The Best Draft In Wild History

Photo: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

The label of "best draft in Wild history" was not an easy one to determine.

Not Something You See Everyday

Early in the second period of the Wild's 2-1 victory in Buffalo, it was former Wild prospect Johan Larsson giving a heavy hit to defenseman Clayton Stoner. Now Stoner is a big defenseman and is more prone to giving out hits, not taking them, especially when it comes to Larsson who is a bit smaller.

Pretty big hit for the kid. Not something you typically see everyday...

Wild take on the Maple Leafs in Toronto tonight at 6 PM. 

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Thoughts On The Pominville Trade

Yes, this is a second post on this topic.

But, the first post purely focused on what the Wild are getting when they acquired Jason Pominville today. This post is a much different story.

In exchange for RW Jason Pominville and Buffalo's 2014 4th round pick, the Wild sent C Johan Larsson, G Matt Hackett, a 2013 1st round pick, and a 2014 2nd round pick on to Buffalo.

Being positive here, the Wild got a great two way forward, with tremendous offensive skills. He adds a lively right handed shot to the top power play. He will strengthen an already stellar penalty kill. His work ethic is outstanding (The top line of Parise-Koivu-Pominville will be one of the hardest working lines in hockey). With him in the mix, the Wild have become a powerhouse alongside Chicago and Anaheim in the Western Conference.

Then on the negative side, the price for Pominville was tremendously steep. Too steep for my liking. But, Chuck Fletcher and his staff believe in the team they have right now, and they met that steep price to get Pominville. Had it been a couple of second round picks, fine. Sending that first round pick coupled with Larsson and Hackett (Two of the Wild's top ten prospects), just flat bothers me. Even if Pominville is here for the remainder of this year and all of next year. But as Fletcher said today, "Anytime you want a good player who's not a rental, you're going to have to pay a price."

I guess at this point, I'm indifferent on this trade. I thought the Wild needed to add a defenseman more than a forward today (See the performance of Clayton Stoner, Justin Falk, Nate Prosser, and Tom Gilbert lately). They got Pominville, and gave up some big prospects to get him. But it was pointed out to me by a friend today that both players had really not impacted the team this year, nor had they proven themselves in the NHL yet, keeping the "prospect' label on them.

If this team can go far in the playoffs both seasons with Pominville, great. This trade will probably be considered a success then. But that's all IF they can make some deep postseason runs.

A few other thoughts I had following the trade:

• With Pominville on the books at $5.3 million for next year, it all but assures that Dany Heatley will be bought out (Using one of the team's amnesty buyouts), or traded this summer. Heatley carries a $7.5 million cap hit, and his play this season has not justified having him return with that kind of cap hit (Reminder, the cap next year is $64.3 million and the Wild have $55.9 million committed to 16 players, including Pominville and Heatley). 
• Pierre-Marc Bouchard is almost as good as gone following the season too. I was kind of surprised to see the Wild hang on to him today.
• Now that Matt Hackett has been traded, it would seem that the Wild will be for sure getting Niklas Backstrom back next year. Backstrom is in the final year of his contract and is a UFA this summer. Had they let him go, the tandem of Harding/Kuemper would man the nets for Minnesota next year. And who knows when Josh Harding will play again (Sorry, had to say it).

We will just have to wait and see how this all plays out. And it starts tomorrow in Los Angeles.

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2013 Top 10 Wild Prospects: 7-5

7. Matt Dumba-Defenseman Red Deer (CHL). Previous Rank: NR

Matt Dumba, was the 7th overall pick in the 2012 draft by Minnesota. He is not overly big (6'0", 182 lbs), but is very mobile, and is a very good offensive defenseman. Prior to being drafted, Dumba scored 20 goals and added 37 assists in 69 games for Red Deer. And in 42 games this year, Dumba has scored 10 goals and 13 assists. He is set to partake in the Wild's training camp beginning on Sunday, and could get a cup of coffee with the big club before being sent back to Red Deer. Dumba will have to do a lot in the camp to just get that cup of coffee, but he does possess better offensive skills than most d-men on the Wild roster. Dumba is only 18, so there is no rush by the Wild to get him up with the big club. Look for him to play a full season with the team in a few years.

6. Matt Hackett-Goaltender Houston (AHL). Previous Rank: 6

If not for the great talent above him on this list, Hackett would come in higher. But, for the second year in a row, he will settle for #6. Hackett enters his 3rd full season with the Aeros, and as you may recall, has seen sometime with the Wild while either Niklas Backstrom or Josh Harding has dealt with injury. He started his NHL career by shutting out the opposition for 102:48, which is now an NHL record. This year, Hackett has played in 28 games for Houston and has a record of 13-11-0-3 with a 2.63 GAA and a .904 save percentage. With the expiring contract of Niklas Backstrom, its possible Hackett could be with the Wild full time starting next season. But it all depends on if Backstrom wants to return to the Wild for another year or two. If he does leave, a tandem of Hackett/Harding should do just fine.

5. Johan Larsson-Forward Houston (AHL). Previous Rank: 8

Admittedly, Larsson was ranked far too low on this blog last year. But after further study on him, he is up where he belongs now. Larsson, like many others on this list, is in his first year with Houston, after coming over from Brynas of the Swedish Elite League. He is turning into a tremendous two way forward, after honing up his offensive skills over the past few years. So far this year with Houston, Larsson has scored 9 goals and 11 assists in 35 games played. With the depth of forwards the Wild has this year, its unlikely we see Larsson up in the NHL this year. So look for him to get his chance next year to make the team.

Minnesota Wild 2012-13 Top 10 Prospects List

10. Mario Lucia

9. Brett Bulmer

8. Zack Phillips

7.Matt Dumba

6.Matt Hackett

5.Johan Larsson

4.Tomorrow

3.Tomorrow

2.Tomorrow

1.Tomorrow

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The Team of 18,001's Top 10 Wild Prospects: 10-8

I promised this yesterday, so apologies for this being late. And due to some lack of time I will have to split this up into a few days worth of posts. So today we will begin the list of the Wild's top 10 prospects by going through numbers 10 through 8. Tomorrow will bring 7-4 and Monday will have 3-1. So let's begin...

10. Darcy Kuemper-Goalie Houston (AHL). Kuemper was a 6th round pick (161st overall) by the Wild in the 2009 draft. Then this past May he signed a entry level contract with the club, and he has played this year with Houston. So far this year, he has team leading GAA (2.37) and save percentage (.922) despite being a back up to Matt Hackett this year. Look for Kuemper to be the starter in Houston next year once Hackett moves up to MN on a permanent basis.

9. Brett Bulmer-Forward Kelowna (WHL). Bulmer got a taste of the NHL early on this year (Played in 9 games with the Wild), before being sent back to Kelowna for the season. Since he returned he has scored 31 goals and added 23 assists in 46 games. At this pace, he will lead the team in scoring despite playing in 18 fewer games than the next best scorer. In addition to scoring, Bulmer brings a physical presence to the ice as he has 87 penalty minutes this year. Look for Bulmer to play with Houston next year (He signed a three year entry contract last April), but don't rule out a return to Kelowna.

8. Johan Larsson-Forward Brynas IF (Elitserien). Larsson was a 2nd round pick by the Wild in the 2010 draft. Larsson is currently third on his team in points (35) and is second in assists (24). In the 2010 WJC under 18 tournament, Larsson scored 6 goals while adding 8 assists in just 5 games while helping Sweden win a silver medal. He, like so many others on this list, signed an entry contract with the team last spring, so one could assume that next year he will play in Houston.

10. Darcy Kuemper

9. Brett Bulmer

8. Johan Larsson

7. Tomorrow

6. Tomorrow

5. Tomorrow

4. Tomorrow

3. Monday

2. Monday

1. Monday

Here Comes The Kids

Today, the Wild announced that they signed one of their top prospects, Charlie Coyle, to an entry level deal. Coyle is currently playing for the Saint John's Sea Dogs of the Quebec Junior Major Hockey League and is putting up ridiculous numbers in his short time there so far (12-12-24 in 16 games). This coming after his unexpected departure from Boston University, as he wished to better his game by going to Saint John's.

Coyle now joins Saint John's teammate Zack Phillips, Jonas Brodin, Brett Bulmer, and Johan Larsson as Wild prospects who have signed their entry level deals in the past year. The Wild also noted on their news story that the team will try and sign #1 prospect Mikael Granlund following the World Championship in May (Big surprise) and will also go after 2010 draft pick Jason Zucker following the end of the Denver Pioneers season.

If you aren't excited for next season when these kids are in Houston (Or in Granlund's case, he could be in Minnesota next year) playing pro hockey, get excited. In fact, some like Coyle and Phillips could play for Houston following the end of the Sea Dogs season this year(But they will no doubt be making a deep playoff run).

Chuck Fletcher has done a tremendous job in turning his prospect farm into a gold mine after his predecessor burned it down to ashes. There has never been a more deeper prospect pool in the short history of this franchise. And add the fact he has significant cap space going into next year (or two), the future for this team has never been brighter.

With the way the Wild are going down this year, you'd figure they will draft high up again in the draft this year (They could still get a pick in the top 5 if they play their cards right). So they will add more depth to the system one last time, before the team finally takes off.

The kids are coming folks. Sit back and enjoy the ride.

NOTE: Tomorrow I will finally post my top 10 prospects list. I just never got around to finishing that up, so be sure to check that out.