Hello Offseason

Last night, the world watched the Los Angeles Kings lift the Stanley Cup following their 6-1 trouncing of New Jersey in Game 6. As the Kings celebrated, you couldn't help but feel good for former Wild player and now Kings Defenseman Willie Mitchell who was the first to receive the cup from Kings captain Dustin Brown.

But, that was yesterday. Today, it is now officially the offseason in the NHL. We are 10 days away from the NHL Draft and 19 days away from July 1st (Free Agency).

There is a lot of hope and optimism in the State of Hockey, that the Wild will be able to land notable free agents F Zach Parise and D Ryan Suter. And as Mike Russo points out in his blog today, if the players dont sign an extension with their respective teams, the Wild should be aggressive and go trade for their rights. Risky, but it could be worth it since the Wild do have sufficient cap space to sign both.

And before all that we have the NHL Draft. (For help on that, check out the posts from Hockey Wilderness and First Round Bust. Its tremendous stuff.) The Wild hold the 7th overall pick in the draft, which is the highest they have drafted since 2005 when they took Benoit Pouliot 4th overall (Yikes!).

The much anticipated offseason is underway. Get your popcorn ready, because these next 3 weeks shouldn't disappoint.

For Your Enjoyment...

...watch this Game 7 overtime winner by former Wild forward Joel Ward, now playing for Washington. Also note that former Wild F's Brian Rolston, Benoit Pouliot and D Greg Zanon on the ice for Boston. Many thanks to Chuck Fletcher for sabotaging the Bruins season by trading away Pouliot (In 2009) and Zanon this past February. (I kid, I kid...or am I?)