As the Wild so deftly proved during the post season, we are not a perfect team; in fact, far from it. With the impending free agency period quietly sneaking up on us, there’s no exaggeration in saying that our line up and our roster will look much differently next season. Based on the players that I believe the team should/will keep, our lines will look something similar to this prior to the free agency period:
Vacant/Vacant/Marian Gaborik
Brian Rolston/Mikko Koivu/Pierre-Marc Bouchard
Todd Fedoruk/James Sheppard/Mark Parrish
Stephane Vellieux/Eric Belanger/Benoit Pouliot
Extras: Derek Boogaard, Aaron Voros
Nick Schultz/Kim Johnsson
Brent Burns/Martin Skoula
Eric Reitz/Vacant
Extras: Kurtis Foster (LTIR)
Niklas Backstrom
Josh Harding
Barring any earth shattering moves, this is likely what I think our team will look like coming up to July 1st. I’m sure many people will take exception to the fact that I penciled both Boogaard and Voros in as extras, but the reason I did so was two fold. First, in Boogaard’s case, he plays so infrequently when he’s dressed that there’s really no line you can pencil him in on. Second, in Voros’s case, if he’s playing well he’ll be getting first line ice time with Gaborik, but if he’s not he’ll be getting fourth line ice time with Vellieux and Belanger. These two players are really our wild cards, as they cannot really be inserted concretely onto any line.
So, this example tells us a couple things about the team needs. First off, we need a couple players to complement Gaborik on the first line; BUT those players may also be able to be found within the roster itself. Fedoruk, Rolston, Parrish and Voros have all seen time flanking Gaborik on his other wing while Sheppard, Belanger, Koivu and Pouliot have all seen time centering him. The reason why I chose to leave the top line center and wing open is, quite frankly, I like the players I listed where they are at and it’s where I feel they will most likely start the season at. The line of Rolston/Koivu/Bouchard had a great deal of success during the playoffs and I think that you would be hard pressed for Jacques to break this line up. Sheppard is ready to start taking more minutes and playing a more offensive role, which will likely see him playing the pivot on Gaborik’s line, but he will likely start in a third or second line situation. We all know how rookies have to earn their ice time with Lemaire, so putting Pouliot on the fourth line is not much of a stretch at all. This example also shows, however, that we do not necessarily need these players to be top line players. We have the luxury of being able to have a 1A and 1B line, especially with Rolston, Koivu and Bouchard being our second line. Because of that, we don’t need to be looking for the Hossa’s and the Sundin’s of this year’s free agency period.
It also shows us that, on defense, we need a top-four d-man to fill the gaps. Skoula, though he played admirably in Foster’s absence, is not Foster. Foster really started to develop into a true top-four d-man last season and was a huge asset to us on both the powerplay and penalty kill. It was quite obvious that he was missed going into the playoffs and proved that the “depth” that we had at the position was not the right players at the right time. On defense, we have the luxury of having three d-men that can play against a team’s top line at any point, which is great, but we don’t have that fourth d-man that we can insert in there with any sense of confidence. Reitz looked good playing limited minutes during the playoffs, and Skoula didn’t look bad towards the end of the season; but he, just as every other d-man on our roster during the playoffs, was overplayed and exhausted by the end of the game. Again, we don’t need a marquee name here, but we need a player that can be a minute muncher and that Lemaire can feel comfortable playing to give our top three a break.
That’s all for this time. In the next installment of my off season columns, I’ll be looking at a few free agents that the Wild both have already been tied to and I feel may/should pursue this off season.
Side Note: For those of you who have not checked it out yet, I encourage you to check out WCSN.com for coverage of the IIHF World Championships. It’s a recurring payment of $4.95 per month and you get access to watching all of the World Championship games both live and on demand. If you want to see some absolutely unbelievable hockey, you should check it out. I’ve yet to watch a game that hasn’t been great to watch!
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