Rate the Wild

[Legionnaire11]

Looking for some help on my annual rating project. Shouldn't take more than 15 mins if you watched most of the Wild games last season. So the three areas that I'm seeking input are:

• Player Role: This is really what type of player they are, and specifically where they would slot into the average NHL team, not necessarily Minnesota. So they could be Elite/All-Star, 1st liner, 2nd liner, 3rd liner, 4th liner/Scratch, Minor leaguer, High-end prospect, Low-end prospect. (don't rate 1-5 here, just list what role they are)
  
• Skating: Straight ahead speed should be the primary consideration. Rate on the provided scale where 1 is the lowest, 5 is the highest and 3 is average.
• Defense: Overall defensive skill but primarily gap control and using their stick and body to neutralize an attacker. Rate on the provided 1-5 scale.

The Scale:
5 - Well above average
4 - Above average
3 - Average
2 - Below Average
1 - Well below average
(In reality some player could be a 0 or 6, for example McDavid would rate as a 6 in skating, this would be an extremely rare case and most teams won't have a 0 or 6 in any area)

I need only 2-3 submissions, and the help is extremely appreciated!

For reference, here are the players that I'm looking for:
Mikko Koivu
Joel Eriksson Ek
Alex Galchenyuk
Nico Sturm
Eric Staal
Luke Kunin
Victor Rask
Ryan Donato
Gabriel Dumont
Luke Johnson
Gerald Mayhew
Jordan Greenway
Marcus Foligno
Zach Parise
Kevin Fiala
Ryan Hartman
Mats Zuccarello
Greg Pateryn
Carson Soucy
Ryan Suter
Jonas Brodin
Matt Dumba
Brennan Menell
Brad Hunt
Jared Spurgeon

Click to read more...

 

[Dickie Dunn]

I'll take a stab at it in order to distract myself from the contract proposal I should be writing instead.

Mikko Koivu - On the way out, 4th line center at this point. More than likely, retiring.
Joel Eriksson Ek - Does he have the offense to be a 2C? Low end 2C, high end defensive 3C. But I still am hopeful there is more offense here.
Alex Galchenyuk - Over sea's. Not an NHL player.
Nico Sturm - Rotational tweener between AHL/NHL. Good size but hasn't shown much skill. Limited opportunities. 3rd,4th line.
Eric Staal - 1C (on this team) but fading fast. Better suited to be a 2C and PP specialist.
Luke Kunin - Good shot, decent skater post ACL, not bad on the PK. 3rd line.
Victor Rask - Terrible. 4th C but too expensive to play there. Buyout candidate and then over sea's.
Ryan Donato - Some offense, some grit. Poor skater, worse speed. Not enough D for 3rd line. AHL/NHL tweener.
Gabriel Dumont - not familiar with him
Luke Johnson - not familiar with him
Gerald Mayhew - Offensive skill, bottom six tweener.
Jordan Greenway - Big, semi-skilled, plays physical but doesn't win a lot of puck battles, weak skater? Top 6 potential....maybe.
Marcus Foligno - Ideal 3rd liner, core leader.
Zach Parise - Take everything he used to do really well and decrease it all by 30%. Borderline top 6 on a good team.
Kevin Fiala - F'n star, perennial all star game player. Most likely to take the next big step to 80+ point super star.....needs help.
Ryan Hartman - Solid, 3rd/4th line.
Mats Zuccarello - Inherited the name of the player who used to be Mats Zuccarello but the NHL game did not transfer with the assumed identity. Buy out candidate. Needs huge bounce back to even be considered for top 6 again.
Greg Pateryn - Solid, bottom pair. Adds some tough to an otherwise soft team.
Carson Soucy - Stepped back a tad but had the look of a top 4, borderline all star last year. Real player is likely in the middle of that.
Ryan Suter - Aging and slowing but still a stud top pair.
Jonas Brodin - Stud top pair with hardly any offense.
Matt Dumba - Took a huge step back after injury but in theory, still a stud top 4 with huge offensive upside.
Brennan Menell - left for the KHL. Solid prospect with a top 6 future.
Brad Hunt - PP specialist. Doesn't do much else.
Jared Spurgeon - Stud, top pair allstar candidate.

 

[57special]

@Dickie Dunn is the contract proposal for Brodin?

Koivu- bottom six C. Skating 1. Defense 4. Likely retiring.

JEE- 3rd line C. Skating 4. Defense 4.

Galchenyuk- Bottom six C. Skating 3. Defense 1.

Sturm- 4C. Skating 4. Defense 3.5?

Staal- top 6 C. Skating 2. Defense 2.

Kunin- 3rd line RW. Skating 3. Defense 3.

Rask- 4th line C/benchwarmer. Skating 2. Defense 2.

Donato- bottom six LW. Skating 3. Defense 2.

Dumont- who?

Johnson- anonymous guy from the minors.

Mayhew- AHL star scorer RW. Skating 4. Defense 2.

Greenway- 3rd line LW. Skating 3. Defense 4.

Foligno- bottom six wing. Skating 3. Defense 4.

Parise- 2nd line LW. Skating 2. Defense 3.

Fiala- 1st line LW. Skating 4.5. Defense 3.5. Sorry, but i had to go with half points, here.

Hartman- 4th line W. Skating 3. Defense 4.

Zuccarello- middle six w(TBD). Skating 2. Defense 3.

Pateryn-Bottom pairing D. Skating 2. Defense 3. Injury prone.

Soucy- #4/5 D. Skating 3.5 .Defense 4. Again, gotta go with the half point.

Suter- #1D. Skating 2. Defense 4.

Brodin- #2/3 D. Skating 5. Defense 5.

Dumba- #4/PP D. Skating 4. Defense 2.5.

Menell- AHL top pair D. Skating 3.5. Defense 2? Limited viewings if him at the NHL level make it impossible to say what his actual NHL skill level is. He tore up the AHL in scoring.

Hunt- #6/PP D. Skating 3.5 . Defense 2.

Spurgeon- #2D. Skating 4. Defense 4.5.

 

[Dickie Dunn]

I like these (^) ratings above. Apply them to mine as well as I forgot to include those in mine.

 

[57special]

I did my ratings before reading yours. It's funny how much we agreed on. The Parise comment broke me up.

 

[Jesus comma Brodin]

Brodin gets 10/5 across the board.

 

[57special]

Yeah, he's sort of like a perfect 5 pin bowling sheet.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Pateryn and Suter have the same skating? Wha????

 

[2Pair]

Pateryn and Suter have the same skating? Wha????

His skating ratings are pretty much trash

 

[BagHead]

I'll try my hand. Should be pretty bad.

Koivu- bottom six C. Skating 1.5 (Boogaard was a 1, Koivu is close, but not quite). Defense 4. The guy is my age. That's pretty old for hockey.

JEE- 3rd line C. Skating 3.5. Defense 4.

Galchenyuk- 3rd line winger or 3rd-4th line center. The skill is there, but something is missing that would make all the parts click together. Skating 3. Defense 1.

Sturm- 4C. Skating 3.5. Defense 3 (It's pretty early to tell on either of these ratings. Not enough viewings.)

Staal- #2C. Skating 2.5. Defense 2. Still has some good offense in bursts, but when he arrived in MN he was closer to a 3.5 and a 3. And I might be slightly underrating his skating back then.

Kunin- 3rd line RW. Skating 3. Defense 3. Completely agree with 57Special, here.

Rask- 4th line C or extra skater. Skating 2. Defense 2.

Donato- middle six winger. Skating 3. Defense 2.

Mayhew- AHL Superstar, NHL callup. Skating 3. Defense 2. Amazing at scoring in the AHL, but it doesn't translate to the NHL. I think he's a step (or a motion) too slow to play his AHL game at the NHL level.

Greenway- 3rd line LW. Skating 2.5. Defense 3. Very middling. He's at home on a 2nd or 3rd line, at this point in his career.

Foligno- 4th line banger who can play up to 3rd line for an extended stretch. Skating 2.5. Defense 4.

Parise- 2nd line LW, 3rd line on a team stacked at the position. Skating 3. Defense 3.5. I think he's being a little underrated here, but not WAY underrated. I liked What Dickie said about him being the same player, but 30% worse overall at each thing. That's accurate.

Fiala- 1st line LW. Skating 4.5. Defense 3.5. He's still not great in his own zone if the opposition is cycling around, but he has become quite good at picking pockets. Reminds me of Datsyuk in that particular skill, on occasion.

Hartman- 4th line W. Skating 3. Defense 4.

Zuccarello- 2nd line winger. Skating 3. Defense 2.5.

Pateryn-Bottom pairing D. Skating 2. Defense 3.5.

Soucy- #4/5 D. Skating 3.5 .Defense 4. Made it to the NHL on his skating (for a bigger guy) and defense. Stuck because of those as well. Then he also flashed some offense, so he never got taken out again.

Suter- #1D. Skating 4. Defense 4.25. Even with the foot injury he can still skate like the wind. He just doesn't look like he's skating like the wind. I've seen plenty of times this season where he was skating, looking like he was barely trying and going slow as heck, and then I'd notice some guy near him skating his a** off and going the exact same speed. That's why he was able to play 25 minutes a night for so many years. He probably still could if he had to!

Brodin- #2/3 D. Skating 4.75 (I'm reserving a 5 for someone like Bure). Defense 4.5. Yeah, his skating is pretty flawless. I do wish it were a touch faster at the top end, but he accelerates on a dime and is both strong and smooth on his skates. Great defensive player, too. Not much for offense, even though he definitely has those tools.

Dumba- #4D. Skating 4. Defense 3. His top end speed is better than Brodin's, but he's a bit less sure on his feet, which isn't really a knock, Brodin's just that good. I felt he was defensively at least average this year, maybe even slightly above average. Which was good because his offense didn't really show up. This fanbase has gotten spoiled by the rest of our top 4 that we've had for years. Don't forget, guys, how bad defenders can be. Remember that Skoula was once a top 4 defenseman here!

Hunt- Should be the 7th D and PP specialist. Skating 3.5 . Defense 2. His shot is what he's all about. The rest is passable to poor, and he should be sheltered.

Spurgeon- #2D on a darned good D pairing, #1D on a merely good one. Skating 4.5. Defense 4.75. What Brodin is to skating, Spurgeon is to defense. I've never seen such a small man carry such a large weight. The kid has figured out leverage and how to utilize it like nobody else I've ever seen in this league. Sure, I've seen forwards do it because they can use their speed, but a defenseman, who has to at times be stationary and tying up opposing forwards? It's seriously incredible to watch him do what he does every game.

 

[OmazingGrace]

lol what are you writing an essay or something?