Wild to Host 2011 NHL Entry Draft

Russo is reporting that the Wild will host the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.

Quote :

Every who’s who in the NHL will descend on St. Paul in June of 2011. According to league sources, the Wild has been awarded the 2011 NHL entry draft. An announcement is expected in the very near future.

The draft is one of my favorite events to cover, although I'll miss my hotel and frequent flier points, and hanging out with my colleagues considering now I have to cover it from a league perspective as opposed to just a Wild. I didn't see anybody when the Panthers hosted the 2001 Draft. I was sequestered in my home constantly writing.

Ok, now I'm upset.

Just a joke. Kinda.
What’s unique about the NHL draft is fans get to attend and watch personnel from all 30 teams on one arena floor draft players, who are also in attendance. This should be awesome in Minnesota since there's always a bunch of Minnesotans drafted. Too bad the Wild didn't get 2010. How about five Minnesota athletes in the top-25 of the CSS North American skaters? See below.

One of the most exciting parts of any draft is the trades that surround it. Last June, Chris Pronger was traded to Philadelphia. The biggest Wild draft day trade came in 2006 when it acquired Pavol Demitra.

In Florida, I covered some monster ones, including the acquisition of Valeri Bure for Rob Niedermayer and Roberto Luongo and Olli Jokinen for Mark Parrish and Oleg Kvasha.

It’s believed Round 1 will be June 24, 2011, and Rounds 2-7 will be June 25, 2011, (Rounds 2-7).

The NHL draft will actually be the second national event hosted by Xcel Energy Center next year. The NCAA Frozen Four comes to the X on April 7 and 9, 2011. The Wild also hosted the 2004 NHL All-Star Game.

I'd be more excited about the end part there, the Xcel hosting the NCAA Frozen Four.

cehnehdeh wrote:

I'd be more excited about the end part there, the Xcel hosting the NCAA Frozen Four.

Except that is old news that we've known here for quite some time.

Ahhh...didnt realize that. What kind of WILD fan am I huh?

Draft would be cool to attend I suppose. I'd rather attend that than an ASG.

I attended the ASG here... it was fun... but I've been wanting a draft to come here for some time. This seems overdue for one of the highest rated arenas in the NHL.

Booing Bettman will be worth the price of admission.

agreed. I'm in.

Just imagine if a miracle happened and the Wild made the playoffs. High school hockey...final five...frozen four....playoffs....NHL Draft.....oh my!

OldTimeHockey wrote:

Just imagine if a miracle happened and the Wild made the playoffs. High school hockey...final five...frozen four....playoffs....NHL Draft.....oh my!

Uhh... that would be INSANELY AWESOME!

OldTimeHockey wrote:

Just imagine if a miracle happened and the Wild made the playoffs. High school hockey...final five...frozen four....playoffs....NHL Draft.....oh my!

And the Stanley Cup finals.

Now if the Gophers could just stop sucking, so they could participate in those events.

They have a hell of a freshmen class coming in, and hopefully Bariball being healthy brings a veteran scoring presence.

TaLoN wrote:

They have a hell of a freshmen class coming in, and hopefully Bariball being healthy brings a veteran scoring presence.

When I talked to Jay after the Final Five, he said that he's feeling really good. IMO, I would look for him to do just as you said. Now, I don't think he'll bring a Stoa like dominance, but he'll certainly up front where it is desperately needed. However, he's more of a playmaker in my book. I think the Gophs need Hoeffel to step up in a huge way and play to what I think is his potential, especially if they want to replace the emptiness left by Lucia graduating.

Oh I don't expect anyone to bring a Stoa like presence... he was a man amonst boys his last year here... but the Gophers struggled in scoring across the board this past season, and clearly missed Barriball bigtime.

Yes, he is more of a playmaker for sure, but with the added size coming in with the likes of Gardiner and Bjugstad, and further development of Budish... that will absolutely help out a guy like Barriball in all facets of his game.

To be honest, one of the biggest setbacks for the Gophers was recruiting Patrick White. He was brought in to be a huge scorer... only thing was he has no hockey sense at all. I didn't like him in highschool and I like him even less in college.

TaLoN wrote:

Oh I don't expect anyone to bring a Stoa like presence... he was a man amonst boys his last year here... but the Gophers struggled in scoring across the board this past season, and clearly missed Bariball bigtime.

Yes, he is more of a playmaker for sure, but with the added size coming in with the likes of Gardiner and Bjugstad, and further development of Budish... that will absolutely help out a guy like Bariball in all facets of his game.

To be honest, one of the biggest setbacks for the Gophers was recruiting Patrick White. He was brought in to be a huge scorer... only thing was he has no hockey sense at all. I didn't like him in highschool and I like him even less in college.

All are fair points, and I think I agree across the board. I think losing Schroeder will hurt some, as even though he struggled quite a bit (whether it be from not having the proper linemates, to not having the drive for whatever reason), he did attract the top defenses. So now someone else has to pick up that slack, and Lucia is also gone. So there are certainly some gaps up the middle. Can guys like Bjugstad fill those voids? Perhaps. You'll also have a full year of that diver Cepis, so that should give the offense some life. (I may not like him, but he can certainly play) Losing Schack is no biggie, and Fischer, meh I don't know how to feel about that. Carman and Flynn may have the leadership, but I think moving in a new direction wont hurt at all.

Good point on Cepis... you're right, the kid can definitely play.

There are holes for sure... but you have to like what you saw from Ness the last month of the season finally. It looks like he's starting to get his confidence level up, we'll have to see if that continues to next season.

Either way, the Gophers definitely have reasons to be positive heading into next season.