Minnesota Wild

NHL Top 100 Prospect Rankings (Part 4: 1 to 25)

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#4 Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson EDM F 2009-10th

One-Timer: MPS. MSP. MP. Now known as simply Magnus Paajarvi. Call him anything, but call him one of the most talented young players in the game. Even at 10th, the Oilers got a gift. I had him ranked 7th in my my 2009 Draft Preview and here’s an excerpt:

MSP is a super creative winger with speed to burn. Known more of a playmaker, the talented Swede still knows how to finish. The powerful and smooth skating MSP is also very tough to knock off the puck. At 7th overall, he could prove to be a steal even at this rank.

Blue Jackets Update, Islanders New Complex, and Is Koivu Overpaid?

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Mikko Koivu (Flickr/MPR529)

Mikko Koivu – When I think about the Minnesota Wild and look at their roster, I’m not sure how I can get excited about this team for the next few seasons.  They haven’t made any terrible signings, but I think it could be argued that they’ve overpaid for close to half the team. With no money, a lackluster offense, and coach Todd Richards’ up-tempo system replacing the defense-first Lemaire approach, what remedies do they have? Would be interested to hear a few ideas in the comments.

Hockey Wilderness points out that the reactions from fans outside of Minnesota to the Mikko Koivu extension were venomous, while the Wild faithful seemed to overwhelmingly approve.  The first half of their analysis is outstanding, but their justification for why he was worth $6.75m per season falls a bit flat:

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Mike Ribeiro’s Future, Horton Trade Rumors, and Souray to the Sharks?

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Nathan Horton (Joe Loong/WikiCommons)

[Crashing the Crease is The Hockey Writers rundown of news, notes, and analysis from around the NHL]

EASTERN CONFERENCE:

~ As expected, it looks like Ray Whitney won’t be back in Carolina next season. (With the writing on the wall at the trade deadline, it makes me wonder why GM Jim Rutherford didn’t just take what he could get):

“I think it will be difficult with where he will be at, contract-wise,” Rutherford said. “I expect him to go into July (and the free-agent market). It appears that’s the way it’s going to go.”

~ With new bench bosses in Tampa and Columbus, Atlanta hopes to narrow down their remaining options:

The key deadline is July 1st when free agency begins–players want to know who will be in charge of their ice time and their role within the squad. The one advantage of hiring a coach early in the summer is that it gives him more time to review game tapes from the prior year and think about how to plan for the next season.

~ THW’s Dave Poleck dove headfirst into the Nathan Horton trade rumors last week, and ESPN’s Pierre Lebrun is suggesting he may not be the only big name heading out of Florida in the coming days:

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Flames Sport Gold, Bronze and Plenty of Rust

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CALGARY-Jarome Iginla, Miikka Kiprusoff and Niklas Hagman started their night wearing shiny new Olympic medals only to finish it with the same old albatross hanging from their necks. The applause…

Wild’s Sellout Streak A Pathetic Farce

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The Minnesota Wild retired the #1 before playing their inaugural home opener – a sellout – in honor of the fans. Then-principal owner Bob Naegele said then that no Wild player would wear the number 1 because the team wanted to remember that the fans were always #1 in their hearts and minds.

Sadly, it would appear we have indeed come a long way, baby.

Minnesota Wild ’09-10 Preview

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The only way the ‘09-10 Minnesota Wild could look more different from the inaugural ‘00-01 Minnesota Wild is if they started wearing purple uniforms.