Minnesota Wild 2010 Mock Draft: the challenge of restocking the prospect pool

http://www.stateofhockeynews.com/2010-articles/june/minnesota-wild-2010-mock-draft-the-challenge-to-restock-the-wilds-prospect-pool.html

Minnesota Wild 2010 Mock Draft: the challenge to restock the Wild's prospect pool

Written by Derek Felska
Monday, 14 June 2010 17:33

As I was watching NHL Live today on the NHL Network you're starting to see more and more discussion on draft as its the biggest upcoming event for the NHL. Sure you have the (insert player here) contract extension here or there, but for the most part the draft becomes the front and center story. The draft has morphed a bit since the institution of the salary cap as teams now use it as a means to attempt to shed salary or bad contracts by sweetening the deal by throwing in a few picks. The Wild certainly have some albatross contracts, but is the team's prospect pool in position where you can afford not to use every pick you have?

About a year ago in a pivotal moment in the history of the Minnesota Wild, Wild owner Craig Leipold made the decision to fire General Manager Doug Risebrough. A few weeks later, Craig Leipold hired Chuck Fletcher to be the team's new General Manager. After a brief search, Fletcher hired Todd Richards as head coach, but I wonder if he realized just how empty the Wild's prospect pool was at this point? Not wanting to rock the boat too much, Fletcher held onto a few pieces of the old Wild administration in his first year running the ship as he kept Assistant General Manager Tommy Thompson who was more or less the draft guru for the organization since its inaugural season. Thompson would get one more draft to shape the team, picking Eden Prairie's Nick Leddy the reigning 'Mr. Hockey' 16th Overall, after trading down four spots for the fairly cheap price of a 3rd round pick in that year's draft (which became goaltender Matthew Hackett, 77th Overall). Perhaps wishing to cut the team's losses, the Wild made a deal near the trade deadline moving veteran defenseman Kim Johnsson and Leddy to the Chicago Blackhawks for Cam Barker. Shortly after the conclusion of the Wild's 2009-10 season, the team axed Tommy Thompson and placed Brent Flahr at his former position. In Thompson's tenure, his selections have brought in franchise cornerstones Marian Gaborik, Mikko Koivu, Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Brent Burns, Nick Schultz and Cal Clutterbuck. So why did Thompson get fired? To put it nicely, the last five drafts have not been too kind to the Wild and many of the 1st round selections have not panned out into the impact players they were projected to become. The result of these consistently poor drafts was a gradual hollowing out of the team's prospect pool. Here is a snap shot of the Wild's prospect pool according to Hockey's Future as well when the respective players were acquired. (click on the link for the rest of the article)

Enjoy...its pretty thorough.