Jonas Brodin Signs Six Year Extension

Photo: Ron Chenoy-USA Today

This morning the Wild announced that Jonas Brodin signed a six year contract extension. The deal will expire following the 2020-21 season and will eat up two of Brodin's unrestricted free agency years.

The 2014-15 Minnesota Wild: Defense

Photo: Carlos Gonzalez/Star Tribune

The Wild were expected to take a step forward on the defensive side of things in 2013-14. They signed Keith Ballard and youngsters Jonas Brodin, Jared Spurgeon, and Marco Scandella were expected to progress and be big factors for the Wild.

The 2014-15 Minnesota Wild: X-Factors

Photo: Brace Hemmelgarn/USA Today

Here's a little rundown of the five players who the Wild need to be impactful for them to have success in 2014-15. They are in no particular order.

2013-14 Season In Review: Jonas Brodin

Photo: Jeff Gross/Getty Images

At one point this year, he was Jonas Brodin, "Goal Scoring Machine". Lets take a look back.

3 on 3: Game One

Photo: Bill Smith/Getty Images

Wild made a third period rally to tie the game at two last night. But then Chicago turned on the jets, and dusted Minnesota 5-2 in Game One. Lets break out some three on three.

The 2014 Minnesota Wild Olympians

Photo: Heston Kan

As much as Team Canada tried to delay the process this morning, all Winter Olympic hockey rosters have now been announced. The final four teams (Finland, Sweden, Slovakia, and Canada) gave out their rosters to the public, leaving everyone with more questions (as to why player 'x' made the team over player 'y') than answers, seemingly.

The Top 13 Stories of '13

Photo: Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images

Since we are winding down 2013 today, it makes sense to take a look back at the best stories from 2013. So to commemorate the year 2013, we will take a look back at the 13 best stories for the Wild.

October Wrap Up

Trying another new feature here where we wrap up each month by looking back at the best players, plays, and game. Here is the Team of 18,001's October Wrap Up:

3 on 3: The Wild's Four Game Road Trip

(Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)

Well the Wild wrapped up their four game road trip last night with a 2-1 shootout loss to Florida. The loss put them at 1-2-1 on the road trip, the only win coming against Buffalo. So lets do some three on three to wrap up this trip.

Sunday Morning Thoughts

In the wake of a 5-1 rout of the Stars last night, the Wild are now 2-1-2 and head out on a four game trip through the Atlantic Division. Here are some thoughts from the past week and for the week ahead.

The 2013-14 Minnesota Wild: Defense

Coming out of the 2011-12 season, the Minnesota Wild defense was just abysmal. They had traded away blueliners Nick Schultz, Marek Zidlicky, and Greg Zanon mid-season and brought in Tom Gilbert to help get a spark going offensively from the blueline (Gilbert had five assists while playing the role of top defenseman).

Jonas Brodin and Mike Yeo Join NHL Live

Yesterday Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin and head coach Mike Yeo joined NHL Live after practice at Xcel Energy Center. ICYMI, here are the videos:

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NHL To Send Players to 2014 Olympics

At long last, the NHL finally announced this morning that they will be sending their players to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

The 2010 Olympics in Vancouver was some of the best Olympic hockey in recent memory, and featured a gold medal game that went to overtime between Canada and the United States (although the U.S. would like to forget the outcome.

The Wild are expected to have several players participate for their various countries. Mikko Koivu (Finland), Zach Parise (USA), Ryan Suter (USA), Jonas Brodin (Sweden), Jason Pominville (USA/Canada), Mikael Granlund (Finland), Nino Niederreiter (Switzerland), and Niklas Backstrom (Finland) are the logical choices to play in Sochi. Should all these players end up playing, it would clearly be a team record for number of players participating in the games.

It won't be until January when the official rosters are unveiled. There are Olympic camps coming up in August, and that should offer a better idea as to who should make the team (perhaps).

Look for more news today as the long awaited NHL schedule will be released...


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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.

Mid-Season Grades

After an incredible 4-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks to take the division lead, the Wild find themselves atop their division and sitting in the #3 spot in the Western Conference as we hit the halfway point in the 2013 season. So, we hand out a report card to the Wild as they prepare to get set in for the second half of the season.

Forwards: C
Mikko Koivu and Zach Parise have been tremendous on the top line registering 20 and 19 points respectively, and youngsters Charlie Coyle and Jason Zucker have been making their presence felt in the past 10 games since being called up (Perhaps no better example of that than last nights game). But, Dany Heatley (Heatley had a great start, but he has been horrific as of late), Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Kyle Brodziak, and Mikael Granlund have had rough seasons to date, with Granlund and Bouchard now being healthy scratches. It took quite some time for the forwards to start registering points consistently, but the rough days appear to be behind them now.

Defense: C+
After a bad start, which had many fans calling him out for lack of production, Ryan Suter has been the $98 million defenseman we all expected, averaging 27:29 of ice time per game, which leads the NHL, and has risen to 2nd in the NHL among defenseman with 17 assists. Jonas Brodin has been Suter's defensive partner since being called up, and has showed the poise of a 10 year veteran in this league, despite being just 19 years old. Together, Suter and Brodin are one of the NHL's top D pairings. Behind those two, Jared Spurgeon and Tom Gilbert have had up and down seasons, while Justin Falk, Clayton Stoner, and Nate Prosser have all performed below expectations.

Goalies: A-
If not for the talents of Niklas Backstrom, who know where this team would truly be. Backstrom has performed well (Minus the Chicago game, of course) putting up a 11-6-2 record with a 2.30 GAA and a .914 save percentage. Josh Harding got off to a good start, but he was placed on IR after a few rough games, and has yet to be heard from since. Darcy Kuemper played real well in his first 4 NHL games before going on IR as well.

Special Teams: B-
After an extremely slow start to the season on the power play, the Wild have raise their PP to 20th in the league (16.3%) and have registered a PP goal in 6 of their last 7 games and appear to be finding a groove while playing with the man advantage. Meanwhile, their penalty kill has been stellar, coming in 4th in the NHL with a 86.5% success rate. The top PK line of Koivu, Brodziak, Suter and Brodin have been phenominal, along with the solid presence of Backstrom in net.

Coaching: C+
It was an extremely rough start for Head Coach Mike Yeo and his staff. Minnesota suffered from slow starts, dysfunctional line combinations, poor execution, and awful defensive play. But, Yeo finally appears to have found 4 functional lines, and the team is firing on all cylinders. He has righted the ship so far, but as we learned last year, the second half of the season can be a completely different story. Yeo has the Wild tied for the Northwest Division lead at the halfway mark, and the question is: Can he hold on to this momentum and get this team to the playoffs?

Overall: C+
This team under performed to begin the year, but you can credit that to next to no training camp with a high roster turnover. But in the last 10 games, Minnesota has righted the ship and has played very exciting hockey, which has seen them rise to the division lead alongside Vancouver. Minnesota has no long road trips (Only a 3 game max road trip) and plays an equal number of games on the road and at home. This team is starting to have a playoff like feel to it. And their first test of the second half, will be against Anaheim, who holds the 2nd best record in all the NHL.


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NHL 2013 Preview: Minnesota Wild

Three days from now, the 12th season in the history of the Minnesota Wild, will get under way. And perhaps, this is the most anticipated season in the team's history (Rivaling year one). Today, we look back at the previous year, and look ahead to the upcoming year, and in between, we will break down all the moves this team made during the summer.

Offseason Moves

Coming In: F Zach Parise, D Ryan Suter, F Torrey Mitchell, F Zenon Konopka, F Jake Dowell, D Brian Connelly

Heading Out: F Guillaume Latendresse, F Nick Johnson, F Erik Christensen, D Mike Lundin, F Warren Peters

In case you lived under a rock since the end of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, no moves in hockey were bigger than when the Wild inked Parise and Suter to matching 13 year, $98 million deals. The deal should boost the last place Wild offense, and strengthen the power play, to where they can put up goals with any team in the league. The additions of Mitchell and Konopka strengthen bottom 2 lines, and give the Wild prospects in Houston, more time to get acclimated with professional hockey. The Wild now enter the season with 4 complete lines, and perhaps the best on paper foward line combinations, they have ever had.

Projected Lines

(Stats listed are from the 2011-12 season)

LW-C-RW

(Goals-Assists-Points)

Zach Parise-Mikko Koivu-Dany Heatley

(31-38-69)-(12-32-44)-(24-29-53)

Matt Cullen-Mikael Granlund-Devin Setoguchi

(14-21-35)-(DNP in NHL)-(19-17-36)

Cal Clutterbuck-Kyle Brodziak-Pierre-Marc Bouchard

(15-12-27)-(22-22-44)-(9-13-22)

Darroll Powe-Zenon Konopka-Torrey Mitchell

(6-7-13)-(3-2-5)-(9-10-19)

Reserves: Matt Kassian (2-0-2), Stephane Veilleux (0-2-2), Jake Dowell (2-5-7), Nick Palmieri (4-3-7)

Defenseman

Ryan Suter-Jared Spurgeon

(7-39-46)-(3-20-23)

Clayton Stoner-Tom Gilbert

(1-4-5)-(3-19-22)

Justin Falk-Nate Prosser

(1-8-9)-(1-11-12)

Reserves: Steve Kampfer (2-3-5), Marco Scandella* (3-9-12)
* denotes player is injured

Goalies

(W-L-OT, GAA, SV PCT)

Starter: Niklas Backstrom (19-18-7, 2.43, .919)

Backup: Josh Harding (13-12-4, 2.62, .917)

Reserve: Matt Hackett (3-6-0, 2.38, .922)

Head Coach

Mike Yeo

2nd NHL Season

35-36-11

Players That Need To Step Up

Dany Heatley

Last year, Heatley came over in a trade from San Jose. He played all 82 games and had top line minutes in every one of those games. Problem was, his production was the lowest its ever been in his 10 year NHL career. Now that the Wild added Zach Parise to play opposite Heatley, Heater will need to increase his production to take pressure off Parise and give the Wild a dual threat on their top line.

Devin Setoguchi

Like Heatley, Setoguchi is in his second season in a Wild uniform.  And he too had the worst statistical season of his career in 2011-12. Setoguchi often played on the top line for Minnesota in 2011-12, but this season you can write him in pen on the second line. The Wild need Setoguchi to step up his game to give them a great 2nd scoring line. With puck movers Cullen and Granlund on his line, he will be relied upon to score the goals on that line.

Tom Gilbert

In 08-09, Gilbert had the best year of his career, when he notched 45 points (5G, 40A) for Edmonton. Since then, he has been on a slow decline. Gilbert, was acquired before the trade deadline in 2012, for fan favorite Nick Schultz, and was brought in to be the puck moving defenseman the Wild needed. Now that Ryan Suter is in the fold, Gilbert will be on the second defensive pairing, and the Wild need him to play some big minutes and make some big plays. If he can't, one could see the Wild using one of their compliance buyouts on him in the offseason with young D-Men Brodin and Dumba on the way up.

5 Prospects That Will Impact 2013

Mikael Granlund-F

Obviously, Granlund will be making an impact on the 2013 roster. He will be starting as the second line center in between Cullen and Setoguchi. Granlund is a great talent, as he has great skills and vision to set up and sometimes score goals. The team's top prospect finally signed on with the club this past summer, and will be a huge addition to the squad in 2013. 

Jason Zucker-F

Zucker is not slated to start the season with the big club. But should one of the forwards get injured, look for the Aeros leading scorer to be the first man called up. Zucker has transitioned his game from the WCHA to the AHL quite nicely, putting up similar numbers between the two leagues. He has been a force on Houston's top line, using his speed and great hands to keep his name in the scoresheet.

Matt Dumba-D

The Wild's first round pick in 2012 will get his chance with the club in 2013. An injury to Marco Scandella has helped open the door for Dumba to get some NHL minutes this year. But in all likelihood, Dumba will play a few games with Minnesota before he gets sent back to Red Deer to finish off the season. Dumba is an offensive minded defenseman, scoring 20 goals for Red Deer last year (He has 10 this year). Look for him to fire the puck on net often, when he gets his chance with the Wild this year.

Matt Hackett-G

Hackett made this in last year's Wild Preview. He is still considered a prospect, and he will make an impact at some point this year, so it made sense to put him on this list. Hackett has been the starter for Houston for three years now, and in the final year of Nik Backstrom's contract, the goalie would like to send the front office a message by playing strongly. He will only see time with the Wild this year should Backstrom or Harding go down with an injury. And if he does, the Wild will need him to play very sharply, given the condensed schedule and all.

Jonas Brodin-D

Entering the season, Jonas Brodin is injured, and not playing anywhere. But, in the next couple of weeks he could return to the ice. Brodin is a solid defensive minded defenseman and has ridiculous vision when he is on the ice. He was so much of a rock for Houston's blue line, before going down with injury, that there was/still is talk of him making the Wild roster at some point this year. Its more likely now that Brodin will only get a shot with Minnesota this year in the event of someone getting hurt, but should he get called up, he may not get sent back down.

Where They'll Finish

Check back tomorrow to see where the Wild will finish in the division standings in 2013, and then on Friday to see where they will finish in the conference standings, when we predict the NHL season and playoffs.


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2013 Top 10 Wild Prospects: 4-1

4. Jason Zucker-Forward Houston (AHL). Previous Rank: 5

Since making the jump to the AHL from the WCHA, Zucker has produced very similar numbers (22-24-46 for CC last year in 38 games, 15-17-32 in 31 games for Houston this year). He got a cup of coffee with the Wild at the end of last year, after signing with the team but only produced 2 assists in 8 games. Zucker has good offensive skills, and put the right players on a line with him (As we have seen in Houston), he can be a top 6 forward with the Wild. Good chance Zucker spends the rest of the year with Houston, but look for him to compete for a roster spot on the Wild next fall.

3. Jonas Brodin-Defenseman Houston (AHL). Previous Rank: 4

Like many others on this list, Brodin came over from Europe this year to play with Houston. And then 8 games into the season, Brodin broke his clavicle on a hit by Taylor Hall. Brodin had tallied 2 goals and 2 assists with Houston before going down, which was a big improvement from his stats with Farjestads in the Swedish Elite League last year (0-8-8 in 49 games). But, Brodin wasnt drafted for his offensive ability. He is a great defensive defenseman, and does tremendous work in the defensive zone. He has great vision and great presence of mind, which gives him an advantage over anyone trying to attack when he is on the ice. Brodin had a decent chance to make the team, had he not fallen injured. But now look for him to return and finish out the year with Houston, unless the Wild suffer injuries to the blue line.

2. Charlie Coyle-Forward Houston (AHL). Previous Rank: 3

At 6'2" and 210, Charlie Coyle projects to be a top 6 guy, who will make his living out in front of NHL netminders. And so far, Coyle has done that, posting 12 goals so far on the year with Houston, while being a big presence on the power play. Coyle put up big numbers with St. John's last year (15 goals, 38 points in 23 regular season games; 17 goals, 32 points in 17 playoff games), while leading them to the QMJHL championship. Coyle doesnt project to make the Wild roster this year, but with a few spots opening up next year, look for him to compete for one of those spots.

1. Mikael Granlund-Forward Houston (AHL). Previous Rank: 1

At long last, the Wild got Mikael Granlund to come over from Finland. Then a 113 day lockout, spoiled our hopes of seeing him play in a Wild sweater in 2012. But now that its 2013, Granlund is slated to open the year as the Wild's #2 center, after playing with Houston during the lockout. Granlund comes in as one of the top prospects in all of hockey. If you need to see why he is so highly regarded, please go do a YouTube search on Mikael Granlund right now. He has all the offensive skills you could ask for. Skates well. Tremendous vision up ice. Hands that are second to none. And can put the puck behind the goalie when the situation calls for it. So far this year, Granlund has put up a line of 8-13-21 in 21 games (ankle injury shortened his year). Last Friday, Granlund was pulled from the Aeros lineup and returned to St. Paul to begin practicing with his Wild teammates. Look for his debut to come on the opener, which will be on Saturday.

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. Jason Zucker

3. Jonas Brodin

2. Charlie Coyle

1. Mikael Granlund

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.

The Team of 18,001's Top 10 Wild Prospects: 7-4

7. Mario Lucia-Forward Penticton (BCHL). The Wild traded up to take Lucia in last year's entry draft (60th overall, 2nd round). This is a move that should pay off nicely. In his only season with Pencticton, Lucia has notched a line to date of 37-51-88 (2nd on his team. Yes, you read that right, second.) in 53 games played this season. He has helped the Vees to a record of 53-3-2 (The best in the BCHL) and they are currently riding a 40 game winning streak. Lucia is committed to Notre Dame for the 2012-13 season, so he is still a few years away from wearing a Wild sweater.

6. Matt Hackett-Goalie Houston (AHL). Hackett has seen limited time with the Wild this year. But, when he has gotten his chance, he has not disappointed. He has stopped 100 of 102 shots against with the big club this year (.980 save percentage) and also has a 0.63 GAA. But that comes in just 5 games played (only 1 start!). With Houston, Hackett is 17-13-4 with a 2.41 GAA and a .917 save percentage this year. It would seem he is the heir apparent to the starting job in the 2013-14 season after Backstrom's contract is up. So look for him in a Wild sweater full time next season as a backup.

5. Jason Zucker-Forward Denver (WCHA). Zucker was drafted by the Wild in 2010 (2nd Round, 59th Overall) just prior to him heading to Denver to play for the Pioneers. In his two seasons in Denver, Zucker has posted back to back 20+ goal seasons while also being at the top of the Pioneers scoring chart. A big improvement for Zucker this year has been his presence on the power play as he has registered 9 PP goals this year, compared to 2 all of last year. Zucker has not signed a entry contract yet, so one would assume that he will play one more season in Denver, but he too could end up in Houston next year.

4. Jonas Brodin-Defenseman Farjestads BK (Elitserien). When you look at Brodin's stats, he doesn't jump off the page at you. So obviously he must do something else well when he gets taken 10th overall in the NHL Draft. He is a tremendous presence in the defensive zone, and he is known as a very intelligent defenseman.. He has the skill set to be a good two way forward in this league, so watch for his offensive stats to get better over time. Brodin signed a three year entry level contract last July, so look for him to be playing in Houston next year.

Here is the list through today. Come back tomorrow for the final three!

10. Darcy Kuemper

9. Brett Bulmer

8. Johan Larsson

7. Mario Lucia

6. Matt Hackett

5. Jason Zucker

4. Jonas Brodin

3. Tomorrow

2. Tomorrow

1. Tomorrow