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Wild Room For More Changes |
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So what do we know about the Minnesota Wild?
The big free agent signing was Mats Zuccarello, not exactly the kind of player the mold of Fenton's makeover had previously taken. However, the Wild are not in position for a classic rebuild with the current makeup of the roster. Not to mention that in today's world of professional sports rebuilds do not need to take three to five years either.
With the "what have you done for me lately" mentality of owners and fans alike the win sooner rather than later approach is apparent.
Paul Fenton is only now entering his second year as Wild GM, however the pressure is firmly applied that he needs to get this team turned around.
His moves have been questioned largely by the Minnesota faithful. Many feel that he dealt away key fan favorites in Niederreiter, Granlund, and Coyle.
I say so what, those players all had their time and had varying degrees of success. Granlund, one can argue was the Wild's most talented player much of the last few seasons. That may be true, yet he still was not the star that could make everyone around him better. Granlund maxed out as a solid 70-80 point guy that will be a UFA next July.
Niederreiter really struggled to find a place in the Wild top six and whether that was a Nino issue or a Boudreau issue or a little of both, his time had run it's course here. Yes the return was far less than what anyone had hoped for, with the jury still out on Victor Rask.
Coyle is a whole different story as he was the last remaining piece of the Brent Burns deal with San Jose which was the albatross around former GM, Chuck Fletcher's neck. With Fletcher gone the ties cut and Fenton moved Coyle for Ryan Donato. That deal has worked out swimmingly for the Wild. Donato performed well in his limited time with the Wild and is now signed to a very cap friendly 2 year bridge deal.
All in all the deals that Fenton has made have provided the Wild with more speed, youth, and most importantly cap space.
We know that Paul is not done making his mark on the Wild roster.
When you look at potential line combinations there are some burning questions that point to at least one maybe two significant moves prior to the beginning of the new season.
Potential Lines:
Donato Staal Zuccarello
Parise Kunin Fiala
Zucker Koivu Greenway
Foligno Eriksson Ek Hartman
Suter Dumba
Brodin Spurgeon
Seeler Pateryn
Dubnyk
Stalock
That leaves Rask as the odd guy out. Not likely nor is it that Eriksson Ek be relegated to the fourth line after the way he finished this last season.
The additions of Zuccarello and Hartman make the Wild a much more rounded team and the shift to a shoot first mentality will generate more scoring opportunities.
Of course the single biggest addition to the Wild lineup is the return of Matt Dumba which will surely turn the Wild scoring woes around.
Still more to come...
Minnesota Wild Blogger • 
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