Minnesota Wild 2013-14 Season Primer

• Team Outlook from McKeen’s Hockey Guide:After missing the playoffs for the fourth straight campaign, the Minnesota Wild sought to make a major move in the summer of 2012. They did just that by signing Zach Parise and Ryan Suter to blockbuster contracts. Although a quick first-round playoff exit seems like a disappointment after that, both players largely lived up to expectations, with Suter being particularly vital to what success the team had.Moving forward, the Wild have some obvious question marks. Can Dany Heatley regain some of his lost luster? Will younger players such as Nino Niederreiter, Mikael Granlund, and/or Charlie Coyle be able to step up?

  As far as Heatley is concerned, the answer is likely no and unfortunately, the Wild’s youngsters may not take giant leaps forward this season. In fact, this season might end up being one of frustration for those who were looking at Parise and Suter to push the Wild towards more immediate results.

  While Suter and Parise certainly make the Wild a genuine competitor to secure a playoff spot, they are still a relatively thin team waiting on prospects to fill in the gaps. Until some of those youngsters start taking on more prominent roles, this team might look more like one stuck in the middle of the pack than a genuine Stanley Cup competitor.

  Give it a couple years and we might be talking about the Wild in a far more positive light, but for now, it would be best for Wild fans to temper their expectations.

• Team Fantasy Outlook from Dobber Hockey’s 2013-14 Fantasy Guide – Over a 150 pages of fantasy goodness:Dobber’s lowdown on: Jonas Brodin – In three or four years, I see Brodin as a better all-around player than Suter. Which is huge, considering Suter is one of the best in the world right now. But that’s not for three or four years. For this season, Brodin will eat a lot of minutes, but the production won’t be jaw-dropping. You’re probably looking at two seasons of 30 to 40 points, possibly three seasons, before he takes that big step forward. Guys with his talent who are defensively elite will generally find the same success offensively over time.Last season Heatley went on an eight-game pointless streak and I figured that he had never done that before. I did some digging and found that he had another eight-game pointless streak in 2011-12. And before that – never. He only played 36 games and yet he managed to find eight in a row where he wouldn’t get a point? He’s only 32, but his 70-point days are behind him and frankly I think his 60-point days are probably behind him as well.

  Pominville played mostly with Koivu and Parise, but they didn’t click. At all. I’m sure they’ll be tried together again, but they have to find the magic quickly or Pominville will be on the second line. Of the three, Pominville was actually the best over the brief 10 games since he joined the team. But Parise had just six points in that 10-game span and Koivu had just two points.

  Niederreiter had 34 points in 34 games for Bridgeport of the AHL. Then the lockout ended and the Islanders didn’t invite him to camp. He had 16 points in 40 games after that (not to mention demanding a trade). My worry – did the little baby take his ball and go home? I wonder if he stamped his feet while he was pouting. A good prospect, lots of upside…but no thanks. I’m just not as interested in owning him.

  Spurgeon had just two points in his last 15 games – 20 games if you include the playoffs. Prior to that he was on a 44-point pace. A boom-or-bust pick because it would seem that Brodin is taking much of his PP time.

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Additions: D Keith Ballard, D Jonathon Blum, F Matt Cooke, D Jon Landry, F Nino Niederreiter.

Subtractions: D Drew Bagnall, F Pierre-Marc Bouchard, F Joel Broda, D Brett Clark, F Cal Clutterbuck, F Matt Cullen, G Jeff Deslauriers, G Dennis Endras, D Justin Falk, F Benn Ferriero, D Tom Gilbert, F David McIntyre, F Jarod Palmer, F Devin Setoguchi.

Promotion candidates: D Mathew Dumba, C Zack Phillips

Player salaries: $67,977,778 (23)
Cap Number: $66,768,034
Bonuses: $4,458,333
Cap Space: $1,990,299
Forwards: $42,42,795 (13)
Defensemen: $17,651,795 (8)
Goalies: $5,316,667 (2)
Source: CapGeek

Forwards
Zach Parise – Mikko Koivu – Charlie Coyle
Dany Heatley – Kyle Brodziak – Jason Pominville
Jason Zucker – Mikael Granlund – Matt Cooke
Torrey Mitchell – Zenon Konopka – Mike Rupp
Jake Dowell

Defensemen
Ryan Suter – Jonas Brodin
Clayton Stoner – Jared Spurgeon
Keith Ballard – Marco Scandella
Nate Prosser – Jonathon Blum

Goalies
Niklas Backstrom
Josh Harding

2013 Minnesota Draft Results 

Minnesota Wild Top Prospects

2012-13 Minnesota Wild Player Stats

Some info, stats and video taken from NHL.com’s 30-in-30 series.