Based on character alone, Nick Leddy is one heck of a nice kid. Humble, down to earth, and he apparently plays a good game too. With Nick Leddy, the Minnesota Wild have a chance to appease their fan base which is looking for a more American flavor by picking a home grown prospect in the first round. "Unbelieveable" was the one word Nick kept repeating today while being interviewed. When asked about how it feels to be standing in the Wild locker room wearing the Wild home jersey, he humbly replied that it was "unbelieveable" and "I just hope to do it again someday." He indicated that he had no advance notice that he would be the Wild's pick and, in fact, Tommy Thompson indicated that when the Wild moved back from pick #12 to pick #16, they had 5 guys they really liked and that's why they moved back 4 spots because "simple math dictated we would get one of our guys". When pressed on where Leddy was on that list, he indicated that only 1 player listed ahead of him after trading had been selected and that it wasn't the Islander's pick. That leaves Kassian, Kulikov, or Holland. My money's on Kassian as being the Wild's top rated guy, but who knows. Leddy responded when asked how long he expected to play at the University of Minnesota indicated that he would like to be with the Wild organization on a pro contract in 2 years. I wonder how Don Lucia, the head coach of the Gophers, feels about that.

I asked Thompson about some of the other draft picks the Wild made on Saturday in rounds 2 through 7. He indicated that they had seen Haula play in the International Under 18 tournament in Slovakia and the one in Fargo and liked his game. In fact, they liked him so much that he was on the first page of their list of players they were interested in and when the 7th round selection came, the Wild were actually looking for defensemen and notice Haula still on page 1 and not crossed off. They also admitted to having watched him play with 4th round selection, Fallstrom, as Fallstrom's line mate at Shattuck-St. Mary's in Faribault, Minnesota that it really became an easy decision for them. When talking with Thompson about the 2 goalies selected, he kept coming back to their size and how much both had grown. He disputed a remark brought up by me heard on XM204 by a representative of hockeysfuture.com that Hackett would only be an NHL back up one day. He also related a story from his time in Calgary about Glen Hall whom, Thompson advises, invented the butterfly style for goaltending in ice hockey. He said that Hall was always talking about taking the bigger guy because once he was down he could cover both the bottom half and the upper half of the net.

As for the Wild's RFA's, the Wild advises as follows:

Minnesota Wild General Manager Chuck Fletcher today announced the National Hockey League (NHL) club has made qualifying offers to the following restricted free agents:

C Kyle Brodziak
LW Robbie Earl
G Josh Harding
RW Danny Irmen
LW Benoit Pouliot
D Clayton Stoner

The Wild did not make qualifying offers to the following restricted free agents:

D Paul Albers
LW Riley Emmerson
LW Dan Fritsche
LW Peter Olvecky

So Wild fans, your thoughts on the above and your hopes/dreams/fears regarding Free Agency on July 1? Let's hear it folks! Go Wild!!!!!!!!!!!!

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