WildHBcommunity: MNWild Matchup with Arizona Coyotes at the X Thursday & Podcast Updates
Chuck Fletcher's Kid Core are Committing Long Term to Team Friendly Deals
The young talent stockpiled by Minnesota Wild General Manager Chuck Fletcher and his front office and scouting staff have been the driving force behind the renaissance and resurgence of the 'State of Hockey' at the NHL level. Just today news of Charlie Coyle signing a new 5 year deal with the franchise worth $16 million dollars is just the latest in a string of extremely reasonable contracts agreed to by a member of the talented young core. Coyle's new deal has him signed with the Wild through the 2019-20 NHL season with a very reasonable $3.2Mil cap hit.
Just a couple days ago the Wild announced 21 year old defender Jonas Brodin had agreed to a 6 year $25 million dollar contract with a cap hit just over $4mil per season. Add that to this summer getting multi-year pacts done with Nino Niederreiter(3yrs $8Mil $2.67Mil Cap Hit), Darcy Kuemper(2yrs $2.5Mil $1.25Mil Cap Hit), and Jason Zucker(2yrs $1.80Mil 900K Cap Hit). Next on the agenda to get locked in will be Mikael Granlund, Marco Scandella, Christian Folin, and Erik Haula.
Getting this entire group of young talented NHLers locked in long term would be a huge accomplishment for the Wild and would go a long way towards cementing their Stanley Cup contending window which could opening this season after an extremely impressive run in the 2013-14 NHL playoffs. This group of kids is not only committing to the franchise but to each other and because of their strong bond with each other and character it translated to the signing of Thomas Vanek this summer and Ryan Suter/Zach Parise two summers ago.
The one to keep an eye on though is Granlund because all indications are that he will be seeking a bridge type contract rather than sign a more team friendly pact long term based upon his current production rather than future output. This should be an interesting gamble by "Finnish Jesus" who will have every opportunity to cash in on major playing time and special teams opportunities this year and beyond here in Minnesota.
Scandella and Folin both profile to do most of their best work in the defensive end which makes value and contracts a perspective issue between agent and team. I have been so impressed with how Scandella responded last year to questions about whether he could cash in on his NHL potential. Scandella is currently playing near identical minutes to Suter as the anchor of the second pair. Getting Scandella locked in long term certainly would be beneficial to the club sooner rather than later because of how well he has been playing to begin this year. The price is certainly going up with every games he plays like he has.
Folin is an interesting situation because the team had to activate the first year of his deal as part of the agreement with him as an NCAA free agent last year from UMASS-LOWELL. Folin made the team out of camp in his first opportunity this summer and has played pretty well so far considering he has very little professional hockey experience. I bet Folin gets a two-three year deal like Zucker and Fontaine signed this summer as restricted free agents.
The other thing to consider is although injured and out for a while, Gustav Olofsson the other top defensive prospect for the Wild is going to be pushing for NHL playing time later this season into next season. Olofsson has high end talent and his size/skill combination is something that will only push his potential ceiling higher and higher as he gains experience and adds weight and strength to his frame.
Wild Still Tinkering with Line Combination and Roles
With a talented young core that has proven almost entirely interchangeable and the veteran firepower throughout this lineup it would seem consistent scoring is inevitable. This past west coast road trip provided more questions than answers with regard to putting the puck in the net and making good on opportunities though. Wild Head Coach Mike Yeo is notorious for tinker with line combinations and being loyal to fault to "HIS" guys.
Last season it looked as though Yeo had a break through when it came to deploying his line combinations and empowering his young talented forwards. I expect he will find the recipe for success this year but in the mean time there is sure to be a feeling out period. I think the even strength line combination honestly could be fluid and be very productive based upon individual performance and trending. The more important combination will be the power play and penalty kill units which could provide the Wild a huge advantage over opponents this season.
If Haula and Niederreiter are going to be tied to each other like they have to begin this season than so be it BUT I just hope they are given ample opportunity to earn ice time as this season goes on even if it comes at the expense of Vanek and Mikko Koivu. Lots of fans will be calling for Kaptain Koivu's role and ice time to be reduced with out merit because well that is just a thing we do here dont cha know.
Honestly I hope Mathew Dumba and Jared Spurgeon play identical roles on the point for the 1st and 2nd power play units. Beyond that I think another player I hopes gets some power play time is Zucker because of his willingness to fire the biscuit. I am in the camp that believes Nino should be playing Top 6 minutes on the right wing but if not then he needs to play in every situation possible to maximize his potential and ability to carry the puck and create his own shot which is something that Coyle just does not do well.
#WildHBcommunity Represented all over the INTERWEBS on Podcasts!
As I mentioned earlier this summer I am trying to expand the community of Minnesota Wild fans here at Hockeybuzz. I have decided that collaboration with other Wild content generators is a means to expand the reach of my writing in general. My friend Jeff Dubay created a new "Jeff Dubay Show" Podcast and asked me to be apart of a #WildWednesday edition show weekly. I am proud of how crazy the response has been, less than a month in existence "Jeff Dubay Show" is over 13K listens/downloads which is HUGE! People love Dubay and I get the opportunity to represent the Wild Hockeybuzz Community!
Also I joined the Bossman Eklund for the HockeybuzzCast on Tuesday to talk MNWild hockey! Tonight I will be teaming up with the crew from 3intheBox.com to tape a podcast. They are fun group so we should mix it up well tonight! Please give all these podcasts a download and listen when you get the chance.
Here is the HockeyBuzzCast:
MINNESOTA WILD LINEUP
Zach Parise–Mikael Granlund–Jason Pominville
Thomas Vanek–Mikko Koivu–Charlie Coyle
Nino Niederreiter–Erik Haula–Justin Fontaine
Matt Cooke–Ryan Carter-Jason Zucker
Defensive Pairings
Ryan Suter-Jonas Brodin
Marco Scandella–Jared Spurgeon
Nate Prosser-Christian Folin
Darcy Kuemper
Niklas Backstrom
Scratches:Kyle Brodziak-Keith Ballard-MathewDumba
Injured: Josh Harding
ARIZONA COYOTES LINEUP
Mikkel Boedker-Antoine Vermette-Shane Doan
Lauri Korpikoski-Sam Gagner-Martin Erat
Rob Klinkhammer-Kyle Chipchura-David Moss
Brandon McMillan-Joe Vitale-B.J. Crombeen
Defensive Pairings
Oliver Ekman-Larsson-Connor Murphy
Keith Yandle-Michael Stone
David Schlemko-Zbynek Michalek
Mike Smith
Devan Dubnyk
Injury List: Martin Hanzal
Individual Leaders
Arizona Coyotes Minnesota Wild
Points: K. YANDLE (6),M. BOEDKER (6),S. DOAN (4) Z. PARISE (4),R. SUTER (3),M. COOKE (2)
Goals: M. BOEDKER (5),M. ERAT (2),R. KLINKHAMMER (2) Z. PARISE (2),J. ZUCKER (2),M. COOKE (1)
Assists: K. YANDLE (5),S. DOAN (4),A. VERMETTE (3) R. SUTER (2),Z. PARISE (2),R. CARTER (2)
PP Goals: M. ERAT (1),A. VERMETTE (1),L. KORPIKOSKI (1)
SH Goals:
GW Goals: M. BOEDKER (1),O. EKMAN-LARSSON (1) J. POMINVILLE (1),C. COYLE (1)
3+ Goals: M. BOEDKER(1)
PIM: A. VERMETTE (10),S. DOAN (9),M. ERAT (8) Z. PARISE (17),C. COYLE (10),R. CARTER (8)
Shots: K. YANDLE (19),M. BOEDKER (19),O. EKMAN-LARSSON (18) Z. PARISE (27),T. VANEK (13),N. NIEDERREITER (13)
+/-: R. KLINKHAMMER (+2),M. BOEDKER (+2),K. CHIPCHURA (+1) Z. PARISE (+5),J. BRODIN (+5),J. SPURGEON (+4)
Provided Courtesy of Wild Media Resources: wild.com/pressbox and @mnwildPR
That's all for now thanks for reading!
Just My Take,
Tony Dean
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