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.

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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...


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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.

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Happy Memories

Now that the Wild season is officially over, there still has been a lot of negative talk about this team. So today, to help remind you of why this team is on the right path (as Chuck Fletcher mentioned today in his news conference), here are some happy memories from the 2013 season.

The Wild have some great up and coming rookies

They have some great players to build the team around.

Finally, let the last memory of the day, be our greatest memory from the postseason

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Minnesota Wild 2013 Regular Season Awards

Since the playoffs begin tomorrow, I decided we would pay our respects to the 2013 regular season, by handing out some hardware. It seems early to be doing this, but I'm going to go ahead and do this anyway.

Team MVP: Ryan Suter-Zach Parise and Matt Cullen were in the running as well for this award, but in the end, Suter was the clear choice for this award. Suter lead the NHL in average time on ice per game with 27:16 of ice time. He eclipsed 30+ minutes of TOI 10 times this year, including three out of the final four games of the season. Suter ranked second among NHL defenseman with 28 assists (Kris Letang had 33), while scoring four goals. Suter's poise in any situation was a great addition to the Wild roster this year and bolstered a blue line that is rather bothersome, after the top d-pairing. As we saw in the St. Louis game on April 11th, Suter missed the last half of the game, the defense looked awful and suffered horribly without him. He returned the next game and helped the team win a big matchup against Columbus (A 3-2 shootout win, which looks pretty good right now). Plain and simple: Ryan Suter is the Wild MVP of the season. There is no argument there.

Benoit Pouliot Award (Rookie of the Year): Jonas Brodin-Since Brodin will finish in the top three of the Calder Award (NHL ROY) voting, this award was not a close decision (with all respect to Charlie Coyle and Jason Zucker). Brodin, 19, showed poise of a 29 year old, while being an anchor on the top d-pairing with Ryan Suter. Brodin showed tremendous defensive skills, putting on a clinic to some of the best forwards in the league, while adding 11 points (2 goals, 9 assists) on the season. He will be a staple on the Wild blue line for many seasons to come, and at the age of 19, still has his best years ahead of him.

Keith Carney Award (+/- leader): Matt Cullen (+9)-A finalist for Team MVP award, Cullen was a tremendous asset for the Wild this year as their second line center. He posted a 7-20-27 line on the year, in 42 games played. We saw in those games he missed, the team was just lost and confused without him. To win the +/- award, Cullen only finished the game with a minus just seven times out of those 42. He also never finished a game with a -3 or worse this year. Considering some of the games the Wild has played this year, that is no easy feat.

Performance of the Year: Josh Harding vs Dallas-There was a lot of coverage about Harding this offseason, once he was diagnosed with MS. He continued on with his hockey career, and in his first game this season, he notched a 24 save shutout against Dallas. Harding missed a good chunk of time later on in the year, but has returned to the Wild lineup in time for the playoffs. He is the Wild's nominee for the Masterton Trophy, and after reading the other 29 canidates, he should be a lock to win that award.

Hit of the Year: Charlie Coyle-13 seconds into the April 13th game against Columbus, Charlie Coyle delivered a controversial, but legal, hit to Columbus F Artem Anisimov. Four seconds later, Coyle was locked in a fight with Brandon Dubinsky, then was given a match penalty following the conclusion of the fight. The match penalty was rescinded the next day, confirming the legality of the hit. Coyle has been a force on the top line this year, bring a bit of physicality that his line mates Koivu and Parise, do not.

Goal of the Year: Mikko Koivu, Zach Parise, Ryan Suter-Another award handed out with very little contest. This goal was a thing of beauty to see, and continues to get better over time. Please watch the goal and admire how awesome it is.

The Patrick Kane Quote

Yesterday in his blog, Russo was talking about the Wild-Blackhawks upcoming playoff series, and then towards the bottom of the post, he tossed in a quote from Blackhawks F Patrick Kane. Kane was speaking to the Chicago Tribune's Chris Kuc about the Wild:

“When they play like they want to, they can score four or five goals a night and keep it out of their net with maybe one of the best defensemen in the league [in Suter]. It’s a dangerous team. You definitely have to be careful with them. They’re a team that I’ve watched throughout the year and it seems like one night they look like the best team in the NHL and the next night they look like they don’t even want to be out there.”

Folks, that quote summed up the 2013 Minnesota Wild season. Kane could not of hit the nail on the head anymore.

We saw this past week in games against bottom-feeder teams Calgary and Edmonton, the Wild had an extreme lack of interest, and by the third period in both those games, they just plain gave up losing 4-1 and 6-1 respectively. Meanwhile, their game against Los Angeles was the exact opposite. They were focused, poised, and executed very well, looking like a playoff team in a 2-1 victory. Then on Saturday against Colorado, in a game the Wild had to win, they were found to be unfocused at times, but narrowly escaped with a 3-1 empty net goal victory.

Kane was definitely right, when he said that quote. But if I'm the rest of his team, I would not be happy with him.

The quote makes sense to all who are reading it, but if that gets read in the Wild dressing room, Wild fans may be thanking Mr. Kane for putting this out there.

The Wild are very capable of playing great hockey, as we saw during the month of March (11-4, including a seven game winning streak). But, the team lacked a motivating factor and suffered in April, with their sometimes lifeless play. Now that this quote was said, it might be the motivation that could drive the Wild to do great things, and play well night after night.

Where the season goes from here remains to be seen. But when all is said and done, and we look back on this in July, we will either remember this as the turning point, or it will just be forgotten all together.

I hope the former turns out to be true.


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Tale Of The Tape: Wild vs Blackhawks

Stanley Cup Playoffs Western Conference Quarterfinal Matchup

#1 Chicago Blackhawks vs #8 Minnesota Wild

Chicago Blackhawks

Presidents Trophy Winners (Best Record in the NHL)

Overall Record: 36-7-5, 77 Points

Home Record: 18-3-3

Away Record: 18-4-2

Team Leaders:

Goals: Patrick Kane - 23 (5th in NHL)

Assists: Patrick Kane - 32

Points: Patrick Kane - 55 (5th in NHL)

Wins: Corey Crawford - 19

GAA: Ray Emery - 1.94

Team Stats:

Goals For: 155 - 1st in West (2nd in NHL)

Goals Against: 102 - 1st in West (T-1st in NHL)

Power Play: 18.7 - 11th in West

Penalty Kill: 87.2 - 1st in West (3rd in NHL)

Faceoff Percentage: 50.8 - 8th in West

Minnesota Wild

8th In Western Conference

Overall Record: 26-19-3, 55 Points

Home Record: 14-8-2

Away Record: 12-11-1

Team Leaders:

Goals: Zach Parise - 18

Assists: Ryan Suter - 28 (2nd in NHL among defenseman)

Points: Zach Parise - 38

Wins: Niklas Backstrom - 24 (T-1st in NHL)

GAA: Niklas Backstrom - 2.48

Team Stats:

Goals For: 122 - 12th in West

Goals Against: 127 - 9th in West

Power Play: 17.9 - 8th in West

Penalty Kill: 80.7 - 12th in West

Faceoff Percentage: 52.4 - 2nd in West (3rd in NHL)

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Celebration!

Columbus gets burned, Minnesota celebrates!

Wild beat Colorado 3-1 and move on to the playoffs for the first time in 5 years! Have a cold one tonight!

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Just Win

The motto for tonight's Wild game: 

Puck drops at 7!

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Rise

Tonight, the Minnesota Wild, losers of eight out of their past eleven games, will take to the ice at Xcel Energy Center against the defending Stanley Cup Champion, Los Angeles Kings. The Wild enter the game tied with Columbus for 7th in the West at 51 points and are up 1 point on 9th place Detroit, after dominating the Coyotes 4-0 last night.

The Wild are coming off an embarrassing 4-1 loss to Calgary at home on Sunday. The loss now makes tonight's game a MUST win for the home squad, if they want to remain in the hunt for a playoff berth.

I know many of you have just given up and said this team is finished. Yesterday, I went against the grain and went over some positive thoughts about the final week of the season for this team. For those who still think negatively, please, don't give in to those thoughts.

In the team's remaining three games, they play LA at home, Edmonton at home, and Colorado on the road. The final two games are games the Wild SHOULD WIN and CAN WIN. I know, I know, we learned that games they should win are no easy wins, on Sunday. But the fact is, the Wild have owned Edmonton at home in recent years, and Colorado is just a joke. If the Wild can bring the same effort to those games like they did in the first half of the Calgary game on Sunday, they should have two easy wins right there.

But that brings us to tonight's game, against the Kings. The season series is tied between the two, as Minnesota won a 4-3 shootout game at home, then five days later lost in LA 3-0. The Kings enter tonight with a 6-2-2 record in their last 10 and are holders of the 4th seed in the West, with a two point cushion on fifth place San Jose. LA has been playing very outstanding hockey lately, and they will give you a very tough 60 minutes. They do the little things in a game so well (Getting sticks in the passing lanes, creating turnovers in the neutral zone, etc), that its just frustrating to play against them. After all, they are the defending Stanley Cup Champions.

Tonight, you should expect a bit of desperation in Minnesota's game, something they did not bring on Sunday. That will help them, if they can use that the right way against Los Angeles. But, this is a team that lost just FOUR games last postseason, so they have a way of channeling a team's desperation in their favor.

The Wild win this game, if they can get 3 or more goals past Jonathon Quick tonight. If its a 1-0 or 2-1 game, the advantage goes to LA. Minnesota is too snake bitten offensively lately to win those close low scoring games. As was the case with their victory earlier in the year against the Kings, four goals would be a good number to get the two points. They just need to catch a break or two along the way.

If Minnesota can pull out a victory tonight, you can lock them into the postseason. A big win during a bad stretch will greatly help the team's confidence going into their final two games of the season, especially when those two games are against bottom feeder teams. They will certainly roll over Edmonton and Colorado, after gaining the confidence from a victory tonight.

So sit back, and try to watch the game peacefully tonight. All you can do, at this point, is hope that this team can rise up in their darkest hour...

"They are the team Minnesota deserves, not the one they need right now."

Follow Giles on Twitter @gilesferrell