Additions: LW Zach Parise, D Ryan Suter, C Torrey Mitchell, C Jake Dowell, C Zenon Konopka
Subtractions: RW Nick Johnson, LW Guillaume Latendresse, D Mike Lundin
UFAs: C Warren Peters, RW Jed Ortmeyer, D Kurtis Foster, C Erik Christensen
Promotion candidates: C Mikael Granlund, D Jonas Brodin, RW Brett Bulmer, LW Johan Larsson, LW Jason Zucker
Minnesota
firmed up its future in goal by re-signing Josh
Harding as Niklas
Backstrom's backup in net for three more years. Harding rebounded
nicely last season from a knee injury that kept him out for all of
the 2010-11 season, going 13-12-4 with a .917 save percentage and
2.62 goals-against average in a career-high 34 appearances. With
touted youngsters Matt
Hackett and Johan
Gustafsson waiting in the wings and unrestricted free agent-to be
Backstrom entering the final season of his contract, this could be
Harding's time to shine. Granlund might not be the only young player
to get a chance in camp. With the contracts of Suter and Parise
taking up a lot of salary-cap space, Dumba, 2011 first-rounders Jonas
Brodin and center Charlie
Coyle are among the kids who could earn roster spots. What
promises to be a fierce competition for a few spots is part of a good
problem for this team to have, especially with the crippling injuries
of last season. "Let's see where we're at and let's see where we
are health-wise," Fletcher told The Star Tribune. "Let's
see who plays well and who doesn't and let the players sort
everything out for us. If everyone plays to their level of
expectations or even exceeds it, or if everyone's healthy, then yeah,
we're going to have a lot of players and that may make sense. There's
always a couple guys that don't come into camp in shape or get hurt
right away or don't play well for whatever reason. It happens every
year. This year I think we're protected against that possibility with
the depth that we have. I've never been to a camp where everything
went according to plan." The Wild's offseason plan to pursue
Parise and Suter worked wonderfully, and there is huge reason for
optimism that the team can flourish. Now they just have to put
everyone together.
The
Minnesota Wild's
summer was highlighted by the signings of Zach
Parise and Ryan
Suter, the top two free agents on the market. The question for
the fall and winter is exactly what effect the newcomers will have on
a team that has failed to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs in each of
the past three seasons. Though the Wild's forward corps is deeper and
has an abundance of prospects with offensive flair who may be able to
step right in, no one knows whether the team will resemble coach Mike
Yeo's hard-driving squad that was at the top of the NHL in
December, or the one that collapsed in the second half.
Championships
are never won in the offseason, but there is the temptation to
instantly anoint the Wild as a playoff team because of their
free-agent bonanza. The Wild should undoubtedly be better than the
team that averaged a League-low 2.02 goals per game last season. Zach
Parise is a consistent 30-goal scorer, and his presence should make
life easier for two-time 50-goal man Dany
Heatley, who struggled in his first season in Minnesota but was
the Wild's 2011-12 MVP, according to coach Mike
Yeo. Heatley and Parise are likely to be paired with captain
Mikko Koivu,
who was among the Wild's legion of walking wounded last season. The
team's second line could feature slick-handed rookie Mikael
Granlund, solid scorer Devin
Setoguchi and either a healthy Pierre-Marc
Bouchard or one of many talented prospects, and there's increased
depth on the bottom two lines. But the Wild face a tough task to get
back into the top eight in the Western Conference. In their own
division, the Northwest, the Vancouver
Canucks are coming off back-to-back Presidents' Trophies; four
teams in the Central Division had 100 points last season; and both
teams in the conference finals (Phoenix Coyotes and Los Angeles
Kings) came from the Pacific Division. Yeo realizes his new star duo
now casts a brighter, hotter light on the club. "The reason we
are all sitting here is that we want to win a Stanley Cup," he
said at Parise and Ryan Suter's introduction. "You can talk
about pressure, and to me, that just sounds like it's a negative
thing. I think it's a good thing. It's going to change the way we
view ourselves, what we're capable of. And now with these guys coming
in, we believe that we're that much closer. We know that there's
still a lot of work to do. But to me, it's much more excitement
instead of pressure."
Suter
put up 46 points last season for the Nashville Predators – but he
was playing with First-Team All-Star Shea
Weber. Generating that kind of production in Minnesota won't be
easy – Suter's point total was twice that of Jared
Spurgeon, the Wild's top-scoring defenseman a season ago. The
supporting cast around Suter on the blue line will have to jell
quickly. According to Yeo, Suter will be paired at first with
Spurgeon, who along with Tom
Gilbert are known commodities as puck-movers. Inexperience is the
rule for the rest of the defense corps. Returnees Marco
Scandella, Justin
Falk, Clayton
Stoner, Nate
Prosser and Steve Kampfer have just 511 NHL games combined among
them. Suter has played in 542 games and is the only playoff-tested
defenseman the team has with 39 games. The Wild's past two
first-rounders,
Jonas
Brodin (2011) and Matt Dumba (2012) will get a long look in camp.
The
Wild haven't had the kind of pure offensive talent Mikael Granlund
brings since the departure of Marian
Gaborik three years ago. Granlund is already a mega-star in his
native Finland thanks to his heroics at the 2011 World Championship
against Russia. He also won a league championship, a scoring title
and top rookie honors in Finland all by the age of 18. Until Parise
and Suter were signed, he was likely to be the most anticipated new
face in the lineup. The signings of Parise and Suter should take a
lot of the spotlight off Granlund's arrival and make it easier for
him to adjust to the NHL game. His speed, skills and shot should more
than compensate for a relative lack of size (he's 5-foot-10). Yeo has
said he'd like to start Granlund at center in line experimentation at
training camp. If Granlund can center an effective second line and
give a boost to a power-play unit that was 26th last season, the Wild
will take a major step toward the postseason.
The
Wild are a different team with their captain, one of the NHL's best
playmakers and two-way centers, But in Mikko Koivu's injury-filled
seven NHL seasons, he's played more than 71 games three times. That's
a big reason Koivu has never scored more than 22 goals and has
cracked the 60-point mark just three times. The Wild were a different
team without Koivu in 2011-12, they went 8-16-3 without him. He lost
four games to a knee injury and 23 more to a shoulder problem,
finishing with 44 points in 55 games. If health is not an issue,
Koivu could be in line for a career year playing between snipers
Parise and Heatley. "He's such a warrior in the way he goes
out," coach Mike
Yeo told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. "His will to win is
so high that it's infectious on the rest of the group."
If
the Wild hadn't signed Parise and Suter, they might have been one of
the youngest teams in the NHL. Granlund is the crown jewel of one of
the deepest talent pools in the League, and Yeo is likely to face
some tough choices in camp. Charlie
Coyle and Brett Bullmer are the type of big-bodied power forwards
the Wild can use to replace Guillaume
Latendresse. Coyle dominated in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey
League's postseason for St. John's last spring, leading the league in
scoring and winning playoff MVP honors en route to the Sea Dogs'
President's Cup Championship. He's almost certain to at least get a
look with the big club this season as Bullmer did last year.
Playmaker Zack
Phillips starred with Coyle during the QMLHL playoffs, and with
the Wild loaded at center can take his time developing his game at
Houston of the American Hockey League. Jason
Zucker had two assists in six games with Minnesota last season
after finishing his season with the University of Denver, and the
team likes his scoring abilities. Adding some international intrigue
at camp are left wing Johan
Larsson, the Swedish Elite League rookie of the year, as well as
2011 first-rounder Jonas
Brodin and Matt Dumba, the Wild's top pick in this year's NHL
Draft. The Wild have a host of other young players in the fold who
got a chance to play last season because of injuries. The competition
for precious few spots on a deepened team will be strong.
The
Wild became known for their defensive style of play under Jacques
Lemaire and didn't generate much scoring in two seasons for Todd
Richards, the spate of injuries and inconsistency in the second
half of 2011-12 led to very telling numbers that indicated how badly
offense is needed. Not only did the Wild finish last in offense –
they had 22 fewer goals than the Los Angeles Kings, who were 29th in
offense – but they were last in shots on goal (26.5 per game) and
5-on-5 goals (112), as well as having the second-worst winning
percentage when scoring first (.500). Second-year coach Yeo, who
enjoyed a Stanley Cup victory in 2009 as an assistant coach with the
Pittsburgh Penguins, will strive to continue changing his team's
culture and attitude. The Wild got a major infusion of talent by
luring hometown hero Parise back home – and Suter, a Wisconsin
native, decided to come with him. But their arrival also increases
the pressure to make the playoffs. The team that takes the ice at the
Xcel Energy Center this season will look vastly different than the
one that fell apart after a strong start. Yeo's biggest task at camp
is to figure out who plays with whom – and do it quickly. Getting
all the newcomers and holdovers to mesh will determine whether the
Wild can parlay the improvement in their talent base into a return to
the playoffs.
For
all of the ballyhoo the Minnesota
Wild received after landing the two premium free agents this
summer in Zach
Parise and Ryan
Suter, it’s easy to forget they already had a two-time
50-goal scorer in the fold. Dany
Heatley figures to benefit most from the free-agent arrivals
following a second straight season in which his goal-scoring
dipped. Heatley is one of the NHL’s top 10 leaders in total
points, power-play goals and game-winning goals since 2001. He’s
had back-to-back 100-point seasons and won a gold medal at the
2010 Winter Olympics. But a hefty $7.5 million salary-cap hit and
five straight seasons of declining production are red flags on
Heatley, who is still just 31 years old. Though Heatley led the
Wild in scoring with a career-low 24 goals and 53 points, the
absence of center Mikko
Koivu for 27 games put a damper on his production. Without
Koivu to get him the puck and no accomplished center to
collaborate with, opposing teams would zero in on Heatley, who was
hampered also by a knee injury as the Wild missed the playoffs.
Despite the injury, Heatley played all 82 games and led by example
in establishing a new team culture for first-year coach Mike
Yeo. "I can go on for an awful long time about the
pleasure that I had working with Dany
Heatley," Yeo told the St. Paul Pioneer Press. "The
guy shows up and competes day after day. He pays a price; he goes
to the hard areas." With hometown boy Parise squarely in the
spotlight after signing a monster 13-year deal to play in the Twin
Cities, the pressure on Heatley should ease. Presuming Parise,
Suter, prized rookie Mikael
Granlund and a healthy Koivu help comprise a power-play unit
that reverses the Wild’s man-up woes from last season, the best
sign for Heatley should come in the form of using his lethal shot
to add to his 136 career power-play goals, which are seventh among
active players. What also bodes well is that Heatley’s knee
feels "better than it has in four or five years,"
following minor surgery. He expects to be at 100 percent for the
upcoming season, when the Wild will be looking for his return to
being an offensive force. "Guys like that need people to get
'em the puck, and he never once complained [last season],"
Yeo told the Pioneer Press. "Every day he came to the rink
and kept trying to push the group and lead the group. And you'll
see a lot of goal scorers, they'll take shortcuts, they'll cheat,
especially when things aren't going well, and he was never like
that."
The
Minnesota Wild
made some big acquisitions last summer, but Dany
Heatley and Devin
Setoguchi weren't able to propel the club back into the Stanley
Cup Playoffs. Those additions were augmented in a big way during this
offseason, and the expectations in the Twin Cities have been
elevated. Zach
Parise and Ryan
Suter were the top free agent at their positions, and general
manager Chuck Fletcher swooped in and collected both on 13-year
contracts. There are some tantalizing young talents on the way as
well, but the big club is crowded with guaranteed contracts at this
point. Mikael
Granlund is expected to earn a spot in the opening-night lineup,
but if others prove they belong, Fletcher might have to make a
deal(s) to open roster spaces.
The
Wild also bolstered their forward depth by adding Torrey
Mitchell and Zenon
Konopka as free agents. Suter will anchor a young defense, while
Josh Harding
was re-signed to pair with Niklas
Backstrom.
Forwards
Zach
Parise - Mikko
Koivu - Dany
Heatley
Devin
Setoguchi - Mikael
Granlund - Kyle
Brodziak
Pierre-Marc
Bouchard - Matt
Cullen - Torrey
Mitchell
Darroll
Powe - Zenon
Konopka - Cal
Clutterbuck
Jake
Dowell - Matt
Kassian
Defensemen
Ryan
Suter - Jared
Spurgeon
Tom
Gilbert - Marco
Scandella
Justin
Falk - Nate
Prosser
Clayton
Stoner
Goaltenders
Niklas
Backstrom
Josh
Harding
NOTES:
This look has the Wild loading up the top line, but Heatley could be
placed on the second line to balance them out. Brodziak had a strong
2011-12, but a healthy Bouchard could push him to the third line.
There are several kids to watch in camp besides Granlund, who could
end up on the wing if the Wild think he's not ready for full-time
center duty. Brett
Bulmer and Charlie
Coyle are the best bets, but Johan
Larsson and Jason
Zucker could force their way into the present plans. The
situation on defense is similar. There are seven guys who look set,
but Jonas
Brodin and maybe even 2012 draft pick Mathew
Dumba are lurking. Minnesota's defense is already quite young, so
a lot will be asked of Suter and Gilbert. Backstrom and Harding could
again be a dynamic tandem, and Matthew
Hackett is one of the top No. 3 guys on an NHL goaltending depth
chart. There are lots of options everywhere, so the Wild's lineup
could be a fluid situation.
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