The Minnesota Wild are close to shaking their reputation as a desert of prospect development. The last drafts have produced a number of prospects of interest, and an assortment of trades and free agent signings have generated respectable depth. The Aeros' winning the Western Conference last season demonstrates not only a positive institutional strategy for procurement and development, but also a return to a patient policy with its players shared by winning franchises.
The Wild have some elite prospects for the first time in several years, starting with Mikael Granlund, continuing with college stars Jason Zucker and Charlie Coyle, and finishing with two top Swedish junior pros in Jonas Brodin and Johan Larsson. Allowing each of these players, as well as Zack Phillips, another year in their respective leagues is a sure step in the right direction as far as developmental philosophy goes.
I thought it was pretty well written, and it is crazy to look at how far we have come in terms of our prospect pool. We have some problems with our short defensive prospect pool, but overall it looks pretty good.
I'm very much looking forward to this next year when so many guys will be coming over at the same time.
Decent article except that the writer once again shows his lack of knowledge for Minnesota prospects by leaving out both Johan Gustafsson and Endras for the list.
Decent article except that the writer once again shows his lack of knowledge for Minnesota prospects by leaving out both Johan Gustafsson and Endras for the list.
Right after I read that I thought the same thing. I was like "where is Endras?"
Lots of information, but I would have liked to hear a little about Endras.
The powers that be don't seem to consider Endras a prospect, but I'm pretty sure he is. Signed his first contract in 2010 as a Euro prospect, so he has three seasons from that point, despite being a long-in-the-tooth 26. He's been good for the Aeros by all accounts, much better by the numbers than he was in Germany.
But, I did manage to omit Gustafsson, who's making good progress (.915 svp with Lulea), and Tyler Graovac, who seems to be making great progress. He'll be playing in that Subway Series this month. Screwed up Cuma's draft year too...I guess that's why I keep my day job.
The powers that be don't seem to consider Endras a prospect, but I'm pretty sure he is. Signed his first contract in 2010 as a Euro prospect, so he has three seasons from that point, despite being a long-in-the-tooth 26. He's been good for the Aeros by all accounts, much better by the numbers than he was in Germany.
But, I did manage to omit Gustafsson, who's making good progress (.915 svp with Lulea), and Tyler Graovac, who seems to be making great progress. He'll be playing in that Subway Series this month. Screwed up Cuma's draft year too...I guess that's why I keep my day job.
Hey there!
I know we bash your stuff alot but thats because #1: we're bored, #2: we never see you post!
Post more often! We would love our HF representation to be with us on the boards!
I thought Coyle and Larsson mainly played center; could be wrong though.
Coyle played center at dev camp, but I can't comment on him at BU. I had recently inquired about Larsson from our Swedish friends, and they said that Larsson played wing last season, but has been playing center so far this year, and has played center at international tourneys.
I like the article, it got more information than they normally do. The only bad thing was to forget Endras and Gustafsson, both are very good goalies and very popular in their countries.
