen 36 DAL $1,500,000

Steve Ott 26 DAL $1,500,000 Re-signed with the Stars. 4 years , $11.8 million.

Rene Bourque 27 CAL $1,400,000 Re-signed with the Flames. 6 years, $20 million.

Derek Boogaard 27 MIN $1,250,000

Matt Cooke 30 PIT $1,200,000

Jon Sim 31 NYI $1,000,000

Christoph Schubert 27 ATL $900,000

Steve Begin 31 BOS $850,000

Brad Winchester 28 STL $800,000

Eric Nystrom 26 CAL $775,000

Kirk Maltby 36 DET $750,000

Stephane Veilleux 27 TB $750,000

Jody Shelley 33 SJ $725,000

Eric Boulton 32 ATL $600,000

Raitis Ivanans 30 LA $600,000

David Koci 28 COL $575,000

Steve MacIntyre 28 EDM $550,000

Warren Peters 26 DAL $500,000

Chris Minard 27 EDM $500,000

Taylor Pyatt 27 PHO TBA

Matt Ellis 27 BUF TBA

Quintin Laing 30 WASH TBA

Right Wingers - 2010 NHL Unrestricted Free Agents

Player Age Team 09-10 Salary Notes

Milan Hejduk 33 COL $4,000,000

Pavol Demitra 34 VAN $4,000,000

Lee Stempniak 26 PHO $3,500,000

Owen Nolan 37 MIN $2,750,000

Scott Walker 35 WASH $2,500,000

Fernando Pisani 32 EDM $2,500,000

Marek Svatos 27 COL $2,350,000

Teemu Selanne 39 ANA $2,000,000

Bill Guerin 38 PIT $2,000,000

Petr Sykora 32 MIN $1,600,000

Todd Bertuzzi 34 DET $1,500,000

Jamal Mayers 34 CAL $1,400,000

Mike Grier 34 BUF $1,200,000

Evgeny Artyukhin 26 ANA $1,000,000

Mark Recchi 41 BOS $1,000,000

Jordin Tootoo 26 NASH $975,000

Richard Park 33 NYI $800,000

Wade Belak 32 NASH $650,000

Shean Donovan 34 OTT $650,000

Arron Asham 31 PHI $640,000

Craig Weller 28 MIN $625,000

Shawn Thornton 31 BOS $550,000

Tim Jackman 27 NYI $550,000

Brandon Bochenski 27 TB $550,000

Brian McGrattan 27 CAL $547,000

David Van Der Gulik 26 CAL $500,000

Ilkka Pikkarainen 28 NJ $500,000

Keith Aucoin 30 WASH $500,000

Ben Guite 30 NASH TBA

Jason Ward 30 PHI TBA

Jed Ortmeyer 30 SJ TBA

Ryan Vesce 27 SJ TBA

Barry Tallackson 26 STL TBA

Ben Ondrus 27 TOR TBA

[Bear55]

While I'm at it if we don't feel Hnidy or Scott are up to the task we will need a couple more D. I think one or two AHL guys will get a shot this year but I wouldn't mind if we found ourselves a Zanon clone in the free agent market just to be safe.

Defenseman - 2010 NHL Unrestricted Free Agents

Player Age Team 09-10 Salary Notes

Nicklas Lidstrom 39 DET $7,450,000

Scott Niedermayer 35 ANA $6,000,000

Sergei Gonchar 35 PIT $5,500,000

Kim Johnsson 33 CHI $5,300,000

Pavel Kubina 32 ATL $5,000,000

Paul Martin 28 NJ $4,500,000

Brett Clark 32 COL $3,500,000

Marek Zidlicky 32 MIN $3,500,000

Andy Sutton 34 OTT $3,500,000

Mike Rathje 35 PHI $3,500,000

Rob Blake 39 SJ $3,500,000

Willie Mitchell 32 VAN $3,500,000

Mike Van Ryn 30 TOR $3,350,000

Derek Morris 30 PHO $3,300,000

Ruslan Salei 34 COL $3,275,000

Henrik Tallinder 30 BUF $3,250,000

Adam Foote 37 COL $3,250,000

Anton Volchenkov 27 OTT $3,200,000

Toni Lydman 31 BUF $3,150,000

Randy Jones 27 LA $3,000,000

Joe Corvo 32 WASH $2,750,000

Jason Smith 35 OTT $2,600,000

Aaron Ward 36 ANA $2,500,000

Dan Hamhuis 26 NASH $2,500,000

Brian Pothier 32 CAR $2,500,000

Rostislav Klesla 27 CBJ $2,250,000

Dennis Seidenberg 27 BOS $2,250,000

Adrian Aucoin 35 PHO $2,250,000

Mark Eaton 32 PIT $2,000,000

Shaone Morrisonn 26 WASH $1,975,000

Brad Lukowich 32 VAN $1,800,000

Jordan Leopold 28 PIT $1,750,000

Niclas Wallin 34 SJ $1,725,000

Garnet Exelby 27 TOR $1,725,000

Paul Mara 29 MON $1,675,000

Andrew Ference 30 BOS $1,625,000

Mathieu Schneider 40 PHO $1,550,000

Nick Boynton 30 ANA $1,500,000

Stephane Robidas 32 DAL $1,500,000

Zbynek Michalek 26 PHO $1,500,000

Lukas Krajicek 26 TB $1,475,000

Carlo Colaiacovo 26 STL $1,400,000

Milan Jurcina 26 WAS $1,375,000

Andreas Lilja 33 DET $1,250,000

Sean O'Donnell 37 LA $1,250,000

Nathan Paetsch 26 CLB $1,050,000

Jonas Frogren 28 TOR $900,000

Brett Lebda 27 DET $850,000

Jay McKee 31 PIT $800,000

Mike Weaver 31 STL $800,000

Mike Mottau 31 NJ $775,000

Shane Hnidy 33 MIN $750,000

Francis Bouillon 33 NASH $750,000

David Hale 28 TB $725,000

Jason Strudwick 33 EDM $700,000

Andrew Hutchinson 29 DAL $600,000

Freddy Meyer 28 NYI $600,000

Kurtis Foster 27 TB $600,000

Martin Skoula 31 NJ $575,000

Sheldon Brookbank 28 ANA $550,000

Dan Jancevski 28 DAL $550,000

Garrett Stafford 29 DAL $550,000

John Scott 26 MIN $550,000

Aaron Johnson 26 ED $540,000

Tim Conboy 27 CAR $500,000

Nate Guenin 28 STL $500,000

Jay Harrison 26 CAR $500,000

Jay Leach 29 NJ $500,000

Cory Murphy 31 NJ $500,000

Matt Carkner 28 OTT $500,000

Lawrence Nycholat 30 VAN $500,000

Doug Janik 29 DET TBA

Alex Henry 29 MON TBA

Joe Callahan 26 SJ TBA

Brendan Bell 26 CLB TBA

Mike Lundin 24 TB TBA

[10,000 Casts]

RFA:

Sheppard..........good bye!!!

Latendresse.......sign

Earl...........sign

Ebbett......trade for a water bottle

Harding.....trade with a pick for Jokinen?

UFA:

Nolan.....one more year!!!

Boogaard....good buy

Hnidy.......good buy

Scott.......sign and put him on 4th line wing in Boogy's spot

Willie Mitchell is availible for $3.5!!!!!! What a steal that is!!!!!

[scsavre]

NO willie please, I dont like his attitude. Not sure if that is reason enough. I think we are going to make a move or 2. I just hope it is for players and not future talent. Patrick Sharp will be here and Saku Kiovu, is that enough?

By the way, Havlat will tear it up with the right Center next year.

[Bear55]

I just realized that the Caps upset in the first round will help bump up our 2nd round pick a little.

Instead of picking in the 57 to 60 area we are now locked in with the 56th pick in the 2nd round. I know its not much but better then nothing.

From what I am hearing from other internet GM's around the world is this draft might not have high end depth but it does have some depth so maybe we can land some solid players with our two 2nd round picks.

Note: Our 2nd rounder in 2011 belongs to Boston from the Kobasew trade.