Are they part of the future or not? Player depth chart of the Minnesota Wild. Luke Kunin (in return to Nashville, also a variety of picks went hither and thither) is a very weak forward. In 2019-20, the Minnesota Wild‘s goaltending was easily the team’s weakest link.. … Take a glance at the numbers after the 2018-19 Petes season and you might wonder not only why the Wild would selected Jones in the second round, but why they would have traded third and fourth round picks to get him. Minnesota had to hide these deficiencies by playing him with strong defensive forwards in Joel Eriksson Ek, Jordan Greenway and Marcus Foligno. Kaapo Kähkönen, the 23 year old prospect from Finland, was drafted by the Minnesota Wild in the 2014 NHL Draft 109th overall. A squad of Wild prospects will compete in the 2019 NHL Prospect Tournament from Sept. 6-10. Fiala, Mats Zuccarello and even Kirill Kaprizov favor Kunin’s position at right wing. Kirill Kaprizov is a no-brainer for the Wild’s top prospect — he was the team’s fifth … Former Minnesota Golden Gophers goaltender Mat Robson has signed a two year, entry level contract with the Minnesota Wild. The Minnesota Wild are looking to the future in goal. Should the State of Hockey be worried about Nashville avenging the Fiala trade? Devan Dubnyk's struggles led to Alex Stalock starting all four games of Minnesota… With Kuemper still week-to-week and Raanta looking like he won’t return for the rest of the season, it … The problem there was that Donato had little value. 37. Matt Boldy, Winger, USA. Change may be imminent between the pipes at Xcel Energy Center as Minnesota Wild General Manager Bill Guerin refused to back the goalies who started the majority of games for his club in the pandemic-shaken 2019-20 season. [21] pic.twitter.com/OBznkvb89D, — Micah Blake McCurdy (@IneffectiveMath) October 7, 2020. Geurin is showing that he’s neither afraid to make those determinations nor act on them. Beyond that, most believe that the heir apparent to the #1 spot is Kaapo Kähkönen, who has been stellar in the AHL and has looked promising in limited action with the Wild. Igor Shestyorkin (New York Rangers) 6’1″ 187 KHL. Filip Johansson, D – Leksand (SHL) Age: 19. They wisely stayed put at ninth overall to scoop up a falling Marco Rossi, and called it a day. At some point, however, you have to make a call with young players. Teams in today’s NHL are looking for goalies that are big and athletic - see Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy and Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck. Drafted: 24th overall in the first round … Guerin knew this and sold high before Kunin found himself struggling to find ice time. Minnesota’s prospect pool has a lot of talent, but not a lot of elite speed. Guerin clearly didn’t want to make the same mistake with Kunin. The Russian from SKA St. Petersburg reads a little bit like Rossi at first. Sensational saves from @mnwild prospect Hunter Jones (@ShutoutsJones) guided @PetesOHLhockey to a 37-win season. While scouts seem to all align on Jones’ strengths, many seem to disagree on what his weaknesses are. And even though scouts are mixed on Jones’ upside (The Athletic’s Corey Pronman being one of the most prominent naysayers), one person who was impressed to see Jones play in person was current Wild goaltender Alex Stalock. Recap: Depth leads Wild to win vs. With the emergence of Kaapo Kahkonen as the apparent starter of the future, Minnesota may also be open to moving their goalie prospects and they own two desirable names in first-year pro Hunter Jones and NCAA star Filip Lindberg. Wild veteran goalie Devan Dubnyk. He was 22 then, with 10 goals and 32 points in 64 games. The Wild got punished for holding onto him for too long. Tony also hosts 10K Rinks Radio with Joe Bouley. Fresh off the draft, Jones started the season very strong in 2019-20, backstopping the Petes to an 8-1-0 record on the strength of a 2.34 GAA and .923 save percentage. minnesota wild top goalie prospect wins ahl award The Minnesota Wild seemed to have their goalie situation under control when they signed Devan Dubnyk in 2015 to a contract that carried a cap hit of roughly 4,3 million dollars, effective until after the 2020-21 season. Arizona Coyotes Goalie Injuries Forcing Them To Go With Reserve Goalies It now is up to third string goalie Adin Hill and taxi squad netminder Ivan Prosvetov. He was named the OHL’s player of the week for October 14-20, and the goalie of the month for all of October. Some see a goalie who needs to work on his skating and lateral movement. There wasn’t much of a future for Kunin in Minnesota. He also was one of the few Wild forwards to step up in the postseason, scoring two goals. 2020 is the first time in team history that Minnesota has had three top-40 picks in the draft. In terms of athleticism, Jones uses his quick reaction, strong blocker and lightning quick glove hand to snag high danger shots, while his quick, efficient movement allows him to get back and forth from the butterfly to make the save, redirect the rebound and prepare for the next scoring opportunity. Although Kähkönen was drafted in 2014, he didn’t come to the U.S. to play for the Iowa Wild, (Minnesota’s AHL affiliate) until the 2018-2019 season. A: The Wild let go of former Gopher Mat Robson after last season, in which he went 11-10-7 with a 2.97 goals-against average and .901 save percentage in 26 games with Iowa of … Full Minnesota Wild roster for the 2020-21 season including position, height, weight, birthdate, years of experience, and college. He swapped Luke Kunin and the 101st pick to the Nashville Predators for Nick Bonino and the 37th and 70th overall picks. The Wild Have A Playoff-Quality Goaltending Tandem, It’s Time to Stop Re-Litigating the Matt Boldy Pick. Acquired: Drafted in 2nd round (59th overall) of 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Kunin had some success in his counting stats and may well score 20 goals some day, perhaps even regularly. Khusnutdinov is young for this draft class (he turned 18 in … Both are small centers who possess a ton of skill and provide solid two-way value. Now, Backstrom has put up numbers that compare with the best in the business while holding down the number one spot in Minnesota. Kirill Kaprizov, LW. The top goaltender prospect in the draft, Spencer Knight, went one selection later to the Florida Panthers. 2020-21 Minnesota Wild depth chart for all positions. For the Minnesota Wild fanbase, that means latching onto the hope that prospects present. Coming into the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, hockey journalists, prognosticators and bloggers were all asking the question: would Minnesota Wild general manager Paul Fenton drop his “best player available” strategy and go off the board to address a pressing need in net, making the Wild the first team in nine years to take a goalie in the top 12? Will Khusnutdinov ever become as good of a player as Kunin? As it turned out, Fenton kept to his promise of taking the best player on his board and grabbed forward Matthew Boldy with the 12th overall pick. Bill Guerin on Wild goalie situation: 'I can't promise anybody a spot'. The second match of a back-to-back has Minnesota trying to get the better of San Jose yet again. Get a complete list of current starters and backup players from your favorite team and league on CBSSports.com. 20 spot on this year’s ranking. Your daily dose of Wild news, along with other interesting stories from around the NHL. Probably not. No goalie acquisitions, no dealing of veterans like Matt Dumba, just a moment for the hot stove to cool. Take in his finest work in this @AshleyHomeStore #OHL Highlight Reel pic.twitter.com/KrRnhR011C. Jones’ numbers dipped a little bit over the second half of the season, but he still managed to finish the year fourth in the OHL in goals against average, fifth in save percentage, fourth in wins and tied for second in shutouts among starting goaltenders. Khusnutdinov is young for this draft class (he turned 18 in June), so he won’t be ready for a bit. If you’ve ever wondered why the Wild have always struggled to put together an elite prospect pool, that’s a big reason why. With seventh-round pick Filip Lindberg and undrafted free agent Derek Baribeau representing the only other real goalie prospects in the system, the Wild must really like what they see in … Let’s dive a little deeper into the latest chapter of the Wild’s aggressive reorganization. Robson arrived in the Twin Cities fresh out of the BCHL for the 2017/2018 season. All-Star winger Marian Gaborik returned from a groin injury in January 2007 and made an immediate impact, bringing a new spark to a lacking offense. No guarantees for Devan Dubnyk or Alex Stalock. Tony Abbott is a contributor for 10K Rinks, covering the Minnesota Wild. The Wild’s historical penchant for making moves at the NHL trade deadline didn’t extend to Bill Guerin‘s second season as the general manager. Go Premium for Elite Prospects Support. Jones continued to improve with the Petes in 2019-20, using his raw athletic ability and size to lead the Petes to a second-place finish in the OHL’s East Division, finishing behind Marco Rossi’s Ottawa 67s. Whether or not the Wild scouts were right on Jones remains to be seen. Jones, 19, is one of the better goalie prospects … But he is far from the player Fiala was at the time of his trade. To get this upgrade at center, they had to part with Kunin, a 22-year-old former first-round pick. Some think Jones has an issue focusing on the game and seeing the puck. That dimension just got added to the Wild’s future. Kunin could score enough (0.92 goals per hour at 5-on-5) and was one of few players who shot the puck (8.02 per hour). The tandem of Manny Fernandez and Dwayne Roloson took the Wild to the Western Conference finals. Minnesota Wild general manager Bill Guerin has been busy signing a number of encouraging youngsters to entry-level contracts over the last few days, and he kept the trend going Thursday by signing goalie prospect Hunter Jones to a three-year, entry-level deal. Corey Pronman of The Athletic says of him “He’s able to make highly creative plays with the puck, improvise in tough situations and be very coordinated in small spaces.”. The Minnesota Wild’s future will be front and center in Traverse City, Mich., this weekend. Jones may not yet be in their class in terms of skill, but at 6-foot-4 and 194 pounds, he’s definitely got one thing you can’t coach - pure size. Of particular note are the embedded statistics for each of the players provided by hockeydb.com or eliteprospects.com.Indeed, the website was first put together so the author could more easily follow prospects that had not yet made the MN Wild roster! Golden Knights right wing Alex Tuch (89) is unable to score as Minnesota Wild goaltender Cam Talbot (33) defends the et and wins the game 3-2 during the shootout of an NHL game at T … General manager Bill Guerin must’ve hated the downtime, as he started off Day 2 of the draft with a splash. Unlike Donato, Kunin’s point totals were trending up, and a 22-year-old playing 15 minutes a night is an easy player for teams to talk themselves into, particularly when they have a first-round pedigree. 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