Wild Offseason Summary

[Circulartheory]

The Minnesota Wild made several big moves this offseason with hopes of reaching the playoffs since the 2007-08 season. Those moves included acquiring HFNHL star Anze Kopitar and signing free agent Rob Scuderi.

"It was a high price to pay, but in return, we acquired an young HFNHL star who just turned 25 years old. He will only get better and will be relied on all situations. We felt comfortable that the organization had talented prospects to be willing to trade JVR and these high picks away."

"Kopitar will be a Wild for a longtime and with promising prospects like Mikael Granlund, Jonas Brodin, and John Moore, looking to soon become regular NHLers, we felt it was a good time to acquire him"

The addition of Rob Scuderi helps round off the Wild's top four, looking to pair nicely alongside puckmoving defenseman Anton Stralman. Scuderi will also look to play a key part in the team's penalty kill.

The lesser known signings of Chris Mason, Tim Jackman, and Scott Nichol adds experience and veteran presence to a young team and helps solidify the depth.

Season Outlook

Although there obvious places of improvement, the Wild feel they have a well-rounded group of players to challenge for a playoff spot.

The team does lack some secondary scoring, so it will rely on its tough 3rd line to pick up significant minutes and play a physical, checking game. It will headlined by two-way centerman Kyle Brodziak and agitators Jordin Tootoo and Patrick Kaleta.

"We understand that the team may not be there offensively quite yet, so by re-signing Kyle Brodziak, we feel that a line consisting of Tootoo-Brodziak-Kaleta will be very hard to play against and hope these agitators can pick up important minutes against top opposing players"

The late season acquisitions of Brian Gionta, Zach Bogosian, Anton Stralman, and Sergei Kostitsyn, hope to play key roles for an entire season with Minnesota.

The current lineup will look something like this:

Left Wing|Center|Right Wing
David Perron|Anze Kopitar|Brian Gionta
Mattias Tedenby|Nik Antropov|Sergei Kostitsyn
Jordin Tootoo|Kyle Brodziak|Patrick Kaleta
Matt Kassian|Scott Nichol|Tim Jackman

Left Defense|Right Defense
Cam Fowler|Zach Bogosian
Rob Scuderi|Anton Stralman
Andy Sutton|Nate Prosser

Goaltender
Semyon Varlamov
Chris Mason

Click to read more...

 

[Ohio Jones]

Great coverage, Dan - our Wild should be taking some bog steps forward in the coming seasons.

Oh, and I'm totally stealing that roster formatting.

 

[Circulartheory]

Great coverage, Dan - our Wild should be taking some bog steps forward in the coming seasons.

Oh, and I'm totally stealing that roster formatting.

Thanks.

More news to come!

 

[Circulartheory]

John Moore

The Minnesota Wild announced several signings that would help repair the problematic lack of depth within the organization.

Kyle Wilson is a 27-year old centerman that had his short stints in the NHL but has yet to find a regular spot on a team. He is a well-rounded forward that possesses only average size and skills, but he will serve as one of the first call-ups in case of injuries for the Wild.

The signing of defenseman John Moore is just another sign of a emerging talented blueline for the Wild. Moore had an erratic season with the Blue Jackets in the NHL, seeing time as a its #1 defenseman to its #7 defenseman. However, the Wild like the combination of size, skating and puckmoving potential, and think Moore will serve well as the teams #7 defenseman.

The Wild also added two of its talented goaltenders to its payrool: Matt Hackett and Anders Nilsson. Both are gifted goalies but with the pro roster already including Semyon Varlamov and Chris Mason, both of the youngsters will have to battle it out in Houston.

After the signings of the Wild prospects, GM Chan continued adding more depth by signing three free agents.

Unsure whether Matt Kassian could demand a regular role on the fourth line, the Wild added veteran enforcer Krystofer Barch who provides the team some physical presence on its checking line that includes Scott Nichol and Tim Jackman.

The Wild also added Ryan Russell, a 25-year old energetic forward that saw depth minutes with the Blue Jackets in the NHL last season. The Wild hope he can continue his play and develop into a serviceable depth player.

Lastly, GM Chan signed Matt Watkins, a versatile depth forward that the Wild hope can serve as a injury call up.

 

[Circulartheory]

Although the Wild just signed John Moore, there have been rumors that Minnesota is looking to acquire a young NHL-ready forward to help fill their lack of secondary scoring.

Rumor also has it that the Wild are also to willing to package prospect Jamie Oleksiak to get a trade done.