Minnesota Wild 2010 Draft Preview: Defenseman

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

Minnesota Wild 2010 Draft Preview: Defenseman

Written by Derek Felska
Tuesday, 08 June 2010 18:28

The old saying in team sports is, "defense wins championships" and many of the most successful teams were known for their excellent defensive prowess. The 1970's Montreal Canadiens dynasty was due in large part to their suffocating defense helped by Hall of Famers Larry Robinson, Serge Savard, and current Wild Director of Amateur Scouting Guy Lapointe. Having such high quality defenseman patrolling Les Habitants' blueline certainly helped goaltender Ken Dryden in a big way. The same could be said for the New Jersey Devils with Hall of Famer Scott Stevens and future Hall of Famer Scott Niedermayer shutting teams down certainly helping Martin Brodeur become the winningest goaltender in NHL history. The addition of a quality defenseman can make all the difference in the world, just ask the Anaheim Ducks who won the Stanley Cup in 2007 by trading for the aforementioned Niedermayer and Chris Pronger. Drafting a high quality defenseman can change the direction of a franchise, but there are certainly perils in selecting blueliners in the first round. Would Detroit be as good as they have been the last 15 years if they had not selected perennial Norris Trophy candidate Nicklas Lidstrom (53rd Overall in 1989), or would Montreal have managed to win a Stanley Cup in 1986 without drafting Chris Chelios (40th Overall in 1981) yes I know the selection of Patrick Roy (51st Overall in 1984) may have played a slightly bigger role but it doesn't take away from the impact a quality blueliner can have on a team.

Defenseman typically take longer to develop and have a more dramatic adjustment to the speed of play at the NHL level. Players that can look dominant at junior levels can suddenly look like a deer in headlights as they are mesmerized by the incredible speed of NHL forwards. If there is one portion of the Wild's prospect pool that seems to be the deepest it in its stable of young defenseman. Some of these prospects like Tyler Cuma (23rd Overall in 2008), Marco Scandella (55th Overall in 2008), Justin Falk (110th Overall in 2007), Sean Lorenz (115th Overall in 2008), Kyle Medvec (102nd Overall in 2006) and Clayton Stoner (79th Overall in 2004) were drafted by the organization. Others like Maxim Noreau and Nate Prosser were picked up as free agents. Stoner, Scandella and Prosser appear to be the closest to being ready for the NHL and with the team unlikely to re-sign John Scott and Shane Hnidy. The team typically used free agency to stock its blueline with veteran talent but with the Wild salary heavy in its defenseman, to the tune of $16.95 million (which to equates to roughly 30% of the team's room under the projected $58 million salary cap for next season) with one more spot left to fill. (click on the link for the rest of the article)

Enjoy...I'll have the last one, the goaltenders in a few days...enjoy!