Ugh. A bust from Finland, a bust in Colton Gillies, two prospects who probably won't become full time NHLers in MacMillan(sp?) and Almond, and then we've got Falk.
Ugh. A bust from Finland, a bust in Colton Gillies, two prospects who probably won't become full time NHLers in MacMillan(sp?) and Almond, and then we've got Falk.
What a spectacular draft.
Most teams would be happy to come out with a draft from 4-7 like we did in 2007. The problem is our 1st and 2nd were packaged to move up for a bust, and 3rd was moved for a player(MAB, who did give us reasonable value even if he couldn't play defense).
I don't really know how you can call a 6th round pick a bust. I mean, there must not be that many people who thought that Ilvonen would become a regular in the NHL.
The first + second for Gillies was bad, but that's a fantastic 4th-7th round. An NHLer and two depth forwards (and let's be honest, at this point both Almond and McMillan qualify as AHLers who can be called up and not embarrass themselves on the 4th line for any NHL team) is quite the haul for that portion of a single draft. Off the top of my head, summing the average NHL frequency of 4th through 7th rounds leaves you with something like 0.6 NHL players per draft.
Most teams would be happy to come out with a draft from 4-7 like we did in 2007. The problem is our 1st and 2nd were packaged to move up for a bust, and 3rd was moved for a player(MAB, who did give us reasonable value even if he couldn't play defense).
Sadly the best move with that draft was moving the original second-round pick (not the compensation for A.J. Thelen which DR moved to Anaheim and became Eric Tangradi) to Dallas with Willie Mitchell for Martin Skoula and Shawn Belle.
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Blog: First Round Bust: A Cast of Thousands celebrating a rather dodgy track record of Minnesota Wild Drafting.
"Will beats skill when skill doesn't have enough will."
-Doug Woog
Sadly the best move with that draft was moving the original second-round pick (not the compensation for A.J. Thelen which DR moved to Anaheim and became Eric Tangradi) to Dallas with Willie Mitchell for Martin Skoula and Shawn Belle.
Really there's only one thing I have a problem with regarding the 2007 draft, and that's trading up for Colton Gillies. You don't give up #19 and #42 for #16 unless that guy's something special. Gillies wasn't that guy, and though the 2 guys that could've been(something special @ 16) never will, they had that upside. I don't care who #42 would've been, my guess would be Dana Tyrell. 19, we probably could've still got Gillies. We got a 3rd and 7th(77th and 182) for moving down 12 to 16 in 09, that's significantly less for a more significant drop-down. Desperation should never happen in a draft and it did for DR/TT in 2007.
4-7 was solid, MAB for a 3rd was fine, 2nd/rental Mitchell for 3.25 years of Skoula and a (at that time) solid prospect(former 1st round pick with all the physical tools but no box).
Wondering how you guys feel about Justin Fontaine. His first pro year he is second on the team in scoring with around .6 PPG. Has 10-17-27 in 43 games. Not outstanding, but certainly doing better than guys like Wellman and Palmer who have both been effective in spurts in the NHL. I personally would like to see him given a shot, although his size could be a problem at only 5'10 170.
Wondering how you guys feel about Justin Fontaine. His first pro year he is second on the team in scoring with around .6 PPG. Has 10-17-27 in 43 games. Not outstanding, but certainly doing better than guys like Wellman and Palmer who have both been effective in spurts in the NHL. I personally would like to see him given a shot, although his size could be a problem at only 5'10 170.
I would say that he would be one of the first/primary call ups next season, but with Larsson, Coyle, and Phillips(possibly Bulmer as well) all being in Houston, he's going to have a hell of a lot of competition next season.
I don't necessarily have high hopes for him, but I definitely see him being on the Wild or another pro roster in some capacity in the coming years.
use punctuation, please. doesn't have to be correct necessarily. just try it on.
What is a first USHL goal kid? You make it sound like Seeler just picked up a kid.
Any I know Ops staff think he can potentially be a top four guy here. Very optimistic.
use punctuation, please. doesn't have to be correct necessarily. just try it on.
What is a first USHL goal kid? You make it sound like Seeler just picked up a kid.
Any I know Ops staff think he can potentially be a top four guy here. Very optimistic.
Seems like Johan Gustafsson will play in his second EHT tournament, this time on home ice in Sweden, as Erik Ersberg wasn't let to go by his KHL team or something like that.
Not sure if this has been mentioned, but rumor has it that Dennis Endras signed deal with Adler Mannheim of the DEL for the next 3 seasons. He'll play the rest of this season with the HIFK though.
btw larsson said in swedish media today he is leaving for AHL or NHL next season.
he and brodin both said that to russo after WJC they both want to make the Wild, Larsson is staying tho if he doesn't make NHL squad
lucia i've been excited since i saw him play at the x during the rookie camp, the kid has one hell of a shot and i really do feel he'll be our "sniper" in a few years
yeah, but can he make the wild squad? we need offense badly, but we dont want to rush anyone in..
i think right now Larsson would be on our 3rd line and would be excelling, he is the kind of guy who can play that rough board game and is physical so having him on the line with clutter isn't a bad idea as he can also make plays happen. it would also give him good growing time i think he makes the squad next year as our 3rd center
