Why Is Matt Cooke Here?

Last night, Chuck Fletcher turned the entire Minnesota Wild fan base upside down when he signed Matt Cooke to a three year deal. Literally the entire fan base united together and hailed the move as ridiculous, mainly due to Cooke's past.

It is true that Cooke does have a terrible history in this league when it comes to supplemental discipline. Five different times between 2008 and 2011, Cooke was suspended for illegal hitting. His worst hit was a elbow to the head of Bruins F Marc Savard, but he did not receive a suspension, as the play was deemed to be within the rules. Following the hit, the league made substantial changes to its hitting policy, focusing on hits to the head.

Following his last suspension in 2011 (a suspension that caused him to miss the entire postseason), Cooke took it upon himself to change his game. He wanted to still be that gritty player, but play within the rules. He took the time to go over his hits, and studied how he needed to change. In the time since he studied how to change, Matt Cooke has not been suspended. In fact, its hard to remember an instance where you said, "Thats a dirty play."

In addition to the changed physical play, Cooke also improved his overall game significantly. Offensively, he has decent speed, good hands, and can score 12-15 goals a season. Defensively, he buzzes around the puck causing issues for the opposition (mainly from his physical play), and has been one of the Penguins top penalty killers the past four seasons.

Cooke also brings ample playoff experience with him from Pittsburgh, playing in 58 playoff games with the Pens. He was part of their 2009 Stanley Cup championship squad, scoring one goal and six assists on the Pens third line during that postseason run.

If you all want to hate the baggage Matt Cooke brings with him to Minnesota, fine. But hate the baggage, not the player. The player is much different from when he used to antagonize the Wild with Vancouver many years ago.

You need to ask yourself, why is Matt Cooke here? Is he here to throw elbows around and get suspended several times? Absolutely not. So you need to get over that fact real fast. Because Matt Cooke is here to help this team win. And I know most of you can't believe this when I say he CAN help this team win.

If you are going to be rash and hate the Wild because they have Matt Cooke, go right ahead and hate them. But I'll be right there to show you the door.

We all need to trust in what Chuck Fletcher is doing. Teams who contend for the Stanley Cup every year are not built overnight (this is by no means saying we are going to win the Cup on the sole premise of signing Matt Cooke). It takes time. He has a plan for this team as a whole, and he feels Matt Cooke can be an integral part of that plan. We need to start to trust in Chuck (a hashtag I have been using on twitter lately).

Matt Cooke has changed so much. His past is indeed in the past. Care about his future with the Wild, not his past with different teams.

Lets all take a chance and believe in him.


Follow Giles on Twitter @gilesferrell

Wild Sign Matt Cooke

Cooke won the 2009 Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh

Just minutes after the Wild traded Devin Setoguchi to the Jets, the team announced they signed free agent F Matt Cooke to a three year deal worth $7.5 million. His cap hit will be at $2.5M for each of those seasons.

Cooke is an awfully troubling signing. He has had several suspensions in the past for his foul play (the worst was his hit on Bruins F Marc Savard). He seems to have cleaned that aspect of that up, but his hit on Erik Karlsson this past year stirred that debate up again. So on this front, the Wild are taking a huge gamble with all of that baggage.

Besides the dirty play, Cooke has a very decent skill set. He is coming from a high powered Pittsburgh team, so that might skew his offensive stats. But he has been averaging around 15 goals with the Pens, and had eight this past year, which was a strike shortened season. He is very good on the PK, and can hold his own in the defensive zone.

He will probably slot on the third line as Cal Clutterbuck's replacement this fall. But my question is, if the Wild were going to deal Seto, why not keep Clutter who would be a much cheaper option than Cooke? They both are pretty similar in style of play.

There will be more from this move later on, but right now I can't even grasp where I stand with this signing. Lets all just give this a few days and let it sink in and see where we stand with this.

Wild Trade Setoguchi To Winnipeg

The Wild have traded F Devin Setoguchi to the Winnipeg Jets in exchange for the Jets' 2014 2nd round draft pick. The move comes hours after free agency opened and teams tossed money around like no other to a mostly forward crowd. The Jets were a team that stood pat this afternoon and watched most of the UFAs get signed up.

Setoguchi, 26, was acquired by the Wild during the first round of the 2011 NHL draft with Charlie Coyle and the 26th overall pick (Zack Phillips) for D Brent Burns. Seto had two up and down seasons in Minnesota, scoring 19 and 13 goals respectively. He was a dominant force with Matt Cullen on the second line in the last half of the season and helped the team reach the playoffs for the first time since 2008.

From the fans perspective, you hate to see Seto go for just a draft pick. But with the trade for Nino Neiderreiter last week, it made Setoguchi and his $3 million cap hit expendable. And now that Matt Cullen is gone, you had to wonder if Seto would ever get close to what he was in the second half of the season.

So from the hockey ops perspective, this is a good deal. Getting a second round (it will be a high 2nd round pick in all likelihood) pick in return for a very inconsistent goal scorer is a great deal. The move freed up his $3 million cap hit, giving the team just over $4.5 million in cap space.

Best of luck to Seto as he goes up north to Winnipeg, the Wild's new division rival.

Wild Re-Sign Jared Spurgeon

Today the Minnesota Wild announced they have re-signed D Jared Spurgeon to a three year deal. Per Russo, the deal will cost Minnesota $2.66M towards the cap each season.

Spurgeon was an RFA this summer, and until he was signed this afternoon, it was not clear when he was going to sign. The two sides had been reportedly far apart on the specifics of the deal. Apparently it all came together this afternoon, as the specifics got worked out and Spurgeon signed on for another three years.

Jared is coming off an uneven 2013 season where he registered 5 goals, 10 assists while averaging over 21 minutes of ice time a game this season. He was a big part of the Wild power play, scoring four goals, while bouncing back and forth between the first and second PP line (sometimes Mike Yeo rolled out four forwards on the top PP, pushing Spurgeon to the second PP line). But he struggled in the last month (only 2 assists in April), and was rather abysmal in the defensive zone.

Based on the lack of great play from Spurgeon in 2013, one would say that this is a bit of overpayment for the defenseman. But should he be able to step up and be the defenseman he is capable of being, this deal will probably end up being a steal for the Wild.

Spurgeon is slated to open the season on the second d-pairing with Marco Scandella, who is also coming off an uneven 2013 season.


Follow Giles on Twitter @gilesferrell

Parise and Suter Watch: One Year Later

It seems like just yesterday. The media watch on coveted free agents Zach Parise and Ryan Suter was now in its fourth day. The date was July 4th, 2012, so one assumed that there would be no significant news on this day, right? Wrong.

Just shortly past eleven, news broke. Zach Parise was signing with his hometown team.

Zach Parise has agreed to terms with the Minnesota Wild
— Pierre LeBrun (@Real_ESPNLeBrun) July 4, 2012

Then before you could collect yourself from the news, lightning struck twice. Ryan Suter joined Parise in Minnesota.

Ryan Suter also got same $98 million over 13 years with Wild
— Pierre LeBrun (@Real_ESPNLeBrun) July 4, 2012

There had never been a moment like that in the history of Minnesota sports. There probably won't be again. It was the single greatest moment in the brief history of the Minnesota Wild.

The Wild had gone four seasons without an appearance in the postseason. They had built up the best pool of prospects in the NHL, after Chuck Fletcher inherited the worst pool of prospects four years earlier. Now all they needed was to land some big time free agents to make the team relevant again.

Now here we are, a year later. The Wild are coming off a lockout shortened season, in which the just barely made the playoffs. Parise was an anchor on the top line and lead the team in goals with 18. Suter lead the NHL in TOI (27:16) and finished second among NHL defenseman in assists (28), while finishing second in the Norris Trophy voting. Suter was also named to the NHL's first All Star team yesterday as well (surprised Ovechkin wasn't voted in as a defenseman too).

The pair lead the team to the playoffs in their first season. They also helped the young kids (Granlund, Coyle, Zucker, Brodin) come along and make significant impacts during the kids' first season in the NHL.

Who knows what happen to the Wild had they not signed Zach Parise and Ryan Suter on this day last year. Its probably fair to assume they dont even make the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season. But luckily for us, we never have to think about that problem.

So now as we move forward, what are the realistic expectations for the Wild in year two of the Parise and Suter era? Division Champions? An appearance in the second round of the playoffs? Conference Final trip?

We can answer that question in the coming weeks. For now, lets just reflect on what a great year it has been.


Here are the old posts in the Parise and Suter Watch series.


Follow Giles on Twitter @gilesferrell

Wild Buyout Tom Gilbert

With a decreasing salary cap and a payroll that was already close to that cap, Chuck Fletcher finally did what we all knew was coming. He used one of the team's two compliance buyouts on defenseman Tom Gilbert.

The team will be on the hook to pay Gilbert $1 million in salary the next two seasons, but they no longer have his $4 million cap hit on the books for the 2013-14 season. Gilbert is coming off a dreadful season in which he notched 3 goals and 10 assists but was a -11 and was a huge defensive liability. His play was so bad this year he ended up being a healthy scratch a couple of times.

Gilbert picked the worst year to play horribly. He played himself right into a compliance buyout, and now is without a job. You would of liked to have given him a second chance, but the team simply had their hands tied with Dany Heatley still being on the roster.

The buyout of Gilbert now gives the Wild $6.45 million in cap space, with just a few holes on the roster to fill. The team still needs to re-sign RFA Jared Spurgeon (expect a 2-3 year deal worth about $2-2.25M for Spurgeon) and they now need to sign a defenseman to fill the void left by Gilbert (unless Wild fans want Nate Prosser to be the 6th defenseman).

In Russo's blog today, he mentioned that Chuck Fletcher believes there are bargains to be had from free agent defenseman (its been suggested that former Gopher Keith Ballard could be that bargain). Some could be prone to taking a deal that is below what they are worth due to the decreasing salary cap, and some could end up taking a two way deal just to keep their career going.

Should Fletcher end up signing a bargain defenseman just to be the 6th D-man and keep cap space, it could be likely that the combo of Jared Spurgeon and Marco Scandella will open the season as the second D pairing. The pair played admirably in the playoffs, and should get another chance to prove themselves next year.

Where Fletcher goes from here is a mystery. But by the end of Friday, we will probably know who Gilbert's replacement is.

Start placing your bets!


Follow Giles on Twitter @gilesferrell

Farewell Cal Clutterbuck

Thanks for the Memories, Cal

On Sunday, the Wild acquired F Nino Neiderreiter from the New York Islanders in exchange for the Wild's 70th overall pick and RW Cal Clutterbuck.

Clutterbuck was drafted by the Wild in the 3rd round (72nd overall) of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. Since his arrival with the team during the 2008-09 season, he has been a fan favorite. His physical play was a huge hit with the fans and his teammates. He often got into the opposition's head with his play, and that created some rather interesting moments.

His best season was in 2010-11 when he registered a career high 19 goals and 15 assists, and tallied a NHL leading 334 hits (his career high for hits in a season was 356 in 2008-09).

Cal did not have a great season in 2013 (only four goals and six assists in 42 games, but that can be blamed for spending his most of his shifts in the defensive zone), but he still carried a lot of value. That's why he was moved Sunday for one of the Islanders top prospects.

Clutter was a great asset to this team. But the decreasing cap space and his RFA status made it clear that he was going to be moved this offseason. He will be missed here, but this move will benefit the team greatly in the long run.

Thanks for the memories Cal!

2013 NHL Draft: Fasten Your Seat Belts

Photo tweeted by @DarrenDreger

In the days leading up to the draft, you were expecting a bunch of trades to be made. Several teams have tight cap space and still have several spots on the roster to fill. The wheeling and dealing should of been at a ridiculous pace by now, right? Wrong.

Since the end of the Stanley Cup Final on Monday, the most prolific trade was a laughable one between the Avalanche and Flames. Rumors have been flying around like no other this week, but none of them have come to fruition. One has to think that at some point, those deals will finally get done.

Going into this draft, the Wild appear to be one of the teams looking to heavily wheel and deal. Russo points out today that the team is shopping Cal Clutterbuck around and are trying to get back into the first round of the draft (their existing first round pick was sent to Buffalo in the Jason Pominville trade).

It has also been mentioned that the team could buyout Tom Gilbert, before the buyout window closes on July 4th, to clear his $4M off the cap. It would give them much more breathing room in the cap to work with this year (the team only has $3.6M in cap space right now).

Chuck Fletcher has a history of draft day trades. Every one of them should be considered a success. So should he choose to make a move on Sunday, the odds that the trade works in his favor are very high (credit for the previous trades also go to Brent Flahr, who has been the unsung hero of the Wild front office).

If nothing at all happens today, you can sure expect an abundance of moves tomorrow. Players and picks will be moved at a high rate, bringing Gary Bettman to the podium far too many times than we would care for.

Fasten your seat belts, folks. It is going to be a great day.

Required Draft Reading:

• Dan Chan, from Hockey Wilderness, tells us that the Wild need to draft physical defenseman and goal scorers. He also gives his Top 100 Rankings (this will come in handy tomorrow when Seth Jones and Nate Mackinnon are off the boards).
• First Round Bust has literally spent the entire month going over all things draft related, so just click on this link and you can find all their draft coverage.
• TSN's Bob McKenzie gives his draft rankings.
• ESPN's Scott Burnside tells us who to keep an eye on.

Follow Giles on Twitter @gilesferrell

Stay Away From Bernier

Yesterday, it was reported that there were three teams left in the sweepstakes for Los Angeles Kings backup goaltender, Jonathan Bernier. The Wild were one of those teams. They are joined by the Toronto Maple Leafs and Philadelphia Flyers, as the teams who Los Angeles has their list narrowed down to.

Bernier has been the Kings backup netminder for three seasons. This past season he played in 14 games (not a bad number considering the short 48 game season), and posted a 9-3-2 record with a 1.88 GAA and .922 save percentage (the last two stats were better than the Kings number one starter, Jonathan Quick). To compare, Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom had a 2.48 GAA and .909 save percentage, but, the Kings defensive core is a bit more polished than the Wild's.

The Kings are selling Bernier as a starting goalie. So that means LA will be asking for some kind of package involving a goalie prospect to backup Quick, and some combination of top prospects and high draft picks.

Clearly, the Wild are looking at backup options for if/when they should let Niklas Backstrom leave via free agency. They do not have the confidence in Josh Harding to take over as the number one, and they feel that Darcy Kuemper is still a year or two away from playing regularly in the NHL.

The fact remains, that the other two teams in this race (Toronto and Philadelphia) are very desperate for a goalie like Bernier. The Wild are desperate for a starter too, but not on the level like the two other squads (see Ilya Bryzgalov, James Reimer, and the word woof). Both those teams have the means for a deal like this, and would be more willing to part with their key prospects/draft picks to add Bernier.

Minnesota does not have its first round pick in this year's draft, as it was traded to Buffalo in the Jason Pominville deal. They used one of their top two goalie prospects, Matt Hackett, in the same deal, clearing the way for Kuemper to be the goalie of the future. Johan Gustafsson will be in the AHL next year, but he is a ways off from the NHL too. The prospect pool is still deep, but the type of prospects LA would want from Minnesota should clearly be stamped as "untouchable" (i.e. Mikael Granlund, Charlie Coyle, Jason Zucker, Jonas Brodin, and Matt Dumba).

Bottomline: Toronto, Philadelphia, and Minnesota are locked into a bidding war for Bernier. At some point, the two teams from the East will simply take the bidding past a point that will be beyond ridiculous. GM Chuck Fletcher needs to stop once it goes beyond that point. He should not part with Kuemper, any one of the "untouchable" prospects, and their draft picks (in fact, the Wild should be looking to move back into the first round).

Refrain from acquiring Jonathan Bernier. Get Backstrom to re-sign at a lower price, or find someone else to take the starting job (Marc-Andre Fleury is available). The asking price is too great.

There may not be a better option than Bernier, but you can find cheaper options who can still get the job done...


Follow Giles on Twitter @gilesferrell

Player Conversations: Superheros

For those of you who made frequent trips down to St. Paul this past year, you know that something that has to change in the Xcel Energy Center on game night, is the commercial break and intermission entertainment. I talked about that in my post on Hockey Wilderness a few weeks ago.

However, something they did get right was the video segment that was titled "Player Conversations". It was highly entertaining, especially since Zenon Konopka was featured in all of them (he is quite the comedian).

On a visit to the Wild website today, I came across these segments, and figured I would share this with you. This one is asking the players who is your favorite superhero. Enjoy.

Konopka's superhero is the best

Charlie Coyle loves the Hulk. Sometimes, I wonder if Coyle is secretly the Hulk given how he can just toss guys around on the ice.

Given my personal favorite superhero is Batman (its not even a contest, Batman is the best), special shout-outs to Cal Clutterbuck, Tom Gilbert, Zach Parise, and Clayton Stoner for agreeing with me.

The other player conversations can be found on Wild TV under the "Wild Features" category.

Follow Giles on Twitter @gilesferrell