Around the NHL: Vacant Captaincies

Today’s going to have a little less coverage than a normal Tuesday would because, well, NHL ’12 comes out in stores today, so you all will have to suffer through a day or two of my nerdiness, but fear not. That nerdiness will result in a review of the game coming up this week, so you’ve got that to look forward too.

As a result, though, there will be no player profile today and there will be a truncated Around the NHL, so let’s get to it!

Captain Questions
There are six separate franchises that are searching for captains this off season, so I thought that we could take a look at each of those franchises and whose chest I think that they should put the C on.

First, let’s take a look at the New Jersey Devils.

Gone is Jamie Langenbrunner, their previous captain, and Ilya Kovalchuk, Zach Parise and Patrik Elias all are listed as the alternate captains on the team’s website. So, which one of these would make the best captain for the team? Or is there an unlisted player who would fit the bill?

Well, first of all, let’s look at the three alternates.

You have Elias, the veteran, Parise, the franchise, and Kovlachuk, the player who’s going to be in a Devils sweater for the next 16 years.

To me, the decision is simple. Elias has come out and said that he doesn’t want the role and, to be honest, I don’t feel that he’s best suited to be a captain. An alternate, yes, but not the guy with the C on his chest. Elias is on the downside of his career. This season, he’ll turn 36 and, though he’s still good, he’s no longer that point-per-game player that he once was. Kovalchuk might be the choice at some point down the road, but he’s not the answer for this season. The answer for this season is simple: Zach Parise.

Yes, there’s the chance he might not be there after this season, but you’ve got to take that chance if you’re the Devils. No one else on the roster is either ready or seemingly primed to step into that role and the other two alternates just simply aren’t as good of a choice.

He’s your franchise. He’s your best player and he’s also the player that you need to woo to keep in your organization, and he also happens to be one of the best guys for the job. He’s not a free agent signing, like Kovalchuk. He’s a Devil, through and through, and the organization needs to show that confidence in him to give themselves every opportunity to re-sign him before he hits free agency next season.

After the Devils, we’ve got the Philadelphia Flyers.

The Flyers currently have no alternates listed on their website and, to be quite honest, probably have the easiest decision to make. If he’s healthy, the captain should be Chris Pronger.

He’s a veteran, he’s got experience wearing the C and he’s one of the most respected and feared players in the NHL.

If we’re going to nitpick things, yes, Daniel Briere could be a viable option, as could Scott Hartnell, but really, the job is Pronger’s to lose or to turn down.

Next, let’s look at the Buffalo Sabres.

This is probably one of the more intriguing situations out there. With Craig Rivet’s rough season last year, the Sabres played most of the season without a player wearing the C. That meant Jason Pominville, Paul Gaustad, Derek Roy, Thomas Vanek and Jochen Hecht

all wore the A for Buffalo last season and were the captain by committee.

So, who gets the C?

Is it one of the aforementioned five?

The answer is yes. It’s the player that has shown the endurance and the resilience to keep playing, even after some crushing hits or devastating injuries. It’s Jason Pominville.

To be fair, all of those five players are pretty suitable candidates for the job and each of them would bring something different to the job but, in my opinion, you’ve got to go with Pominville. He’s been a key player for Buffalo his entire career and he’s a proven performer. He can play in every situation and he is as much of the fabric of the Buffalo Sabres franchise as Ryan Miller (who, let’s be honest, is the de facto leader in the locker room).

So, what about the Colorado Avalanche?

Replacing Adam Foote will be no small task for this young roster, but they’ve got someone tailor made for the position.

Last season, the alternates were Milan Hejduk and Paul Stastny, but I don’t think that either will be the one to get the C this season.

That honor is going to go to Matt Duchene.

He’s the face and future of the franchise and he’s proven over the last couple seasons that he’s up to the task, not quailing under the pressure of the NHL in his first two seasons. He’s well respected in the room and he’s loved by the fans and, let’s face it, the trend in the NHL is to give the C to your young superstar. Throw in the fact that, if the Avs struggle, Hejduk and Stastny will be among the first names to get bandied around in the rumor mill and it makes sense.

The Avs franchise has been in flux for a couple seasons now and naming Duchene would lend a sense of stability to the organization.

But what about the Florida Panthers?

Their website only lists one alternate, and that’s Stephen Weiss, but I don’t see Weiss getting the C just yet.

That honor is going to go to the guy who started his career with the Panthers and helped lead them to the Stanley Cup Finals in his first season. Ed Jovanovski.

Jovo Cop is the man for the job. Indeed, why bring him back to a young team unless you plan on him being a major part of your leadership core. Yeah, he’s a newcomer to the squad as it stands now, but he’s well liked by the fans and he’s got a huge history with the organization and, the symbolism behind naming him captain alone would be worth it.

And finally, we have the New York Islanders.

Both Mark Streit and Kyle Okposo are listed as the team’s alternates, and I think that they have a future captain on their squad in John Tavares, but I don’t think that is the route they’re going to go quite yet.

As evidenced by their building process, Garth Snow is exceedingly cautious and exceedingly patient and, it stands to reason that his coach would be as well. I think that Tavares is their captain of the future, without a doubt, but right now the honor will and should fall on Streit.

The Isles are still a very young team. They’re still growing and they need someone who’s been there and done that, and Streit is that guy. He’s been around the block a couple times and he’s going to be the guy to help lead these youngsters this season.

So there you have it. My view on the captaincy situations of these six teams. What do you think? Am I crazy? Am I dead on? Let’s hear it!

Around the NHL: 8/16/11

Sorry for the lack of a mailbag yesterday. The kids and I were out at the Octagon Sports pro camp over at the St. Louis Park Rec Center and there wasn’t really any questions to be answered so, we had a day off. I’ll be heading there a few times a week, so I’ll put up some thoughts once more players get there.

Anyway, on to our look around the NHL. Enjoy!

* * * * *

Rick Rypien Found Dead
We’re starting with a sad story today, as 27-year-old enforcer Rick Rypien was found dead in his Alberta home on Monday.

Rypien’s dead was reported by News 1130 in Vancouver as a “non-suspicious, sudden death,” and, past that, no more details have been released.

Rypien is the second NHL player this off season to be gone to soon and, out of respect for him and his friends and family we aren’t going to speculate about the cause or circumstances of his death.

Our thoughts and prayers are with his friends and family during this trying time and, once more concrete information is available, we’ll have more on this.

* * * * *

Kaptain Kontroversy in New Jersey?
As funny as it sounds, there might be a controversy brewing in Newark surrounding the captaincy of the New Jersey Devils.

Will it be Ilya Kovalchuck, the $100 million-dollar man or will it be Zach Parise, the team’s franchise player whose future with the team is seemingly in limbo? Or will it be someone else like Patrik Elias (despite his insistence that he doesn’t want the job)?

For me, I can’t even imagine why there is any controversy here. The right call, beyond a shadow of a doubt, is Parise and the

rationale goes beyond a simple power play to try to convince him to stick with the team past this coming season.

First of all, Parise is the team’s true franchise player. He was drafted into the organization and has been the cornerstone of the franchise since he first suited up in a Devils’ sweater. In Parise, you have not only a strong player, but a player with a strong pedigree (son of former North Star J.P. Parise) and a player who has won everywhere he’s been. Not only that, but you have a player that has been the face of the Devils’ franchise for all the right reasons (as opposed to being the face of the franchise due to illegal cap circumvention.)

In Kovalchuk, you have a player who sat back, waited and went to the highest bidder. Does Kovalchuk really want to be in Newark? I have no doubt that he does. (He chose it over Hollywood, for crying out loud.) But he’s been the name that people think of when they think of the Devils for all the wrong reasons.

Kovalchuk does have the experience of being a captain on his side, but is that really a good thing? The Thrashers slapped the captaincy on him in the hopes that it would convince him to re-sign in Atlanta.

The experiment failed.

The franchise didn’t win and Kovalchuk left.

Now don’t get me wrong here. I love Kovalchuk. I’m probably one of his biggest supporters and he’s one of my favorite players outside of the Wild, but he’s not a captain. He’s not the guy you want your players looking to for guidance. He’s not the guy you think of and say to yourself, “Now there’s a great leader.”

I’m sorry, but he’s just not.

On the other hand, Parise has been a leader everywhere he has played. From North Dakota to the Devils to Team USA.

He is the man for the job and it’s not just a power play to keep Parise on the team. It’s the right call.

* * * * *

Crosby May Not Be Ready For Camp?
In the interest of full disclosure: I hate Sidney Crosby.

I’m sure he’s a great guy and he’s certainly a great player, but I just can’t stand him.

But, my personal decisions aside, if he’s not ready for training camp, that’s a huge blow to not just the Pittsburgh Penguins, but the NHL. Crosby is a huge draw around the league and he makes the league more intriguing to watch. If he’s not ready to play this season, that’s a huge blow.

Should it be a cause for concern?

Yes.

Should anyone go into full out panic mode?

Absolutely not.

Head injuries are funny things (funny, weird, not funny, ha-ha). They’re unpredictable. One day you can be on top of the world and the next you can be unable to get out of bed.

Crosby is in a precarious position right now. He’s been cleared to work out and he’s doing so. As some Penguins blogs are pointing out, there’s a good chance that he’s feeling light-headed after workouts because, well, everyone does at one point or another.

He’s an elite athlete who is likely pushing himself to get into shape for training camp.

Yeah, he’s going to have instances where he’s not feeling his best.

As has been pointed out, though, the biggest key is going to be whether or not he is cleared for contact once camp comes around. If he is, great. If he isn’t, though, it’s going to be a huge hit for everyone.

Until then, though, it’s a disservice to everyone to speculate.

Crosby is still working out and that gives every indication that he’s doing just fine.

So, Pens fans, don’t panic…Yet.

* * * * *

We’ll be hitting up more of the Octagon camp tomorrow, so we’ll try to get some photos to throw up here and we’re going to have the prospect report done tonight for you, focusing on the Wild’s newest prospect – Charlie Coyle.

Enjoy your day and we’ll be back later tonight!

Mid-Morning Musings: Devils and Gestures and Headshots. Oh My!

***Mid-Morning Musings is a feature that I’ll be doing every couple days (read: every day the Wild don’t have a game) during the week here at Wild Nation. It will have to do with anything and everything hockey related, Wild or otherwise, so sit back and enjoy my opinionated ramblings.***

Could things get any worse for the Devils right now?

I mean, honestly. Any worse?

First they get out to their horrific start, then they have to deal with a knee injury to Zach Parise and now Martin Brodeur is looking like he will have to miss time?

Let’s make one thing abundantly clear here. The Devils are a good team playing bad hockey. They’re much better than their 4-9-1 record indicates. But at the same time, they’re a team that’s doing next to nothing to get themselves out of this slump.

But, as much as this is the player’s and the coach’s fault, some of the blame with this has got to fall on Lou Lamoriello and the rest of the front office and ownership.

This team’s off season put them in this situation.

Lou addressed a big need on this team in bringing in Anton Volchenkov and Henrik Tallinder on defense – they were shrewd signings and very important ones at that. But then he did something very un-Lou-like.

Now I don’t know if it was pressure from the owner or a slight break in his better judgment, but the signing of Ilya Kovalchuk was not only ill-conceived, it was ill-timed as well.

Don’t get me wrong. I love Kovie. I think he’s a much better player than people give him credit for and I’m the first to jump to his defense. He was a point-per-game player for them and gave them another offensive weapon.

But the team was 13-9-5 while he was there. Not a bad record, to be sure, but look at the results. They never put together more than two wins in a row – something they did seven separate times before his arrival (four three-game winning streaks, and one five-game, four-game and six-game streak apiece). They also went on losing streaks (no matter how small) four times – something they did just five times the entire rest of the season.

Did he help their offense? Not a ton – approximately 2.81 goals for with Kovie against about 2.65 without.

The only thing that he did was come into the locker room and mix up a team that had very good chemistry prior to his arrival.

And you re-sign him?

You can say what you want about this team, but the franchise’s Stanley Cup hopes were squarely in the capable hands of Zach Parise and Travis Zajac. The two were gelling and were beginning to come into their own as players in the league.

Give them another season together and they would have been the one-two punch that the Devils needed. But instead, you bring in Kovalchuk and screw up their chemistry.

So what you are left with now is a team that doesn’t know how they’re going to get under the salary cap once players return from injury and, what’s more, a team that doesn’t know how they’re going to keep their top players after signing Kovalchuk, not to mention one whose chemistry has been drastically altered in a bad way by his signing.

Any way you cut it; this was just a poor, poor decision by Lou.

*****

A lot has been made of the suspensions so far this season, and I definitely agree that the disciplinary culture of the NHL needs to be looked at in a big way.

So far, here’s what the suspensions look like (from the 2010-11 NHL fines and suspensions wiki page):

Date	Name	Team	Offense	Length
9/24/10	Nick Boynton	Blackhawks	Throat-slashing gesture	1 game
10/4/10	Mike Cammalleri	Canadiens	Slashing Nino Niederreiter	1 game
10/10/10	Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond	Devils	Instigator penalty in last 5 minutes of game	1 game
10/12/10	James Wisniewski	Islanders	Obscene gesture to Sean Avery	2 games
10/12/10	Niklas Hjalmarsson	Blackhawks	Boarding Jason Pomminville	2 games
10/18/10	Shane Doan	Coyotes	Blindside hit to the head of Dan Sexton	3 games
10/22/10	Rick Rypien	Canucks	Grabbing a Minnesota Wild fan	6 games
10/27/10	Stephane Robidas	Stars	Automatic suspension for two game misconduct boarding penalties within 41 games	1 game
11/1/10	Daniel Briere	Flyers	Cross-check to the head of Frans Nielsen	3 games

So far this season, 20 games worth of suspensions have been handed out – two of which were automatic suspensions (Letourneau-Leblond’s instigator penalty and Robidas’s boarding call).

But other than that, what does this really tell us?

Well, for one, it tells us that the NHL is putting a greater emphasis on its image than on the safety of the players.

Of the 20 games, 9 were for incidents that had absolutely nothing to do with a hockey play.

Yes, we can all agree that Rick Rypien should have been suspended for what he did – no question about it. But James Wisniewski and Nick Boynton?

I guess I can see it to an extent, but to what extent are you bringing more attention to it by bringing down a suspension to the player?

I’ll be honest, I was watching the Isles/Rangers game when Wiz made the gesture and I barely caught it. The broadcast didn’t replay it over and over and over again – it was a one time thing that, odds are, if I hadn’t been paying attention at that exact moment I would have missed.

But the NHL is dead set on making sure that they keep their image up. They don’t want to be seen as the “rogue sport.”

But wouldn’t their efforts towards their image be better served going towards the safety of their players?

Boynton and Wisniewski just made an innocuous gesture. One that, if you weren’t paying attention right then, you would have missed (and if myself, a 28-year old man, barely caught the gesture, what are the odds that a kid is going to be paying attention to the game long enough to catch it?) and one that, at the end of the day, kids are likely seeing and hearing worse than on the playground?

I understand that you want to make sure that players know that this isn’t okay. I get it. But don’t we have anything better to do with our time?

So here’s a thought. Gestures, anything like that – automatic game misconduct, they forfeit that game’s salary and a $10,000 fine. There you have it. It’s over, done with. You don’t have to worry about the rogue fellatio gestures anymore.

But for plays that are dangerous to players, a suspension is needed.  So how about this?

A blindside hit to the head – automatic 3 game suspension. No questions asked, if you get booted from a game for a blindside hit to the head, you sit for three games, repeat offender or not. Heck, we can even make it reviewable by the league to ensure that the right call was made on the ice.

Sure, an automatic suspension isn’t going to quell the problem. It’s not going get rid of these types of dangerous hits immediately, nor will it likely do anything to stem the problem down the road – players who are going to be repeat offenders (yes, Matt Cooke I’m talking about you) are going to do it regardless of the ramifications – but what it will do is make sure that the players know that there’s no questions asked; if they do this, they will be suspended.

*****

That’s all for this time. Hope you enjoyed the first of many mid-morning musings. Feel free to discuss below and I’ll pipe in with my thoughts when I can.

Thank the Hockey Gods It’s Over; My Thoughts on Kovalchuk and the CBA

It’s finally happened! Pigs are flying! Hell has frozen over!

Ilya Kovalchuk’s contract with the New Jersey Devils has FINALLY been approved by the NHL. (Did anyone really think that it wouldn’t be after he started dropping hints that the KHL was becoming an option?)

The final details for the contract is 15-years for $100 million as opposed to 17-years for $102 million. It’s now a cap hit of $6.67 million per year as opposed to $6 million per year and, well, yeah. If you’re thinking that the difference is pretty absurd, you’d probably be right.

When you compare the two deals, it looks like this.

Old Deal

2010-11: $6 million
2011-12: $6 million
2012-13: $11.5 million
2013-14: $11.5 million
2014-15: $11.5 million
2015-16: $11.5 million
2016-17: $11.5 million
2017-18: $10.5 million
2018-19: $8.5 million
2019-20: $6.5 million
2020-21: $3.5 million
2021-22: $750,000
2022-23: $550,000
2023-24: $550,000
2024-25: $550,000
2025-26: $550,000
2026-27: $550,000

New Deal

2010-11: $6 million
2011-12: $6 million
2012-13: $11 million
2013-14: $11.3 million
2014-15: $11.3 million
2015-16: $11.6 million
2016-17: $11.8 million
2017-18: $10 million
2018-19: $7 million
2019-20: $4 million
2020-21: $1 million
2021-22: $1 million
2022-23: $1 million
2023-24: $3 million
2024-25: $4 million

So, when you compare the two, there really isn’t that much difference other than a higher high salary ($11.8M in the 2016-17 season as opposed to $11.5M in the 2012-2017 season), a higher low salary ($1M as opposed to $550k) and two years at the tail end of the contract that really make you go, “Huh?”

So the league accepted this, grandfathering it in before the new CBA amendment (don’t worry, that discussion is coming) and the Devils now find themselves in a Chicago-style pickle – they need to shed salary before the season starts.

Without Kovalchuk’s contract, Cap Geek had the Devils sitting exactly $3,698,334 under the salary cap of $59.4 million. With the Kovie Kontrakt, the Devils cap number goes up to $63,108,333 or $3,708,333 over the salary cap.

Now, it’s important to realize that the Devils’ cap number prior to the Kovalchuk signing was also with just 20 roster players. 11 forwards, 7 defensemen and 2 goalies. A typical “full” roster is 23. So, basically they need to shed enough salary to both fit Kovalchuk under the cap and field a full roster.

Soooooooo…Who do you drop?

Jamie Langenbrunner, likely won’t be a casualty. In addition to being the team’s captain and a heart and soul type player, he only has one year left on his contract with a no-trade clause.

The player that most Devils fans would LOVE to see on the chopping block, Brian Rolston, likely won’t be either. Rolston’s stats have declined in a large way since he left Minnesota and, while his talent may not have, he’s certainly not the same player that scored 30-plus goals in 3 seasons with the Wild. On top of that, he has two seasons left on a $5.06M contract AND is over-37. Oh yeah. He’s got that pesky no-trade clause as well.

The candidates most likely to be traded are Dainius Zubrus, who is coming off of a solid playoff performance and a solid performance in a season filled with injuries (27 points in 51 games). He’s got some value, but the question would be would the team be willing to trade him? If I’m making the decision, I’m not so sure unless there’s no other way.

You’ve also got defensemen Colin White and Bryce Salvador. While White has a no-trade clause, both players make either $3 million or just under and there is no shortage of teams looking for defense. With young players like Matt Corrente and Tyler Eckford waiting in the wings, it may make sense for the Devils to make a move that involves one or both of these two d-men.

Finally, you’ve got the player that I’m sure no one in Newark really wants to admit could be on the block – Patrik Elias. Of every single player on their roster, Elias probably has the most value other than Travis Zajac and Zach Parise (and rest assured, they’re not going anywhere). At 34, he’s still got some tread left on the tires and he’s still a productive player. Again, there’s a no-trade clause much like the rest of their likely tradable players, but Elias is the player that would likely bring the most interest.

Either way, Lamoriello has a lot of thinking ahead of him to figure out how he’s going to shape his roster and he’s going to have to make some hard decisions in order to do so. Do you ask a player to wave his NTC? Do you part with your captain? Do you trade a recently signed player?

There are a lot of questions and the team is going to need answers very soon.

*****

Now, onto the CBA.

I’ll admit, this is probably one of the things I understand the least about the NHL. Here is the text from the press release:

NEW YORK/TORONTO (September 4, 2010) – The National Hockey League Players’ Association and National Hockey League today announced an agreement that will implement new rules governing the parameters of long-term contracts and how they are valued within the NHL Salary Cap System.

As part of the agreement, the NHL will register the contract between the New Jersey Devils and Ilya Kovalchuk that was filed with the League on August 27, 2010. The NHL also will terminate its circumvention investigations into the contracts signed in 2009 by Marian Hossa of the Chicago Blackhawks, Roberto Luongo of the Vancouver Canucks, Marc Savard of the Boston Bruins and Chris Pronger of the Philadelphia Flyers.

Under the terms of the agreement, the new rules will apply only to long-term contracts, defined as those with terms of five years or longer, and only to contracts executed after September 4, 2010. The new rules apply to contracts signed between now and the end of the CBA, as well as all contracts signed that begin in the 2012-13 season. The parties have agreed that the new rules do not automatically carry over into a new CBA.

For the purpose of Salary Cap calculations, any long-term contract that extends past a player’s 41^st birthday will be valued and accounted for in two ways: The compensation for all seasons that do not include or succeed the player’s 41^st birthday will be totaled and divided by the number of those seasons to determine the annual average value (AAV) charged against the team’s Cap for those seasons. In all subsequent seasons, the team’s Cap charge will be the actual compensation paid to the player in that season (or seasons, as appropriate).

Additionally, in any long-term contract that averages more than $5.75 million for the three highest-compensation seasons, the following rule shall apply: Solely to determine its value for purposes of the Salary Cap, a player’s compensation for any season in which he is age 36, 37, 38, 39 and/or 40 shall be valued at a minimum of $1 million.

“We’re pleased to be able to establish clearly-defined rules for these types of contracts going forward and just as happy we can turn the page on uncertainties relating to several other existing contracts,” NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said. “From start to finish of this multi-week process we were able to work closely and cooperatively with representatives of the Players’ Association, who shared our belief that the creation of definitive rules and guidelines in this area would be beneficial to everyone – Clubs and players alike.”

“We are pleased to finalize an agreement which ends the League’s circumvention investigations and also establishes rules on long-term contracts that will provide players, their certified agents and general managers clarity for the negotiation of new contracts,” said Roland Lee, Director of Salary Cap/Marketplace & Associate Counsel for the NHLPA. “Turning the page on this process is something that will benefit all parties involved.”

So, basically it boils down to the fact that the cap hit will be divided into two parts. The Pre-41 and post-41 hits. In addition, the minimum salary for a player over 35 in these long-term contracts is $1 million, but only in the purposes of calculating the cap hit.

So, what this would do to these new “lifetime” contracts is small, but still interesting. Roberto Luongo’s cap hit would be raised from $5.33M to about $6.2M while Marian Hossa’s would be raised from $5.275M to $6.13M.

In the end, this is not necessarily going to stop these contracts altogether (which I believe would be in the best interest of the league), but this will help stop the circumvention to an extent.

General Managers are going to find ways to work the cap in their favor. As long as the cap hit is an average and not what the player is getting paid that particular season, GMs are still going to find ways to bring their cap hit down. But this could be at least a step in the right direction.

As Greg Wyshynski posted on Puck Daddy, it’s a little hard for me to accept that the NHL put up a fight over these type of contracts only to “grandfather” these contracts in, but I guess you take what you can get and it does, effectively, take these types of contracts away going forward.

Wild Nation’s Ridiculously Early Season Previews: The Southeast Division

Last time, we took a look at the Northeast Division but, today, in our final division preview of the Eastern Conference, our view moves south to the division that is considered by many to be the weakest in the East.

Those perceptions, however, look as if they may be changing. Let’s take a look, shall we?

Atlanta Thrashers – Atlanta found themselves second in the Southeast last season, despite their tumultuous season that saw them deal superstar winger Ilya Kovalchuk to the New Jersey Devils for a king’s ransom.

Their biggest off season change, in my opinion, was the insertion of Rick Dudley into the general manager position, moving former GM Don Waddell to a more administrative position.

The move has already started to pay dividends, as Dudley has brought in the likes of Dustin Byfuglien, Andrew Ladd, Ben Eager and Brent Sopel from Chicago as well as Chris Mason to share the net with Ondrej Pavelec.

Let’s be clear. The additions of Byfuglien and the like make the Thrashers a better team, but don’t necessarily make them a contender.

The Thrashers are still missing that gamebreaker that they had in Kovalchuk, though Little, Bergfors or Kane could easily turn into that. The mantra for this team for this off season has seemed to be “get harder to play against,” and for the first time in a long time it looks like there is a distinct plan in place to mold this team into a contender.

The bottom line is that the Thrashers are getting better and they’re heading in the right direction – they just might have a little farther to go.

Carolina Hurricanes – The question that everyone is going to be wondering about this Hurricanes team is whether they were the team that started the season so miserably or that ended their season so strong.

Injuries hampered the ‘Canes last season and Staal, Ward and Ruutu should be healthy and ready to go this season and their defense will be anchored by four familiar faces. If Cam Ward is healthy, this is a team that could really do some damage in the Southeast.

The ‘Canes have been relatively quiet in free agency, compared to their Atlanta counterparts, but have brought back Anton Babchuk who played last season in the KHL.

What Carolina is counting on is the growth of their younger players. The losses of veteran leaders Ray Whitney and Rob Brind’amour are both big for the team but their top-six could be considered relatively in tact as Chad LaRose or Brandon Sutter will step in to the spot vacated by Whitney.

Let us not forget that this is still relatively the same team that marched to the Conference finals two seasons ago. The ‘Canes have a good team and, if everything lines up right they could be heading back to the playoffs.

Right now, however, there are too many question marks to say that this is a playoff team, but all the parts are there for a successful season.

Florida Panthers – It would be easy to write off the Panthers as being in a re-building phase of their franchise’s history, but the fact of the matter is that they’ve been re-building now since the trade of Roberto Luongo and they have been surprisingly competitive the last few seasons.

Their immediate strength is in net with goaltender Tomas Vokoun coming off the two best seasons of his career.

In front of him, they have a group of solid, but not flashy defensemen anchored by Bryan McCabe and Dennis Wideman. Youngsters Keaton Ellerby and Dmitry Kulikov give some hope for the future on the blueline and will get some valuable ice time this season.

Where this team will struggle is up front. David Booth and Stephen Weiss lead a corps of forwards that are unimpressive, to say the least. The team lost its second leading scorer last season and did little to nothing to replace him. The additions of Steve Bernier and Michael Grabner will help, but not enough to help a team that was 28^th in goals for last season.

If the Panthers are going to be successful, it’s going to be on the strength of their defense and their goaltending and, in an offensively powered Southeast Division; that could pose a problem.

Tampa Bay Lightning – Like the Thrashers, the Lightning’s best move could have been the hiring of Steve Yzerman as their General Manager.

Yzerman has already made some big moves for the team, trading for Simon Gagne, as well as signing Pavel Kubina, Dominic Moore and Dan Ellis.

The trade for Gagne is a huge addition to the squad as he gives the team a legitimate fourth scoring threat if he is healthy, and also allows them the ability to break up the big-three without losing anything. Once Steve Downie is re-signed (he is a Restricted Free Agent), the Bolts will have themselves one of the most potent top-six forwards in the league.

On top of that, the additions of Dominic Moore and Sean Bergenheim give this team two players that may not be top-six forwards, but that are capable of logging powerplay time and pitching in offensively as well.

But offense may not be this team’s downfall. With 260 goals against last season, they desperately needed an upgrade on defense and in net and Dan Ellis and Pavel Kubina represent that.

While Kurtis Foster had a remarkable season last year, it was obvious that he wasn’t exactly what the team needed. Kubina, however, gives them another top-pairing defenseman that is both comfortable in the city and is able to log even strength, powerplay and penalty kill time. The team has yet to re-sign Paul Ranger, but once that is accomplished, this could be a very solid defense.

But, by far the biggest upgrade is in net. The team will have Dan Ellis and Mike Smith sharing the net – something that they hope will benefit both goaltenders, who have struggled at times in starting roles.

With an improved defense, however, they hope that Ellis and Smith will be protected enough to find themselves as contenders again and, with this offense, they could most certainly be that.

Washington Capitals – Let’s be honest here – this is the easiest pick to call.

The Caps will be good. They’ll be first in the division and back in the playoffs.

How’s that for a bold prediction?

In all seriousness, though, the Capitals will be a very good team again this season. They will score goals and they will win games. But will they be Cup contenders?

As with many other teams, the answer to that question lies in goal.

Semyon Varlamov and Michael Neuvirth are taking over the duties in goal and it’s going to be interesting to see if these two young netminders can handle the pressure of what will be expected of them. Both have shown flashes, but it is still uncertain as to whether or not they can go the distance for the team.

Meanwhile, the team is still built to win. They haven’t lost any important cogs on either offense or defense and, in fact, should see both Karl Alzner and John Carlson improve on defense to make for a very potent blue line unit. In fact, the Caps even have some cap room to make improvements throughout the season or even before the season starts.

And that is a scary thought for the other four Southeast teams wanting to take over their crown.

Predictions

So, how will this conference break down? Let’s take a look:

1) Washington Capitals
2) Tampa Bay Lightning
3) Carolina Hurricanes
4) Atlanta Thrashers
5) Florida Panthers

As for the playoffs, I see the Capitals and Lightning making the playoffs and the Hurricanes and/or Thrashers again being a bubble team. The Panthers, as is likely expected, will be on the outside looking in as they build towards a Stanley Cup contending team.

Up Next: The Central Division

Wild and NHL Musings

Well, a lot has happened since last we met, so I figured I’d better just tackle the slew of it in one fell swoop. I’ll be looking at some NHL news too, but mostly Wild news.

Before we get into my Wild musings, let’s take a look at the big story to hit in the NHL today.

Arbitrator Voids Kovalchuk’s Contract

This is going to be a very contentious topic, methinks, so I’ll just dive headfirst into it.

Arbitrator Richard Bloch has ruled against the NHLPA’s grievance and upheld the NHL’s decision to reject Ilya Kovlachuk’s 17-year, $102 million contract with the New Jersey Devils.

One reason for the rejection that Bloch cited was Kovalchuk’s age at the end of the contract:

“Kovalchuk is 27 years old, and the agreement contemplates his playing until just short of his 44^th birthday. … Currently, only one player in the league has played past 43 and, over the past 20 years only 6 of some 3400 players have played to 42.”

Bloch also stated that this could be grounds for rejection of such contracts as Roberto Luongo, Marc Savard and Chris Pronger. Also mentioned was the contract of Marian Hossa though, as Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy blog states, it seems unlikely that the league would target Hossa’s contract for rejection as he has already played a season under the new contract.

Now, I first need to say that I don’t believe that there is any precedent for this decision. The notion that Kovalchuk is any less likely to be playing the game at the age of 44 as Hossa is at the age of 42 is, in my mind, absurd.

Yes, only one player has played past the age of 43, but citing that Hossa is more likely to play until 42 because six out of 3,400 players have done so is ridiculous.

That being said, I think that the arbitrator made the absolute right decision in this case, siding with the NHL.

Yes, there was no precedent to do so but the NHL had to stand up and make a stand on this issue at some point. They didn’t have guts to do it with Hossa or Pronger or Luongo, but finally found it in themselves to do so and it’s long past time that they did.

Teams are going to continue to try and exploit this loophole in the CBA, but at least this gives the NHL some basis for when to say when on future contracts.

Madden Signs With Minnesota

Don’t worry. He’s not going to try to sell you any tough actin’ Tinactin. He won’t say Boom! (at least not all the time) and he won’t give you some overly complicated explanation about some overly simple football concept.

Congratulations! You are number one million to make that joke about John Madden!

Alright. All kidding aside, I love the signing of Madden. He’s a strong two-way player and the type of player that the Wild has been sorely missing since the retirement of Wes Walz.

Look. Madden’s not going to score 20 goals (he’s done so just twice in his 11 season career), nor is he going to star on our top two lines. What he will do, however, is give the Wild another reliable penalty killer, a checking-line forward capable of shutting down teams’ top lines and a leader on and off the ice.

What this also does is create competition at the center position.

Here is our depth chart at center, as it stands (and, to one Ryan Lambert of Puck Daddy and Two-Line Pass, this is off the top of my head and without looking at a roster). Those in bold and italics are the ones guaranteed a roster spot:

Mikko Koivu
Matt Cullen
John Madden
Kyle Brodziak
James Sheppard
Casey Wellman
Colton Gillies

So, what you can see here are seven centers for four full-time positions. It’s not out of the realm of reason that one of the four (most likely Brodziak) would be moved to the wing, so you essentially have three players vying for one position.

In my opinion, the player for the job is Colton Gillies.

Gillies is fleet of foot, he’s big, he’s physical and he has demonstrated a limited offensive upside. This would allow Wellman a year of development in the AHL and Sheppard one to get his confidence about him as well.

After the way Gillies performed in camp last season, I thought he would be a shoo-in for the big squad, but he instead struggled through a season in the AHL. It may be time for him to show what he can do.

What About Butch?

I had a friend ask me a question the other day about whether or not I thought Bouchard would play this season and, if he did, would he even be effective.

I thought it a good enough question to stick it into here.

First question, will Butch play this season?

My answer to that is most definitely yes.

It might not be at the beginning of the season, but he will play. He’s started exercising, he’s lifting weights and he’s feeling better, so whether it’s in October or in December, he will play this season.

The next part of the question, however, is the most important. Will he be effective?

My personal opinion is that he will.

One of the biggest hindrances in returning from a concussion is getting used to the contact once again. There’s trepidation when going into the corners, when going to the tough areas on the ice.

That’s also the biggest problem I’ve always had with Bouchard, as well.

He’s rarely gone into the corners and rarely gone into the tough areas on the ice. Bouchard is, primarily, a perimeter player. He is at his best when creating plays on the outside for players going to the net and a concussion shouldn’t change this.

This isn’t to say that Bouchard won’t have a readjustment period of some sort when he returns, but I think he will largely come back as the same player that he was before which is both a blessing and a curse for Wild fans.

Wild Nation’s Ridiculously Early Season Predictions: The Atlantic Division

August is almost upon us, which can only mean one thing – its training camp time.

The time in the NHL where there’s hope running through every team’s fan base, except for Toronto’s of course. But, with that hope in mind, it’s time for our ridiculously early season prognostications that will likely be proven to be dead wrong by the second week of the season or just the Ridiculously Early Season Predictions, for short.

We’re going to start with the Eastern Conference this season, namely the Atlantic Division so, let’s get started.

New Jersey Devils – The NHLPA filed their grievance on Thursday regarding Ilya Kovalchuk’s contract and one would assume that, despite their desire to resolve this quickly both sides are digging in for a fight.

Even without Kovalchuk in the fray, however, the Devils remain a much improved team over last season’s with the additions of Anton Volchenkov and Henrik Tallinder on defense and Jason Arnott up front. It could, in fact, be argued that the Devils could be a better all around team without Kovalchuk, as they would have to unload a contract in order to come into the season under the salary cap.

Looking at this team, however, Volchenkov and Tallinder should be upgrades over the departed Johnny Oduya and Paul Martin, while Arnott should give the team a solid second-line center that can pitch in on offense.

While these three players alone might not get the Devils back to the promised land, in the Stanley Cup finals, they will certainly go a long way towards making New Jersey more competitive both in the regular season and the post season.

New York Islanders – The Islanders may find themselves in the enviable situation of having to spend money in order to reach the cap floor this season – something that many teams might relish at this point in the off season.

The problem for the Isles, however, is how do they do that?

With the big fish out of the free agency pond, the Isles may have to resort to multiple signings, which could cut down on the amount of playing time that some of their youngsters would get.

It’s hard to imagine that forwards Doug Weight and Matt Moulson won’t be back with New York this season, so that will take care of some of it, but likely won’t resolve the entire issue, but this is good news for a team that only has seven roster players under contract for next season and 13 restricted free agents coming up.

Another year’s experience for their big time youngsters will be good for the Isles, and they’re headed in the right direction – they’re just not there quite yet.

New York Rangers – As has been the case the last few seasons, the Rangers are an enigma wrapped in a riddle, wrapped in a puzzle.

They have Marian Gaborik who, after countless disappointing seasons in Minnesota, came out and showed that he could shoulder the load and be a superstar in the NHL, but past him they don’t have many players that chipped in offensively.

Then, this off season they made what many consider to be the shrewdest move, signing Martin Biron as a capable back up for a goalie who has never really had a capable back up, but they then went out and signed enforcer Derek Boogaard to a ridiculous four-year, $1.65 million per contract.

So, as it stands now, the Rangers aren’t really much better than they were at the end of last season. Alexander Frolov’s agent has stated that his client is close to a deal with the blueshirts and, if that’s the case, the team could be looking better going into this season.

But, as it stands right now, they’re in the same spot that they were last season, which means that they will likely be on the outside looking in once more.

Philadelphia Flyers – After spending most of the off season pretending like the salary cap didn’t apply to them, they’re now back under the cap by a whole $327k.

After replacing Simon Gagne with Nikolai Zherdev, which was likely a salary shedding move, it is apparent that the Flyers are anticipated increased production from James Van Riemsdyk, Claude Giroux and Ville Leino next season, along with what Zherdev brings, to make up for the loss of Gagne’s production.

But the story here isn’t in the team’s offense, but in a defensive unit that could easily be the best in the NHL.

After their defense got embarrassed by Chicago through much of the finals, the Flyers responded by going out and trading for Andrei Meszaros and Matt Walker and signing free agent Sean O’Donnell.

That gives them five defensemen that could legitimately be considered top-five defensemen and two more that are legitimate shut down d-men, plus Oscars Bartulis who appears to now be on the outside looking in.

All of this points to the fact that we could very well be looking at a situation much like the Penguins and Blackhawks faced, of having to lose before you can win.

Pittsburgh Penguins – Let’s be perfectly honest here. You can never count the Pens out of anything.

While they still have one glaring need to address (a scoring winger), the Pens have upgraded their defensive unit which should be a big help for Marc-Andre Fleury.

Zybnek Michalek and Paul Martin give the Pens two more defensemen that can play in any situation and takes the pressure off of Kris Letang and Alex Gologoski on the powerplay and should help in the wake of losing Sergei Gonchar to free agency.

The best news for the Pens, also, is that they have the cap room to address their need for a winger before free agency is out. With the market value for free agent forwards taking a dive, especially with the signing of Nikolai Zherdev, the Pens can more than afford to improve their forward corps.

That, in and of itself, is encouraging news for Pens fans and they should expect to see the playoffs in Pittsburgh once again.

Predictions

Well, now that we’re done with the previews, let’s take a look at how I think the Atlantic Division is going to line up come playoff time this coming season:

1) Philadelphia Flyers
2) New Jersey Devils
3) Pittsburgh Penguins
4) New York Rangers
5) New York Islanders

Through most of the season last season, all five teams were in playoff contention and it should be much of the same this season, though I think that the Rangers and Islanders will fall of towards the end of the season once again and be on the outside looking in. The Flyers, Devils and Penguins, however, should all be back in the dance once again.

Up Next: The Northeast Division

The Minnesota Wild Season in Review Part 5 of 5: Looking Ahead

Well, it’s taken a lot longer than I’d expected, but here we are—part five of my five part season in review.

I’ve looked at the season on a whole, the forwards, the defense, the goaltenders, the management and now it’s time to take a look ahead to what this off season could bring.

The Wild have a long shopping list for this off season and not a whole lot of money to shop with. They currently have 17 players under contract and have restricted free agents Guillaume Latendresse and Josh Harding yet to sign.

Their shopping list will likely include another defenseman and at least one more forward, but likely two, just to be safe.

So, let’s look at what the team needs, shall we?

The first need that the team will try to address, for sure, will be another stay-at-home, shutdown defenseman. With six defensemen under contract and approximately $16.6 million allotted to these defensemen it’s hard to believe that the Wild will go out and spend on a top-flight free agent blueliner.

What I can see, however, is the Wild spending anywhere between one and two million on a defenseman that is reliable, but not flashy—someone that they can pair with their more aggressive, offensive defensemen.

The problem is that there aren’t too many players available with that description for that price tag.

Possible Targets: Milan Jurcina, Brett Lebda, Kurtis Foster

Another need that the team desperately needs is a second line center.

The Wild do already have someone within their organization that they are hoping will fit this bill in Pierre-Marc Bouchard.

The big question about Butch, however, is his health. While he has been cleared to begin light exercising, Bouchard is still experiencing many post-concussion symptoms.

With that being the case, I would expect the Wild to pursue a center looking to spend between two and four million on him.

With the impending departure of Mike Modano from Dallas, there are a few that are hoping for a nostalgic end to the former North Star’s career. In my opinion, that would be a huge mistake for the Wild.

While Modano would be a significant upgrade from James Sheppard, the fact remains that he’s 41 years old and his production has decreased significantly over the past few seasons.

What they do need, however, is a gritty, skilled center to play on their second line between Latendresse and Martin Havlat.

Possible Targets: Matthew Lombardi, Mike Comrie, Brendan Morrison, Chris Higgins

Another player that the Wild will likely look towards is a gritty forward to replace the likes of Andrew Ebbett, Owen Nolan and Derek Boogaard, all of whom will likely leave in free agency.

This is one thing that there are a lot of in this year’s free agent market.

They won’t have to pay a lot for these players, but these players are going to be invaluable to the Wild in the future and General Manager Chuck Fletcher knows this.

With the trade for Brad Staubitz, Fletcher has gotten some of this toughness but judging from how both the Ducks and the Penguins were built, and make no mistake that those teams had his finger prints all over them, he’s not done with this.

Possible Targets: Adam Burish, Raffi Torres, Colby Armstrong, Evgeny Artyukhin

Finally, I’d look for the Wild to take a shot at trying to acquire another top-six forward; probably a winger.

It won’t be any flashy signing like Ilya Kovalchuk, unless Fletcher can work some serious cap magic, but there is a definite need for a player that can score consistently to play alongside Andrew Brunette and Mikko Koivu on the team’s first line.

Again, I would expect the team to go after someone in the two to four million dollar range for this, as it’s going to need to make sense both economically as well as for the team on a whole.

Possible Targets: Marek Svatos, Alexander Frolov, Slava Kozlov, Alexei Ponikarovsky

Whatever the Wild does, there is going to be a sense of excitement surrounding the team come July 1.

It’s Christmas in July for NHL fans and fans in Minnesota are hoping that the Wild come out on top.

Since Hindsight is 20/20, We’re Looking Ahead

It’s not quite official yet, Wild Nation-ites, but it’s all but that. 

The Wild will miss the playoffs for the second straight season. 

The is still an infinitesimal chance that they could pull it out, but it would involve the Wild coming out and putting together a 5-0 stretch run combined with every single team that they’re chasing tanking. 

In other words: 

It ain’t gonna happen. 

Chuck Fletcher has a long, arduous road ahead of him too, because the cold hard facts have laid out a pretty rocky looking off season, so let’s play some fact and fiction here, shall we? 

FACT: Minnesota has approximately $48.2 million tied up in 18 players for next season. 

FACT: Minnesota has definite needs to be addressed at forward and not a whole lot of roster spaces or money to do so. 

FICTION: The Wild will be able to address their need for a scoring threat in free agency. 

FICTION: There are a number of free agents that could fill the Wild’s needs. 

Now, before you get all up in arms about this, let’s think this through rationally. 

You can cross Ilya Kovalchuk off your wish list.  It ain’t gonna happen unless Fletcher can work some sort of cap magic.  Kovie wants the league maximum and the Wild don’t even have league maximum type of space. 

Patrick Marleau is an intriguing option, but he’s been playing on a line with Jumbo Joe and Heater for most season.  It would be a risk and I don’t know that it would necessarily be a risk worth taking. 

Alexander Frolov?  I don’t know that we want another underachieving European forward. 

Tomas Plekanec? If he doesn’t re-sign with Montreal, their entire ownership will likely be run out of town. 

Ray Whitney?  Not at 37. Olli Jokinen?  No thanks.  Chris Higgins?  Not a chance. 

You get the picture. 

But, looking forward to 2011, there’s more potential there. 

Brad Richards, Joe Thornton, Alexander Semin, Simon Gagne, Martin St. Louis, Patrice Bergeron, Tim Connolly and Michael Ryder are all players that should at least be intriguing for Wild fans. 

Will all of them get to free agency? 

Probably not.  But there’s a good chance that a few might. 

So this off season is likely going to be filled with the Wild filling out their roster with role players — players that aren’t going to set the world on fire, but that aren’t going to be bad pick ups either. 

This off season, though, I think could be telling of how quickly the Wild will be built into the mold of what Fletcher wants. 

Below is a list of what I imagine will be keys to the Wild’s off season: 

• Re-sign Guillaume Latendresse.
  • Say what you will about his performance this season, but Latendresse has proven that he’s a valuable player.  He’s managed to shake just about every single knock that Montreal fans have had against him and has been our best player since coming over in the trade.  The problem with this is that you don’t know what player you’re going to be signing.  Will you be getting the Guillaume Latendresse that was benched or skated on the fourth line in Montreal, or will you be getting his super-powered alter ego, The Tenderness, who has lit the lamp more times in one season than anyone to wear a Wild sweater not named Gaborik or Rolston?  It is conceivable that he’s got contract year-itis, but it’s also possible that the pressure being lifted off of his shoulders is doing wonders for his career.  Listening to him talk, I’d say it’s the latter of the two.  To be safe, though, I can’t see the Wild signing him to longer than a two-year deal with the promise of more talks to come if he keeps it up.
• Lock Mikko Koivu up long-term.
  • This is a no-brainer.  While Koivu may never be a 100+ point player (though he could be with the right line mates), he is the heart and soul of this franchise.  I would like to see him signed to a Datsyuk-ian or Zetterberg-ian contract, meaning the rest of his career for a reasonable cap hit.
• Hit the trade market
  • You’ve no doubt gathered by now that I just don’t believe that vast improvements through the free agent market this season are going to happen.  I’m not saying that it’s an impossibility — just more of an improbability.  Where the Wild are going to make an impact this off season is the same place that they made an impact this season.  The trade market.

Now I know that neither of these three are a huge revelation to anyone.  Latendresse are our two top players this season and Fletcher has shown a penchant to making good trades this season.  But I’d like to stay on that last one for just a moment. 

Trades are going to be made.  Plain and simple. 

And, given the performance of the team down the stretch, I’d say there aren’t many players that are safe.  In fact, I’ll list all the players that I think might be safe from trade. 

Mikko Koivu
Guillaume Latendresse
Martin Havlat
Pierre-Marc Bouchard
Cal Clutterbuck
Casey Wellman
Brent Burns
Cam Barker
Greg Zanon
Josh Harding 

Now, let me be clear.  There are two names on there that are on there due to injury status and not for any other reason.  Bouchard and Harding’s stock has got to be at an all-time low, which is one big reason why I think we’ll see Harding back in Minnesota next season. 

At forward, Koivu and Latendresse are fairly obvious.  Havlat, despite his horrible start to the season, has been pretty good in the new year, with 11 goals and 19 assists for 36 points in 36 games with a minus-four rating and even then Fletcher wouldn’t trade his big free agency pick up this early in the game…Plus, you know, no movement clause.  Clutterbuck is, well, Clutterbuck.  There’s no way that Fletcher is going to trade Wellman after winning out over 21 other teams.  Burns has played his way onto this list over the last couple weeks.  Barker was the centerpiece of the Johnsson trade and there’s no way that he’s going to be traded after giving up so much and Zanon…Well…Yeah. 

This is to say that, if you don’t see your favorite player on this list you might want to at least prepare yourself for the idea that he’s not going to be wearing the Iron Range Red next season. 

I’m not saying that everyone but these ten will be gone.  Far from it.  There are quite a few players in the organization that I think it would take a killer deal for the Wild to agree to trade (Backstrom and Schultz being two of these), but that being said…I truly don’t think that there are many players that Fletcher wouldn’t listen to offers for. 

Overall, the prognosis could be good for Minnesota next season.  The team has, legitimately, five top-four defensemen (Burns, Schultz, Barker, Zidlicky and Zanon) and one more that could turn into one if he’s healthy (Stoner).  They have one world class goaltender (Backstrom) who will be coming off of a down season (can you say incentive?) and potentially another (Harding) who will be looking to increase his value for his UFA day.  Then, at forward they’ll be getting Butch back (God-willing), will have a full season with The Tenderness, and have a young core with a bunch more experience. 

They might not be the best team in the league, but they’re a team that 1) is struggling through an injury-riddled season and 2) have had a few players who have not contributed to the extent that they were expected to. 

Do we have significant holes? 

Without a doubt.  But we also have enough on our roster to overcome these holes and become a potentially dangerous team. 

While they admit it or not, the Wild management is certainly undertaking some semblance of a rebuild.  Our former general manager (who will not be named in this blog) did his best to make sure that his predecessor wouldn’t have an easy job ahead of him, but you can see signs that the organization is headed in the right direction. 

Hopefully they have a roadmap so they don’t get lost along the way.

An Early Look at the Off Season Pt. II – The Forwards

In my previous blog, I looked at the situation of the Wild for this coming off season and their impending free agents, both unrestricted and otherwise.

The Wild potentially have six forward spots to fill from within and through free agency.  There are a few players in the system that might be ready to step up but, on a whole, the Wild will likely be looking elsewhere for help.

So…

Here…We….Go.

Forwards
Ilya Kovalchuk – LW – 28 – Est. Salary: $11M
The bottom line is that Kovalchuk is the best of the best of this off season.  He is exactly what the Minnesota Wild need and exactly what they can’t afford.  At least not with their cap situation over the next couple seasons.  Kovalchuk would be a dream to see playing alongside Andrew Brunette and Mikko Koivu, to be sure, but with a potential $42+ million already spent on 15 players, it would be very, very difficult for the Wild to fit in a cap hit of $11M for one player.

That said Kovalchuk is the type of player that you make the cap room work for.  The Thrashers current captain has scored 40+ goals in five straight seasons, two of which he scored 50+.  He is a finisher, plain and simple, and a player that the Wild would love to get their hands on.

Despite the fact that Kovalchuk has only been to the playoffs once (for four games), he has provided leadership to an otherwise leaderless Thrashers team and he has also proven his worth in international tournaments as well, most recently last season’s World Championships in which he had five goals and 14 points in nine games.

Wild Nation Verdict: A dream come true.  Kovalchuk would be the finisher that the Wild so desperately need.  As it stands now, though, the Wild would need to do some serious finagling with their roster to both fit Kovalchuk AND field a full roster – especially not while he is expecting to make the league maximum.  If Minnesota can utilize the loopholes to get the cap hit down to seven or eight million, then it’s doable.  If not, you’ll see Kovalchuk playing elsewhere in the league.

Patrick Marleau – C – 31 – Est. Salary: $7-8M
Marleau has had an up and down career, but is certainly well on his way to a career season in what could be his last in San Jose.  He is just 11 goals away from tying his career high and he’s topped 25 goals in six of his last eight full seasons (not to mention topping it already this season) and he’s topped 30 in three of his last four.

San Jose will have some difficult decisions to make this off season and losing their former captain may very well be one of them.  If that is the case, he could be a lesser substitute for Kovalchuk.  Marleau is nowhere near as dynamic as the Russian sniper, but he is still a solid scorer and a much better two-way player.

The biggest question mark is whether or not Marleau’s inflated production this season is due to an improvement with him or his linemates.  Either way, however, he would be a welcome addition and one that the Wild could afford as well.

Wild Nation Verdict: It wouldn’t be the ideal situation, but it wouldn’t be a bad one either.  Marleau is a proven scorer and he can play a two-way game – something that Minnesotans appreciate.  While not as quick or dynamic as the aforementioned Kovalchuk, he still brings a lot to the table.  Not only that, but his salary would allow for the Wild to fill other holes in their roster as well.

Olli Jokinen – C – 32 – Est. Salary: $5M
Jokinen will be going into next season coming off of a down year.  After scoring 29 goals and 57 points last season, Jokinen has just eight goals through 42 games this season.  He’s been a dynamic scorer in the past and is capable of being one again, but the problem lies in his attitude.

Since coming to Calgary, Jokinen has been talked of as being a “locker room cancer” and his underperformance this season has played a large part in bringing this talk to the forefront.  Keeping that in mind, however, he has scored 20+ goals in his last six seasons and 30+ goals in four of these.  He has the talent, but the biggest question is if he has the desire and the drive.

Wild Nation Verdict: No thank you.  As talented as Jokinen is, the rumors of him being a cancer in the locker room are just not enticing.  Coming off of a low point into this off season, a team could find themselves with a bargain should he right the ship.  For a Wild team struggling to find their identity on and off the ice, however, I just don’t see that happening.

Saku Koivu – C – 36 – Est. Salary: $3-4M
While Koivu is not the player he was in his prime, there’s no doubt that he can still be an effective player.  The question is, in what capacity.  He is having a solid season thus far for Anaheim and could well find himself north of the 20 goal plateau again.  He was linked strongly to the Wild during the off season and will again likely be linked to the team until he retires because of his brother.

The question mark with Koivu remains how much tread is left on the tires?  He has struggled with injuries of the last few seasons and one has got to believe that all of those injuries will begin to take their toll.  In addition, he has stated that he doesn’t want to step on his brother’s toes by coming into Minnesota.  But would he consider taking on a role as a third line center with the team, as he is still a fantastic defensive player.

Wild Nation Verdict: Time will tell and maybe the Olympics will help him answer some of these questions; however Koivu remains an unlikely possibility for Minnesota, but a possibility nonetheless.  The elder Koivu would be a fantastic third line center, but for the price, they could likely do better.

Alexander Frolov – LW – 29 – Est. Salary: $5-7M
Frolov is an admittedly intriguing player for Minnesota to consider.  He is a dynamic scorer, though not quite as impressive as Kovalchuk, but he is enigmatic as well.  Despite having an off season, Frolov is the type of talent that most simply won’t be able to ignore.

He’s scored 20+ goals in all but his first season in the NHL and has topped 30 twice in that time, not to mention showing that he has the potential to top 70 points on a regular basis when healthy.  The problem with Frolov has always lied in his work ethic, but the Wild could be looking at a situation similar to what they had with Guillaume Latendresse – simply a player that needs a change in scenery.

Wild Nation Verdict: If neither Kovalchuk or Marleau are attainable or available, the Wild should consider Frolov.  In the right system, in the right situation, Frolov could be an extremely dangerous player.  With playmakers like Koivu, Brunette and Havlat, Frolov could be downright lethal.  It’s just a matter of whether or not he’s able to put a full season together.

Chris Higgins – C – 28 – Est. Salary: $2-3M
Another enigmatic player this off season is Chris Higgins.  Higgins burst onto the scene in Montreal, scoring 20+ goals in his first three full seasons with the team before fading away this season and last.  The talent is there, but he just hasn’t been able to recreate his success in his early seasons.

Despite his struggles, Higgins is a big bodied, talented player – something that Chuck Fletcher likes.  The Wild had success with a similar enigmatic Montreal player and therefore could take a chance on Higgins.  He has the potential to be a very low-risk, high-reward player as well.

Wild Nation Verdict: I’ll be honest.  If the cards fall in the right manner, the Wild could take a chance on Higgins.  He could fill in an important role on the Wild and, honestly, the price could be right for him as well.

There are obviously many more prospective forwards out there for the Wild to consider, but these are just a few of the ones I find most intriguing.  Chuck Fletcher has a unique opportunity to build this team the way he wants it to be built and there is no doubt that the forwards are where he is planning on starting.

As I’ve mentioned, this is obviously devoid of any possible trades he might make or players he might secure during these trades, but one thing is for sure…The Wild are firmly in his hands right now.

Up Next: Defensemen

Next Page »