For the month of June, Last Word On Sports will be covering each team in our 30 in 30 series. Once a day, we take a look at an NHL team’s past season, what their off-season looks like, and what they could hope to achieve before the start of their 2015-16 season. Everybody wants to get better and improve upon last season’s success or downfall and NHL’s 30 in 30 gives you that analysis and preview you need to get you by during another long and grueling summer season. 30 days in June, 30 teams to cover. Starting on June 1st we start from the bottom and make our way to the very top.
Today’s team: The Minnesota Wild. Check out our previous 30 in 30 articles here.
NHL’s 30 in 30: Minnesota Wild
Finishing 11th overall, the Minnesota Wild posted a record of 46-28-8 to end up with 100 points, placing them in the third place finish in the Atlantic division and just one point ahead of the wild card Ottawa Senators. Their home record (22-13-6) accumulated for 50 points. Their away record (24-15-2) was more than enough to earn them the points needed to make the dance. A head coach with the passion and ability to light a fire under his team, and a smart decision to bring in help between the pipes proved to be the difference of how the team looked before the trade deadline and what the monster they became after it.
The 2014-15 Regular Season
When a video surfaced of Head Coach Mike Yeo slamming his stick on the ice during a practice and yelling at his team to wake up, it was the epitome of the state the Minnesota Wild had found themselves in. Losing eight of their last ten games during that stretch, Yeo held a bag skate the morning after a 4-3 loss in overtime to the San Jose Sharks. In a moment of passion, Yeo blew up in a way he had hoped his team would before skating off the ice. One week later, General Manager Chuck Fletcher would pull the trigger on a trade that was ridiculed and criticized at first, but would turn the Wild’s season completely around.
The Wild’s best forward in Zach Parise remained the best, posting a 62-point season in 74 games. He led the team in goals and points, as well as all forwards in the +/- department, but his ice-time was reduced to 19:11. His durability has been questioned as well so the Wild will hope the 31-year-old star forward can keep it together. The team also hoped for a better performance out of Thomas Vanek, who’s ice time was his lowest since his rookie campaign. For a winger that loves to fire the puck, his average shots per game were at a career-low and by the end of the season, Vanek required surgery to repair a sports hernia. Mikko Koivu is still a decent two-way player but at the age of 32 and a declining production rate, it’s concerning to Wild fans that one of their best forwards may be regressing to a point of no return.
23-year-old Charlie Coyle has been met with expectations of progressing into a solid NHL player but he hit some major slumps last season, and inevitably fell down the depth chart. There is still a great chance he starts to meet that potential, but that should have happened by now. Jason Pominville hit the 50-point mark again, a trend in his career, but his scoring took a drop despite putting up a great amount of shots. Jason Zucker put up a 21-goal campaign, but finished with just five assists. In 98 career games so far, Zucker has 38 points and of that, 29 of them are goals. Mikael Granlund, Jordan Schroeder and Erik Haula all collectively took a step back in their effectiveness production-wise, but all served an important role nonetheless.
On the blue-line, there is no harder working guy than Ryan Suter. For a second consecutive season, he played more than 29 minutes and has only missed five games in three seasons with Minnesota. His ability to remain effective and durable through all the logged minutes has made him one of the most dependable defenseman in the league. Meanwhile, youngsters Matt Dumba and Jonas Brodin became essential to the Wild’s top-4. Jared Spurgeon suffered through injuries and could become movable if the decision is made to propel Dumba as a permanent top-4 fixture, while Marco Scandella played over 25 minutes and was one of the best puck possession players on the team.
Darcy Kuemper had somewhat of a coming-out season in 2013-14, when he went from a sub-.900 save percentage goaltender to a reasonable starter. Unfortunately, he fell out of favor with his coach after some questionable goals went in and his inability to remain consistent became more and more obvious. When Niklas Backstrom was unable to remain healthy for the majority of the last two seasons, Fletcher made the decision to bring in Devan Dubnyk. An absolute disaster of a 2013-14 season, one would have hoped to see him turn it around, but nobody though Dubnyk would be the biggest answer to the Wild’s problems. A .936 save percentage in 39 games with the Wild and a Vezina nominee, Dubnyk not only turned things around for the Wild, but for himself as well.
To add to the Wild’s chances of making a run at the playoff picture, Fletcher added some pieces to his team to ensure success. He sent a 2016 3rd-round pick to Florida for Sean Bergenheim and a 2016 7th-round pick. The 31-year-old had requested a trade from the Panthers and was granted it. Looking to get some experience on the back-end, Justin Falk was shipped to the Columbus Blue Jackets, along with a 2015 5th-round pick, for defenseman Jordan Leopold. The Wild also landed Buffalo Sabres forward Chris Stewart and all it cost the Wild was a 2017 2nd-round pick. On that same day, they made a minor-league deal, swapping Zack Phillips for Jared Knight.
The Off-Season and Free Agents
Heading into the off-season, the Minnesota Wild have a total of eleven free agents to decide on. Of the eleven free agents, just three of them are restricted to the team, including forwards Mikael Granlund and Erik Haula, and defenseman Christian Folin. Forwards Chris Stewart, Kyle Brodziak, Sean Bergenheim and Ryan Carter, defensemen Jordan Leopold, Keith Ballard and Nate Prosser, and goaltender Devan Dubnyk are the upcoming unrestricted free agent. In terms of non-roster players, General Manager Chuck Fletcher will have to decide on six restricted free agents and six unrestricted free agents.
The Wild have $63 million committed to ten forwards, five defensemen and two goaltenders. With just under $10 million to spend, and possibly Devan Dubnyk to retain after he saved their 2014-15, the Wild won’t be left with much money left to fill in the remainder of the holes in their line-up. The inexpensive route would be to hand out to Haula, and get Granlund signed as well. Fletcher will also save some cash with the potential buy-out of Matt Cooke, who has a final year of $2.5 million on his contract. A buy-out would mean Cooke would receive two thirds of his contract split over the next two years.
A great way for the Wild to bring stability to their blue-line would be to retain the services of Leopold. That may not come as a cheap option, but they could clear up some room for him by trading Spurgeon, who is on the final year of his contract. Minnesota is also in the running for Mike Reilly, so if he is signed the Wild could use some experience on the back-end to help with the youth movement. Plus, RFA Folin got some exposure at the NHL level last season and didn’t look out of place, so he could push for a full-time spot as well and would be another cheap player on the cap.
The million dollar question (literally) is what Dubnyk will cost. Some close to the source say he is asking for $5 million on a multi-year deal. While his performance from last season can justify a larger contract, the major concern out of Minnesota is whether or not he can repeat it over the course of a full season. Before last season’s miracle run, Dubnyk was an average-to-mediocre starter. He turned things around in Arizona before embarking on a Vezina-caliber stretch with the Wild, but how long will that last?
The Draft Table
Fletcher and his scouting staff should be pretty busy at the upcoming draft, as the Minnesota Wild hold six picks in seven rounds. Despite having no 3rd-round and 5th-round selections, Minnesota has two picks in the top-50. In all, the Wild select 20th, 50th, 111th, 171st, 201st and 204th. Their 3rd-round pick belongs to Arizona as part of the Devan Dubnyk trade, and their 5th-round pick belongs to Columbus as part of the Jordan Leopold deal.
With plenty of depth at center and on defense, and a good portion of their prospect pool with two-way ability, the Wild should be looking at adding some depth on the wing. Prospects like Nick Merkley, who has great playmaking skills and projects to be a top-six winger, or Denis Guryanov, a big Russian winger with top-10 potential. There’s also the potential to strengthen a strong suit of the team too, with center Colin White. He’s a two-way player with tons of speed and leadership, and would continue to add to Minnesota’s pool of defensive-minded centers. If it’s defense they’re looking for, Jeremy Roy or Thomas Chabot could be viable options.
One player that could fall to the 50th pick, and would be extremely convenient for the Wild should they take Colin White in the first round, is teammate and winger Christian Fischer. While it may be true that 20% of 2nd-rounders play an important role in the NHL, Fischer has huge potential to be contributing third-line winger an a full-time fixture with the team. Defensive prospect Rasmus Andersson could be a potential steal at this spot. The Swedish defender is solid at both ends of the ice and in a few years, would look like a million bucks behind the current staff.
If the Wild can sign Dubnyk long-term and he lives up to the potential of last season’s sensational play, the Wild will find themselves in prime position to be a playoff team once again. If so, what will happen between the current goaltending tandem of Backstrom and Kuemper? It’ll also be interesting to see what Fletcher does with a few pending free agents and whether players like Koivu or Spurgeon are moved. Decisions to be made between now and the draft.
