Minnesota Wild 2010 Draft Preview: Forwards

http://www.stateofhockeynews.com/2010-articles/minnesota-wild-2010-draft-preview-forwards.html

Minnesota Wild 2010 Draft Preview: Forwards

Written by Derek Felska
Saturday, 05 June 2010 12:31

It is finally June, with the 2009-10 NHL winding down as the Blackhawks and Flyers battle it out in the Stanley Cup Finals the next big even looms right around the corner. The NHL Entry Draft, the annual educated crap shoot of sorts where teams select players they hope will become keystones for their organizations for years to come. If anyone doubted just how important the draft really is all one has to look at is the two teams playing in the finals. The Chicago Blackhawks, were one of the most inept and terribly run franchises in the NHL, playing to dwindling crowds having faded out of mind of most fans in the area just 4 seasons ago. It was about as bad as it gets, they were dysfunctional and in an age where mass marketing is essential to having a healthy franchise the team still lived under the backwards notion that you don't televise home games as a way of encouraging fans to go to the games. I was at Blackhawks' games at this time, where you sat in a very cavernous United Center with few fans around you and even as I sported a North Stars sweater which would've likely been an express ticket to a physical altercation years ago was met with smiles and handshakes as well as comments of 'nice jersey.' Oh how things have changed, but the side effect of being so bad that Chicago finally recieved a dose of foresight from departed GM Dale Tallon and the team committed itself to building through the draft. The team accumulated picks and then started making them count by key selections such as Duncan Keith (54th Overall in 2002), Dustin Byfuglien (245th Overall in 2003), Dave Bolland (32nd Overall in 2004), Brent Seabrook (14th Overall in 2003), Niklas Hjalmarsson (108th Overall in 2005), Troy Brouwer (214th Overall in 2004) and of course the dynamic duo of Jonathan Toews (3rd Overall in 2006) and Patrick Kane (1st Overall in 2007) which was the catalyst that turned the Blackhawks from pathetic pretender to contender. Tallon was later re-assigned for some salary mismanagement (not faxing qualifying offers on time to a bunch of younger players causing Chicago to overspend) as well as a few dubious contracts that will make things very tricky for new GM but long-time Blackhawks' upper management hand Stan Bowman. Yet right now I doubt many Blackhawks fans are too worried about that.

On the flip side, the Philadelphia Flyers are another team that has built much of its core through the draft. It too took full advantage of one horrendous season to select a future franchise star in James van Riemsdyk (2nd Overall in 2007), but prior 1st round selections have also have yielded big results with Simon Gagne (22nd Overall in 1998), Jeff Carter (11th Overall in 2003), Claude Giroux (22nd Overall in 2006) who was a player that then Flyers General Manager Bobby Clarke could not even remember to say at the draft podium (I wonder if that's still true now?), and of course team captain Mike Richards (24th Overall in 2003). That list of Flyers' first rounders could look that much more impressive if the team had kept promising youngsters Luca Sbisa (19th Overall in 2008) and Steve Downie (29th Overall in 2005) before shipping them off to Anaheim and Tampa Bay respectively. Yet the fundamental correlation remains, all good organizations are built through the draft. Detroit, Pittsburgh, Washington, Colorado, Nashville are all quality teams that built the cores of their team by stepping up to the podium and selecting players that would be key fixtures in the years to come. In some cases, the organizations have proven this to be true twice or more in their franchise history as was the case with the Pittsburgh Penguins with their 1980's era selections of Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr and then later Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin that brought about Stanley Cup Championships proving the importance of the draft was just as true back then as it is right now.
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Enjoy...the first of 3 articles on Wild and its approach to the 2010 Entry Draft.

I love your write up i love both Nino and Johanssen as they both could solve big holes for us, but i also don't think that they will be available at 9, which bring up an interesting question what should we do, nab skninner who while can score has size issues or trade down and pick up additional picks to get Bjugstad who may be a year or two away from NHL?

I wouldn't mind trading down given any additional picks would be beneficial but only if the guys we really want are gone. I think GMCF may be impressed with Bjugstad tho given he was at the skills competition but there is the questions about his performance and being a high school talent.