2016-17 Central Division Preview: Minnesota Wild
The Wild made a bold coaching move, bringing in Bruce Boudreau to change their fortunes. Will he get them into the playoffs? Will they get him past the conference final?
Central Division Previews:
Dallas Stars
Nashville Predators
St. Louis Blues
Winnipeg Jets
Colorado Avalanche
Boudreau isn’t the only established name added in Minnesota this summer. Veteran Eric Staal signed with the Wild to help their forward depth. It looks like Charlie Coyle will center the top line for the Wild with Zach Parise and Staal to begin the year.
With Thomas Vanek gone, the Wild will need someone to step up and spark an offense that only had three players eclipse the 20-goal plateau last year. Just before the season began, the Wild claimed forward Teemu Pulkkinen off waivers from Detroit. The 24-year-old couldn’t crack the Red Wings roster, appearing in only 70 games over the last three years. Now he already appears to have a role on the Wild power play.
Somehow, the Blackhawks don’t face the Wild until Jan. 15 this season, meaning there will be plenty of division games between the two down the stretch.
Here’s the official roster for Minnesota as we begin the 2016-17 season:
Forwards
Charlie Coyle
Zac Daple
Mikael Granlund
Erik Haula
Mikko Koivu (C)
Nino Niederreiter
Zach Parise (A)
Jason Pominville
Teemu Pulkkinen
Eric Staal
Chris Stewart
Jason Zucker
Defense
Jonas Brodin
Matt Dumba
Christian Folin
Nate Prosser
Mike Reilly
Marco Scandella
Jared Spurgeon
Ryan Suter (A)
Goaltenders
Devan Dubnyk
Darcy Kuemper
Not at all related, but wanted to report that hawks prospect Iacopelli recorded a hat trick last night with 7 shots on goal and +2. Granted this was Western Michigan University playing Bowling Green and the final score was 8-2, but its nice to see production from players lower on the prospect chain. He’s a big forward at
6-3, 206 lbs and hopefully playing a lead roll at WMU will help him gain a lot of experience. He’s a sophomore so he will have plenty of time to develop.
Gander- good to know… He has a very heavy shot… BUT- He is 22 year old Sophomore… so he needs to develop now!
Real prospect on that team is Wade Allison- Freshman- drafted by Flyers
Fortin went pointless in his first game for Rouyn-Noranda…then had 3 helpers in his 2nd.
Debrincat has 15 points in 6 games. 2goals 2 assists in their last game. A 7-1 drubbing of London.
Knott has played in 3 fewer games than others on his team but has 2 more points.
Bondra leads his team in points
Thx guys for info …too bad i use to look on Hawks NHL ..but now the site is empty for the young guns. Cant follow the kids in the system like before ….fact is that there is nothing on NHL.com for the kids ….you dont have …the …in the sytem anymore with the kids in europe or everywhere.
Big lost for information
Bad move for NHL.com
Hawks2010
the Prospect Stats are still there… just gotta do some digging
Click Sections Tab- top left
scroll down to Stats (I think it’s labeled)– click — then click “In the system”
and you will get the same Prospect scoring at most levels– updates every Monday
like the old system
In general- I do hate the New NHL- forced system– seems slower to me
Slower. Muddier. More difficult to use. Things that happen when baseball takes over your hockey site.