**Rating system for “Plus/Minus” Series**
+3 = Major Upgrade
+2 = Upgrade
+1 = Slight Upgrade
0 = Same as prior year
-1 = Slight Dowgrade
-2 = Downgrade
-3 = Major Downgrade

Team: Minnesota Wild
2010-11: 86 points, #12 in Western Conference

GOALIES

Returning: Niklas Backstrom

Arrivals: Josh Harding
Departures: Jose Theodore

Grade: -1

Jose Theodore played 32 games for the Wild, and posted almost the same GAA and SV% as Backstrom. He also had a better record. Its hard to imagine Harding will be as good as Theodore, hence the -1 rating.

DEFENSE

Returning: Nick Schultz, Marek Zidlicky, Greg Zanon, Clayton Stoner, Jared Spurgeon

Arrivals: Mike Lundin, Marco Scandella
Departures: Brent Burns, Cam Barker

Grade: -3

While the addition of top prospect Marco Scandella is a positive, losing Brent Burns is going to leave a major hole on Minnesota’s blueline. This is a guy who scored 17 goals (8 on the PP) and played over 25 mins per game.

FORWARDS

Returning: Mikko Koivu, Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Cal Clutterbuck, Matt Cullen, Kyle Brodziak, Eric Nystrom, Brad Staubitz

Arrivals: Dany Heatley, Devin Setoguchi, Guillaume Latenderesse (return from injury), Darrol Powe, Colton Gillies
Departures: Martin Havlat, Andrew Brunette, John Madden, Antti Miettinen, Chuck Kobasew

Grade: +3

If you break it down player-for-player; Heatley is better than Havlat in terms of goal scoring, Latendresse brings more than Andrew Brunette, and Setoguchi is a major upgrade over Miettinen, who couldn’t even get a job with an NHL team. Powe and Gillies are simply younger versions of Madden and Kobasew for the bottom 6.

OVERALL RATING: -1
2011-12 Prediction: #12-#14 in Western Conference

In a tough Western Conference, I just don’t see their defense and goaltending being good enough to be a playoff team. They are in a rebuilding phase, so some patience will be required.

The Minnesota Wild had a disappointing season in 2010-11, which ultimately forced the organization to come to terms with the need for a rebuild. Too many of their players are past their prime and injury prone; and so its time to spend a few years getting younger and better.

Franchise goaltender Niklas Backstrom is back, and while there are some good prospects in the system, it is likely they will hold off on promoting one for now. The trade of Brent Burns and the pending buyout of Cam Barker (unless someone claims him off waivers) signals a changing of the guard on the blueline. Prospects like Scandella and one of Jared Spurgeon or Nate Prosser will get significant time at the NHL level this year. The forward group will hopefully be better with a full season out of Bouchard, the return of Latendresse and the addition of Darroll Powe. Its too bad fans in Minny will have to wait another year for Mikael Granlund, as he has decided to spend another year in Europe. It wouldn’t shock me to see GM Chuck Fletcher to trade Martin Havlat at some point this summer, given the thin UFA pool.

The Wild have over $15M in cap space, and while they won’t be one of the teams spending right up to the ceiling, they will use the money to add several missing pieces. There are plenty of second and third line wingers available on July 1, and it is expected that Minnesota will land one. More importantly, with the departure of Burns, the Wild will be in search of a top 4 defenseman. Perhaps they will be in the bidding for Wisniewski, Ehrhoff and Kaberle. If not, they could always trade for one. Finally, the backup goaltender position will need to be filled by a UFA. Ideally, it will be Jose Theodore again, but he may get a #1 job elsewhere, believe it or not.

MINNESOTA WILD 2011-12 ROSTER (using CAPGEEK CAP CALCULATOR)

FORWARDS
Pierre-Marc Bouchard ($4.080m) / Mikko Koivu ($6.750m) / Devin Setoguchi ($3.000m)
Guillaume Latendresse ($2.500m) / Matt Cullen ($3.500m) / Martin Havlat ($5.000m)
3RD LINE WING ($0.000m) / Kyle Brodziak ($1.150m) / Cal Clutterbuck ($1.400m)
Colton Gillies ($0.700m EST) / Darroll Powe ($0.950m EST) / Eric Nystrom ($1.400m)
Brad Staubitz ($0.575m)

DEFENSEMEN
Nick Schultz ($3.500m) / Marek Zidlicky ($4.000m)
TOP 4 D-MAN ($0.000m) / Marco Scandella ($0.845m)
Greg Zanon ($1.933m) / Clayton Stoner ($0.550m)
Jared Spurgeon ($0.526m)

GOALTENDERS
Niklas Backstrom ($6.000m) / BACKUP GOALIE ($0.000m)

BUYOUTS (not including Cam Barker): Mark Parrish ($0.927m)

CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS
SALARY CAP: $64,300,000
CAP PAYROLL: $49,288,610
CAP SPACE: $15,011,390

Minnesota Wild fans need to be patient, as the rebuild is underway. It won’t be too long before Mikael Granlund, Charlie Coyle (acquired in the Burns trade) and 2011 first round picks Jonas Brodin and Zack Phillips are making their mark in the show. The future is bright, but making the playoffs in 2011-12 and perhaps even the next few years is a long shot, at best.

Granlund in a Finnish Junior National game

The Minnesota Wild have historically had success in the NHL Entry Draft.  They started a trend of great picks with their first selection in franchise history, Slovakian winger Marian Gaborik.  But today, ask any Wild fan about Gaborik and you’ll hear a few relatively derogatory remarks followed by the fact that, “we didn’t want him anyway.”

If you heard the truth, you’d hear that Minnesota has always embraced Gaborik and would most likely welcome the 86 points he had last year to a struggling Minnesota team.

The Wild haven’t always been on the downside of their draft picks though.  In 2001 the Wild selected Mikko Koivu, two year captain and first line center for Minnesota.  Most would argue he could be one of the best playmaking centers in the NHL, behind obvious superstars like Nicklas Backstrom of the Capitals and Sidney Crosby of the Penguins.

After that, in 2002, Minnesota selected center Pierre-Marc Bouchard, another great player for the Wild, followed by Brent Burns in 2003.  Brent Burns is probably the player that the Wild are preparing most to be a household name in Minnesota.  Burns is leading the league amongst defenseman in goals, with 5, and is above the league average in assists, which is 2, with 3.

Last year, with the 16th overall pick in the NHL Entry Draft, the Wild selected the Minnesota native defenseman Nick Leddy.  Leddy is from Eden Prairie, Minnesota and had grown up a wild fan.  Being selected by the Minnesota Wild was the best this that could have happened for him.  That is, until he was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks, where he became an instant fan favorite.  This trade, you could say, has lowered the legitimacy level that Minnesota fans see in the front office.

Finally, this year, the Minnesota Wild decided to go out on a limb and select a Finnish forward by the name of Mikael Granlund.  Obviously with the success of Koivu, the Wild felt that trying out another Finnish playmaker wouldn’t be a bad choice to make.  If it weren’t for the fact that with the exception of the Koivu brothers, most Finnish players haven’t succeeded in the NHL, I think most Minnesota fans would agree with this ideology.

Granlund is an 18 year old center from Oulu, Finland.  He is reletively small at 5 ft 10 in, 178 pounds, but he knows how to take a hit, and shows that with his ability to stay balanced and keep his composure.  Granlund will be playing for his SM-Liiga team HIFK Helsinki in 2010-2011, so we won’t be seeing him playing in the NHL until next season, but as a Junior A League All-Star, and one of the captains of the Finnish Junior National Team, Granlund looks to enter the NHL in grand style.

Mikael Granlund has also been respectful of his fans and peers in the past.  You may not think that is important, but any Minnesota sports fan has learned how this can really affect your team with the recent allegations of Randy Moss.  Watch any YouTube video of Granlund and look at the comments fellow Fins are making.  You Will see that he has created quite the cult of personality for himself in Finland.  The fans can’t say enough about him, and that’s something that Wild fans love to see.  Granlund is very excited to be in the NHL, and even more excited to play on a team that has embraced Finnish hockey with the likes of All-Stars like Koivu and goalie Niklas Backstrom.

Although only time will tell, I think Mikael Granlund has the skills and mindset to become an NHL superstar by the time he turns 22.  The NHL is seeing a lot more speed and a lot less size coming from overseas, and that’s exactly what Granlund brings to the table.  Whether he’s dangling through the defense, sniping a rocket top shelf, or threading the needle with a precision pass, Minnesota should be looking forward to the arrival of this future star.

I will post any news or updates on the Wild’s 2010 first pick in the coming months, so stay tuned!

In all likelihood, the Wilds’ double header season opener wasn’t quite the home coming that native Finns, Koivu, Miettinen and Backstrom were hoping for. The Wild seemed to be in control for the first period of their opener, registering the first goal of the season by winger Guillaume Latendresse on an excellent play from capt. Mikko Koivu. Unfortunately, they lost control in the second, letting Carolina net three goals. They could never quite recapture the hold they had on the game, and eventually lost despite a late push which resulted in a power play goal from Brent Burns. The next day, they lost a tough game in a shootout to the Canes.

They return home having collected only 1 out of a possible 4 points from the trip.

They’ll have to put that all behind them however, if they wish to gain momentum in what’s, thus far in the 2010-2011 season’s infancy, is turning into an unexpected Northwest Division race. As I write this, Edmonton and Colorado sit atop the division, while Vancouver, Stanley Cup favorites, struggle to make a significant impact. In fact, they just lost to the worst team in the league, the Ducks (who were a cool 0-3-0 before the Canucks handed them a W)

Koivu and Co. can take control of their situation by taking down a surprisingly hot team in the Edmonton Oilers. Fledgling long enough throughout the season, the Oil ended up with the first overall selection at last year’s draft. They shocked the hockey world by, well not being horrible. Newcomers like Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, and Magnus Paajarvi are bringing new life to the struggling franchise. Edmonton has racked up a hefty 7 goals while only letting in 2, resulting in an impressive +5 goal differential.

This may seem like a daunting task for the Wild, who looked average at best against the Canes. One of the biggest difficulties they’ll face will be the sheer speed of this young Oilers team. The key to taking this game is going to be to force them to bring the game to the Wilds level; play a strong defensive game, don’t give them room to maneuvre and dangle their way to the net, hit them hard and often.

Hopefully the long flight from Helsinki to St.Paul gave the team time to reflect on what went wrong and to prepare themselves for the long season ahead. Hopefully being handled by fellow low drafters the Hurricanes, lights a fire underneath their collective behinds that sends them in the the Xcell Energy Center on a mission.

And after all, the Wild are on an 8 game win streak in their home openers, why stop the crowd pleasing now??

Thank the Lord! Only a few weeks left until the start of the NHL season. As with every offseason, hockey enthusiasts desperately try to find some way to fill the void that the Stanley Cup finals, Draft day and July 1^st. All over the internet, debates rage on over who the Flordia Panthers should sign as their 7^th defensemen, or the possibilities of impossible hypothetical situations like the projected point total of Sidney Crosby if he played on a line with Ovechkin and they were transported back to the 1980′s to take on the Edmonton Oilers.

From now until the beginning of the season, I’ll try and look at the Wild’s offseason acquisitions/signings and give as in depth as possible analysis. Then, I’ll assign a letter grade for the move (its not just the kids going back to school!)

Mikko Koivu- Chances are, unless you’re a Wild fan, you’ll be more familiar with the elder Koivu, Saku, who captained the Montreal Canadiens as well as the Finnish Olympic team (Silver in Torino!) while beating cancer somewhere in between.

This summer, Koivu signed a 47 million dollar contract with the team that drafted him. The deal which comes into effect NEXT season, (2011-2012) will see Koivu with the team for seven seasons at a cool 6.75 mil a season. A lot of amateur armchair GMs were perplexed by such a lucrative deal. Their precious stat sheets will tell them that Koivu only racked up 71 points this season. 6.75 Million? That’s Ovechkin money! They cried. That’s Crosby money! That’s Wade Redden money! 71 points doesn’t warrant such a lofty cap hit!

I’d be willing to bet that the majority of the naysayers, despite their infinite wisdom, have never really seen Koivu on the ice, or at the very least, talked to Wild fans. In the age of the internet, where limitless information is at the click of a mouse, this is inexcusable. If any of these people did, they’d realize there’s a lot more to Koivu’s game than his goals and assists.

Anyone who watches Koivu night in and night out knows what he brings to the table. Koivu has gone on record as saying that he’ll never cheat offensively if it will make him a defensive liability. He’s a work horse and a beast in all three zones. If Don Cherry saw him play a little more, he’d think twice before playing the softie European card.

The problem many people see is in comparable salaries around the league. For example, Patrick Marleau makes 6.9, and generally puts up much better numbers than Koivu. But what everyone’s ignoring is Marleau’s line mates; Thornton and Heatley, an exceptional playmaker and a natural sniper. Koivu has never had even one player of that caliber to team up with, let alone two.

But what really makes Koivu an important and deserving player within the organization is the fat that he’s the first PERMANENT captain in the franchise’s history. The Wild finally have someone on their roster worthy of representing the team. Nearly every team has a legitimate “face of the franchise.” Who did the Wild have? The man of Glass, Marian Gaborik, who couldn’t leave fast enough? Pierre-Marc Bouchard? Brian Rolston? Matt Johnson…?

Let’s face it, the franchise needed someone like this for the teams imagine. They don’t have a rich history, no real legacy to speak of. They’ve rarely fallen far enough in the standings to draft a generational talent ala Crosby or Ovechkin.

Yes its true, Koivu’s making BIG money, and no, it wouldn’t have hurt him to take a “home town discount” but I think he’s clearly a special player, especially for the Wild. No one who ever put on a Wild’s jersey up to this point was worthy of wearing the C full time. Why should he have to take a pay cut because the Wild brass handed out too much money to Pierre-Marc Bouchard?

Maybe if Datsyuk stops hogging all the Selke’s, we’ll see Koivu on the podium accepting the award, and maybe he’ll finally get the respect he deserves.

It was a tough year for the Minnesota Wild. The team had gone in with expectations of fighting for the playoffs, however the team only managed a 38-36-8 record which was good enough for 13th in the Western Conference 11 points from making the playoffs. But the team’s atrocious road play this year just killed them. (13-24-4 away from home ice)

It was a rough year for most of this team all around. Niklas Backstrom had an average year at best. A 2.72 GAA with a .903 SV% in 60 games is hardly anything to write home about. Josh Harding didn’t fare any better in the pipes with a 3.05 GAA and a .905 SV% Bottom line is neither goaltender was particularly strong all year and never let the Wild get on any real rolls this season.

The defense core also had a rough year, especially on the offensive side of things. Only Marek Zidlicky could break the 25 point barrier. He ended with 6 goals and 37 assists for 43 points. However with this nice offensive year came a dreadful -16 which was worst for the teams defensemen. It is also fair to say that this team missed having Brent Burns in the lineup for almost half the season. He put up 20 points in his 47 games played, however he was a -15 and had a tough time regaining his form after the injury. I suspect he will be far stronger next season. The rest of the back end was defensively adequate but no one truly stepped up.

As it is commonly known the Wild could never consistently generate offense. They had hoped that the combination of Marin Havlat, along with Mikko Koivu would generate a scary first line that teams would have to account for game in and game out. Mikko had another good season racking up 71 points in 80 games but Havlat just never got rolling. His 54 points in 73 games seem like decent numbers, however he is the teams highest paid forward at $5M per season and really needed to produce numbers worthy of the paycheck in order for the Wild to truly challenge for the post season. Brunette, Latendresse, and Miettenen all had good campaigns and fill out a top 6 fairly well, but top end scoring will need to be addressed.

While the previous season was not what the Wild management and fans had hoped for the future of this team could actually be looking bright. Minnesota has only $40M committed against the cap for the following season with 8 forwards, 5 defensemen and Backstrom in net signed.

When it comes to the RFA situation of the Wild. Only Latendresse is looking to make a large raise from his current salary of $800K. I would suspect that a deal gets done in that $2M range. Josh Harding is also a RFA but I don’t think he will be in line for much of a raise after a rough season. Sheppard, Earl, and Ebbett are the only other players on the big squad that are RFA’s and none should be looking at large raises.

As for the UFA situation for the Wild, they have 5 NHL calibur players that are eligible with Owen Nolan, Peter Sykora, Derek Boogaard, Shane Hnidy, and John Scott eligible to test the open market. I think Minnesota will do everything possible to keep Boogaard, and Hnidy in Minnesota.

As for what the Wild may do this off season when it comes to free agency, I suspect they could be active, and may have a few dollars to spend to get a top 6 forward and potentially a top 4 defenseman. Of course the rumors will grow that Saku Koivu could be going to the Wild to play a season with his brother before he retires, and I think it would be a good move for Minnesota as Saku would likely play for a very discounted price. And with that thought also comes the thought of maybe Saku would talk to his good buddy Teemu Selanne about joining him for one year in Minnesota.

If the Wild could pull that off with Saku and Teemu, and add a few players via free agency this team could quickly put themselves into playoff contention. They also have to address the concussion problems with Pierre-Marc Bouchard. If PM is ready to come back this fall it would be a huge boost for the Wild. If not then his salary is protected by the LITR. They could also desperately use a puck moving defenseman in the off season.

At the end of the day the Wild are going to need to be agressive and push their team salary close to the cap to be truly competitive next year. If they can do this and the goaltending can regain it’s form of two seasons ago the Minnesota Wild can go from bottom feeder to contender for the North West Division very quickly!

Have a good one!

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