Preseason Thoughts: New Fourth Line?

Last night the Wild, with what would appear to be their opening night roster, took down the St. Louis Blues 4-1 in the final home exhibition game. The Wild are now 4-1 on the preseason, the only loss being the 3-1 defeat to Columbus in the opener.

Wild Lose Out on 2015 Winter Classic

In the past 24 hours, multiple sources have confirmed that the 2015 NHL Winter Classic will be hosted by the Washington Capitals. The announcement is expected to be made official tomorrow at 9 AM at the Capitals fan convention by Washington owner Ted Leonsis.

Vanek Watch: The Pilot

Well here we are. It has finally come to this. Thomas Vanek gets his own watch with this site, like Zach Parise and Ryan Suter did last summer.

For those who don't understand why it has come to this, here is the story: Thomas Vanek (that guy who played for the Gophers in 2003, then was drafted by the Buffalo Sabres and has played there ever since), is an impending unrestricted free agent next summer. The Wild have been rumored for a while to be a serious player for Vanek, since they will have adequate cap room (Dany Heatley's contract coming off the books is a huge contributor to this). So basically everyone wants to see Vanek, and all other former Gophers, return to the North Star state.

Last night, Josh Rimer stirred the Vanek to Minnesota pot with this tweet:

Hearing IF the Buffalo Sabres move Thomas Vanek, he wants to play for the Minnesota Wild. Vanek lives & trains in Minneapolis in the summer.
— Josh Rimer (@JoshRimerHockey) September 4, 2013

Rimer definitely uses the caps lock in the correct place here. The key word is "IF". So please remember that before you start celebrating Vanek's impending return to Minnesota.

The ransom to fetch Vanek at any point in the 2013-14 season would be greater than the return the Wild gave up for Jason Pominville last winter. The Wild would have to deal AT LEAST two of their top prospects and draft picks (one would be the team's 2014 first round pick and I'm guessing the Sabres would want another first too). Sorry folks, but that price is too steep. The Wild need to sit this one out.

Even if the Wild dont go after Vanek in the season, he will still be there when free agency opens on July 1st. Its becoming more and more clear that Vanek wants out of Buffalo, but wants to politely leave the bad situation that the team has become (meaning: he is not demanding a trade but he is not going to want a contract extension either). So should the Wild land Vanek on the open market, the only thing that is taking a hit is Craig Leipold's wallet (again) and not the farm system.

Gear up Wild fans, its going to be a long 10 months, but stay tuned for lots of coverage on Vanek Watch.


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

A Culture of Winning

Yesterday, we talked about having realistic expectations for the 2012-13 season now that the Wild have Zach Parise and Ryan Suter on board.

But, eventually, with each passing season, there will become higher expectations. So say next year, we expect a playoff appearance. Then the next year we will expect, a second round playoff appearance, then a division title, and so on. Without a doubt, Craig Leipold, Chuck Fletcher, and company have their work cut out for them now that they have opened up a brand new culture to the State of Hockey: A culture of winning.

No, you simply cannot expect to have this culture just by signing Parise and Suter. Fletcher created this, by building up his farm system with immense talent (Mikael Granlund, Charlie Coyle, Jonas Brodin, etc.), while his NHL team struggled. Then last year he made some bold moves (Heatley and Setoguchi) to change it up in the locker room. And as we saw in the 11-12 season, his boldness paid off through mid-December. But then the bottom fell out from under the team and they limped across the finish line.

But now, Fletcher has his prospects signed and ready to play in Houston, and he has the big club looking its best, ever since he came on following the 08-09 season.

And now the real work begins. The team will open the season, and every other season for the following 12,  with the highest expectations in the history of the franchise. And now every time 18,000 fans flock down to St. Paul to see the Wild play, they will be expecting a Wild victory.

All because Chuck Fletcher has done what he was hired to do: Create a culture of winning.

Suter and Parise Watch: Waiting Game

Late this morning, Zach Parise arrived at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Not to be taken to Xcel Energy Center, to be introduced as the newest member of the Minnesota Wild, but merely he is just going home. 

After 2 days at his agent's offices in Toronto, Parise best felt he could make the long awaited decision from his home after talking to his loved ones. Reports have the Wild, Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia, New Jersey and Pittsburgh all making huge offers to the Devils captain.

Meanwhile, Ryan Suter continues to ponder his decision from his farm in Middleton Wisconsin. Many believe Suter will be waiting until Parise makes up his mind, before he decides to sign on somewhere. Its believe by some (Including Lou Nanne who spoke on KFAN yesterday) that if Parise signs in Minnesota, Suter will too. But should Parise sign elsewhere (Say, Pittsburgh), Suter will most likely end up in Detroit.

There has become an abundance of impatience on twitter between yesterday and today with the lack of decision on Parise's and Suter's part. But you have to understand, they are about to sign on with a team for the majority, if not all, of the remainder of their careers. And, when you have 5-6 teams knocking at your door, you want to take your time and make the right decision.

A decision could come as early as tomorrow from the Parise camp. But, I'd give him another day due to the 4th of July (Happy 4th in advance!), so look for his decision on Thursday. And you could bet Suter's decision follows closely thereafter.


UPDATE: Shortly after this was posted, Russo reported the the Wild contingent of Owner Craig Leopold, GM Chuck Fletcher, and Head Coach Mike Yeo met with Suter today in Madison, Wisconsin. This following reports that the Detroit Red Wings had been to Madison earlier in the day and visited Suter.


So following this report, one could assume that Detroit and Minnesota are the two finalists in the Ryan Suter sweepstakes (Unless more teams visit him on Wednesday). 


UPDATE 2: Later this evening, Russo was back at it again as he tweeted some rather interesting tidbits after his talk with Josh Reimer from NHL Home Ice. 


His first tweet was that Parise said he talks to Devils GM Lou Lamoriello 2-4 times per day since this process has begun. 


And tweets 2 & 3 were regarding Parise and Suter. Parise was quoted as saying he would love to play with Suter on a team, and that the two of them have been talking and that they also plan to talk (if they haven't already) again tonight. 


Russo ended by taking a guess that Parise will take one more day to decide his future and sign on with a team on the 5th. And as stated above, Suter will more than likely sign on shortly after.


To see my previous posts in the Suter Watch series, please click here

Suter Watch: Is There Really A Chance?

Despite my hopes, the NHL season lives on for one more game. But, nonetheless, I am going to kick off some offseason posts with a new watch (Much like the Granlund Watch), the Suter Watch. Nashville defenseman Ryan Suter is a upcoming UFA, and is expected to receive offers from many teams, Minnesota being one of them. So as I kick off this watch, I ask the question: Does Minnesota really have a chance to land Suter?

Heading into next year, the Wild have $21.6 million in cap space (Taking into effect the cap increase to $70.3 million). So they would have the sufficient funds to sign Suter, who could command a contract in the neighborhood of $7 million. 

So all that would be left for Chuck Fletcher to do is simply sign the free agent when July 1st rolls around. Its gonna be a bit easier said than done.

Today I joined in a chat with Preds beat writer Josh Cooper of the Tennessean. He touched on a lot of topics, but the one of the most popular was Suter. I came away with the following thoughts from his chat, and from his previous post on Suter (Some of these aren't really new thoughts, but I'm going to put them out there again, anyways):

1. The Preds are going all in for resigning Suter. A week ago, the Preds and Suter opened the first round of their negotiations. Both sides said talks went well and that they would continue over the next week. But since, there has been really no news on the Suter talks. But after reading today's chat, the Preds are really going all out to make sure Suter stays in the Music City. The Preds do have the cap space to bring him back too (Over $38 million), so money won't be an issue for Nashville.
2. There is a good chance Suter resigns in Nashville. This past season, Nashville ownership made it very clear that they are in it to win. So at the trade deadline, they acquired D Hal Gill, F Andrei Kostitsyn, F Paul Gaustad and not to long after brought back F Alex Radulov from the KHL. The team was a heavy favorite to come out of the West, before being defeated by Phoenix in the second round in 5 games. But the message was sent to Nashville's core players. And for a guy like Suter, that could make it very easy to just resign with the Preds.
3. If Suter doesn't resign, Shea Weber will most likely be leaving too. Now should Suter make it to July 1st and sign elsewhere, his defensive partner Shea Weber, could leave shortly thereafter. Weber is a RFA this offseason, but the following year he will be a UFA. So should Suter depart, Weber will want out too. If he wants out, the Preds could either trade him now and get something in return, or they will simply just let him walk away after next year. If the Wild miss out on Suter on July 1st, they would still have a shot at landing a big time defenseman with Shea Weber. 
4. Zach Parise is likely to end up playing with Suter next year. This has been widely speculated for a while now, but it appears more and more likely that Suter and free agent to be F Zach Parise will team up and sign on with the same team this summer.Now there are only a handful of teams that could afford to sign both stars. Detroit, New York Rangers, Nashville, New Jersey and Minnesota would be the only legit contenders in that department (Yep, you read New Jersey). And it could simply be a case of one player resigns, and the other would just tag along and sign with that team. 
5. The Wild are at the top of the pact, in terms of Suter suitors. The one question I asked in Cooper's chat today, was "If Suter does not resign in Nashville, where do you think he will sign?". And his reply was,"Detroit or New Jersey -- if the latter has more money to play with than we believe. If Parise re-signs there, I think it would be a good spot for him. At the same time, they have a ton of uncertainty. I just don't see Detroit happening, unless Ken Holland makes a few draft deals to get them younger and more talented again."  So clearly, he believes that Detroit will make those said draft deals and makes the team younger. The fact he said New Jersey really surprised me given all their financial uncertainty at this point. But I do believe that the Devils won't go quietly into the night on keeping Parise, so it could be likely Parise stays (A different post for a different day). He didn't mention Minnesota in there, but if you take into account what Cooper said (The Red Wings un-youthfulness and the Devils financial uncertainty), the Wild could be poised to land both. The team has many of their top prospects under contract beginning next season, and they have the willingness from owner Craig Leipold, to sign whoever Chuck Fletcher feels can best help this team win. Not many, if any, other teams can offer what the Wild could offer to Suter.

So after all of this, yes, the Wild do have a legit chance with signing Ryan Suter. But, it is no guarantee he makes it to July 1st. So lets hope he does...

(For those wishing to read the chat click here)

Minnesota and the Winter Classic

Happy New Year everyone. I took a little hiatus from here to relax and enjoy the holidays. Too bad the Wild one just once during that time. Also as you can see, I changed up the blog design on here. Hopefully you all enjoy this than the last background (It really annoyed me in the end). Now on to business...

Today, the Flyers and Rangers partake in perhaps the NHL's biggest event, the Winter Classic. They play it in Citizens Bank Park (Home of MLB's Philadelphia Phillies) in the city of brotherly love. It is the fifth consecutive year, the NHL has put this event on ('08 in Buffalo, '09 in Chicago, '10 in Boston, and '11 in Pittsburgh). And for everyone of those years, Minnesotans (including myself) have asked: When does the State of Hockey get its chance to host the league's premier event?

Since the event's inception, the game has been played between two of the league's premier teams, and in one of the league's premier US markets. So first and foremost, Minnesota has to start putting up more wins every season. Something that appears to be trending in the right direction, under rookie head coach Mike Yeo. Also, the league likes to have teams in there with some big names players on the teams, something the Wild is lacking (Mikko Koivu should be put in the big name discussion; Dany Heatley was a big name, but lack of production is killing that). Its not a necessity, but it certainly helps when the NHL decides on which two teams get to play every year. And then finally, this market certainly supports NHL hockey, so securing a WC after the team starts winning should be no problem.

So realistically, if the Wild continue to improve at the way they are under Yeo, when can Minnesota expect the NHL to come calling for the Winter Classic? As I mentioned earlier on twitter today, you should expect Detroit to host the WC in 2013. They are one of the league's most storied franchises, and they have been one of the most consistent teams over the last two decades. Its pretty much a lock for them next year. Then I took a guess that in 2014, Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals will host the WC. The Caps were promised a WC "soon" following their appearance in last year's WC against Pittsburgh. But, the way the Caps have gone down hill this year is a cause for concern, but I'm sure by '14 they will have righted the ship. So that leaves 2015 up for grabs for the WC. And I'm sure Craig Leipold will do everything he can to get that game here, but I'm sure he will have to go up against the city of New York because they have not hosted a WC yet. So given the league's east coast bias in this event, look for the Rangers to host the 2015 WC.

By the time the 2015-16 NHL season comes around, you should expect the State of Hockey to get its chance to host the Winter Classic. Do I believe we should wait that long, absolutely not. But as I mentioned before, the league has seen just one team from the central time zone play in this event (Chicago '09), and I don't expect that to change any time soon (Unless the Wild acquire one of the league's best players and become a top 5 team next year...but don't bet on that).

The league has acknowledged Minnesota as a future site for this event. They always come away impressed when a big event comes to the State of Hockey (See: '04 ASG, '11 Draft). But, our love of this game will not secure the league's best event...its going to have to come from our on ice product. And that's the cold truth. So let's hope we can continue to win. Or else we may see a later WC here than 2016.

UPDATE (1/3): Today Yahoo.com had a story on where the Winter Classic will go from here. There are a lot of similarities to this post.

Wild Moving To Central Conference

Today, Craig Leipold, his staff, and the entire State of Hockey can feel good when going to bed tonight. Starting next year, the Minnesota Wild will take part in the NHL realignment which will see the league go to a 4 conference set up (2 conferences of 8 teams, 2 conferences of 7 teams). Ever since taking over as princpal owner of the Wild, Leipold has lobbied for the Wild to get moved into a division with these teams, and he finally got his wish. Leipold will watch his team play in the more centralized conference with Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Nashville, St Louis and Winnipeg. Also, any team not in your division you play a home and home series with them that year. The rest of your games come within your own division.

This is terrific news for the State of Hockey. They no longer have the long Canadian road trips from playing in the Northwest division, more road games will be starting at friendlier times for Wild fans (6, 630, or 7 pm), and they can rekindle the old North Stars rivalries with Chicago and St. Louis (These games are pretty intense already). The only main rival the Wild have currently are the Vancouver Canucks, and lately this rivalry has been boring and lopsided (In favor of Vancouver). So this is a perfect time for the team to relocate.

But perhaps the best news of all, is the fact this will be the weaker division in the foreseeable future. So this will give the Wild a better opportunity to win and make the postseason (Something the Wild have yet to achieve with Leipold running the show). The front runner here will obviously be Chicago and they will have sustained success with core players (Kane, Toews, Hossa) locked up for years to come. St. Louis is a team on the rise and will pose a big threat Detroit is a sinking ship due to largely the fact that their star players are getting older and past their prime. Dallas and Nashville will be wild cards for now as they have had recent success, but do not have any marquee names power the team past the next few years. And then you will have the bottom feeders Columbus and Winnipeg who will not be successful in the near future, but a top draft pick could easily change that.

So clearly, with the talent the Wild have and the talent they have coming up, they have the potential to be successful in this division for many years to come. And their record against the Central teams so far this year (7-0-1 against CHI, CBJ, DET, NSH, STL) is a huge positive for them moving forward.

The Wild and their fans are a big winner in this realignment. Now all they have to do is build a solid hockey team that contends for years to come. And they can get far closer to achieving that in this new division...

Here's the other conferences and their teams:

Anaheim, Calgary, Colorado, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Jose and Vancouver

Boston, Buffalo, Florida, Montreal, Ottawa, Tampa Bay and Toronto

Carolina, New Jersey, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Washington