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Luke Kunin Turns Pro; Signs ATO With Iowa Wild

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One of the biggest names in college hockey is set to join the professional ranks, as Luke Kunin has signed an entry-level deal with the Minnesota Wild. He’ll start on an amateur tryout for the remainder of this season, with his entry-level deal kicking in next fall. This had been expected for some time, but Wild fans can finally uncross their fingers and let out a sigh of relief. The University of Wisconsin center will be an interesting option for the NHL team as soon as next year. Luke Kunin

Selected fifteenth overall last summer, Kunin returned to Wisconsin for his sophomore season and improved in basically every way. Scoring 38 points in 35 games to lead his team, he improved his defensive game and took fewer penalties while being more physical. He was given the captaincy of the Badgers, the first sophomore to wear the “C” in over four decades, and also wore the same letter for Team USA at the World Junior Championships. He is a born leader on and off the ice, and may one day wear something on a Minnesota Wild sweater.

Given the Wild’s fairly deep forward group, Kunin may have to wait a year in the AHL before making his mark on the big stage. That shouldn’t slow him down though, as he’s heading for the NHL one day to be sure. With Iowa in a very tight race for the final playoff spot in the Central Division, Kunin will get a taste of the tight-checking hockey he’ll have to face down the line. It will be a good learning experience for him as he jumps right into the fire.

Kunin represents one of a handful of top Minnesota prospects that will start to replace the aging core of Mikko Koivu, Zach Parise and Jason Pominville over the next few years. Jordan Greenway, Kirill Kaprizov and Alex Tuch all look like they’ll be impact players in the NHL one day, as the Wild continue to show off their drafting skills. While they battle with the Chicago Blackhawks for the crown of the best in the West, there are more good days ahead for the Minnesota franchise and their fans.

Deadline Primer: Minnesota Wild

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With the trade deadline now just a week away, we continue to take a closer look at each team. Where do they stand, what do they need to do, and what assets do they have to fill those needs?

After slipping into the playoffs last year with less than 90 points and the final wildcard position, only to get punched in the mouth by the Dallas Stars and go home early, the Minnesota Wild needed a change. They’d fired their coach halfway through the season, and were relying on an aging (but excellent) core of Mikko Koivu, Zach Parise and Ryan Suter too much to succeed.

Enter Bruce Boudreau and the kids. After good solid seasons from the young guns a year ago, many of them have exploded to the forefront of the team this season, with Mikael Granlund, Nino Niederreiter, Charlie Coyle, and Jason Zucker all already setting career-highs in points through 59 games. They’re leading the Western Conference by five points and look poised for a deep playoff run.

Record

39-14-6, 1st in Central Division

Deadline Status

Buyer

Deadline Cap Space

$5.20MM – full-season cap hit, 47/50 contracts per CapFriendly.

Draft Picks

2017: MIN 1st, MIN 3rd, MIN 4th, MIN 5th, MIN 6th, MIN 7th
2018: MIN 1st, MIN 2nd, MIN 3rd, MIN 4th, MIN 5th, MIN 6th, MIN 7th

Trade Chips

Minnesota will almost surely avoid trading anything off the roster that has put them in prime position for a Stanley Cup run, meaning they’ll have to use draft picks and prospects as bait if they want to add anything next week. It’s a shame they don’t have their second-round pick from this season—which they traded to Buffalo for Chris Stewart back in 2015—since they are used so often in rental deals. Jason Pominville

The Wild do however have a fairly stocked cupboard of prospects that could be waived in front of a team looking to get younger. Their drafting the last decade (or longer) though not perfect in the first round has unearthed plenty of talent in later selections. They’ve picked players like Cal Clutterbuck (3rd), Justin Falk (4th), Marco Scandella (2nd), Erik Haula (7th), Darcy Kuemper (6th), Zucker (2nd) and Johan Larsson (2nd) all outside of the first round and found excellent value in each.

If a team really wants to go after youth, they could ask for prospects like Jordan Greenway, who showed off his skills at the most recent World Juniors. Kirill Kaprisov is tearing up the KHL as a 19-year old, and it was recently reported that he’ll play for CSKA next season. Alex Tuch is showing his ability at the AHL level after a dominating NCAA career, and Luke Kunin continues to captain the University of Wisconsin up the college hockey rankings. It would be crazy to trade any of these names for a rental, but if the Wild want to enter the ring of possible long-term upgrades, they have the pieces to do it.

One Player To Watch: F Jason Pominville, who has a big cap-hit and is playing much less due to the emergence of the young guns is a contract that the Wild may look to move out if they’re to make any improvements.

Team Needs

1) Wing Depth – The Wild would like to move Coyle back to center ice if possible, but they’d need a winger who can jump into their top-six to do it. Jannik Hansen has been rumored to be on their radar, but a player like Patrick Eaves seems a better fit. It’s not guaranteed that they’ll do anything, though GM Chuck Fletcher has said that they have some “unproven depth” at forward.

2) Center – The nice thing about having Coyle is that if you can’t find the upgrade at the wing you could always acquire a center instead and leave him out there. Arizona’s Martin Hanzal was quoted today by Chris Hine of the Chicago Tribune as saying he wants to stay in the middle even if traded, which would still be possible for the Wild.

Snapshots: Granlund, Red Wings, MacKenzie, Bennett

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A big part of the reason that Wild forward Mikael Granlund is having a breakout season has been the decision to play him almost exclusively on the wing, writes Michael Russo of the Star Tribune.  Minnesota experimented with him on that side late last year under former interim head coach John Torchetti and new bench boss Bruce Boudreau decided to keep the duo of Granlund with Mikko Koivu at center together.

The call to keep them together has certainly worked out for the Wild.  Granlund has 36 points already this season (just eight shy of matching his career best from last year) while Koivu is on pace for a 60 point campaign, a mark he hasn’t reached since 2010-11.  Meanwhile, Minnesota leads the Western Conference in goals scored, something we’re not used to seeing from a club that had a long-time reputation as a defense-first squad.

Other notes from around the league:

  • In what appears to be merely a procedural move, the Red Wings will transfer goalie Jimmy Howard onto LTIR, reports Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press. There’s no indication of a setback for the netminder, who has been skating in recent days.  However, doing so will allow the team to activate Darren Helm off of LTIR without requiring any further roster moves as he is close to returning and could suit up tomorrow.  Helm has been out of the lineup since November 15th due to a dislocated shoulder.  If he is activated, center Steve Ott is expected to be placed on injured reserve with a shoulder injury to open a spot on the active 23-man roster.
  • Panthers captain Derek MacKenzie reached a rare milestone yesterday. By suiting up in his 500th career NHL game last night, he became just the eighth player to play in 500 games at both the NHL and AHL levels, via the AHL’s Communications Department (Twitter link).
  • The Flames announced that center Sam Bennett will be a healthy scratch for the first time this season. The fourth overall pick in 2014 has been mired in a major slump lately, scoring just three goals without any assists in his last 19 games.  Calgary also received some good news on the injury front today as winger Micheal Ferland is set to return from a lower body injury that caused him to miss the last three games.

Snapshots: NHL Three Stars, Grabner, Koivu

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The NHL has named Steve Mason, Vladimir Tarasenko, and Martin Jones as the three stars of the week.

Mason went 4-0-0 with a 0.945 SV% and a 1.71 GAA. He made 120 saves in those four games. Mason’s great week has boosted the Flyers back into a wildcard spot. He’s one win away from tying his career-best winning streak. Mason now has a 9-8-3 record with a 0.908 SV% and a 2.76 GAA for the season. Prior to his hot week, he had a save percentage of 0.892, which is not good for a starting goalie.

Tarasenko had four goals and five points in four games as the Blues earned five of six possible points. He scored the overtime winner against Dallas on November 28th, and then potted a hat-trick on December 1 against the Lightning. His four points against Tampa Bay matched his career high. Tarasenko now has 27 points in 25 games, good for third in the NHL behind only Connor McDavid (34 points) and Nikita Kucherov (29 points).

Jones had a 3-0-0 record with a 0.962 SV% and a goals-against of 1.01. He allowed just one goal in each appearance, as the Sharks passed Edmonton for first in the Pacific Division. Jones is tied for second among goalies with 13 wins, and has a sparkling 0.924 SV% and 1.99 GAA with two shutouts.

  • The New York Rangers will be without Michael Grabner on Tuesday night. After the speedy winger practiced on the fourth defense pair with Adam Clendening, NHL Live host Jim Cerny tweeted that Grabner had a death in his family and will be a scratch against the Islanders. Grabner has been lights-out this year, with 13 goals in 26 games so far.
  • Wild captain Mikko Koivu had a tremendous game on Sunday night. He scored the overtime winner, dangling around Oilers goalie Jonas Gustavsson, but also won an astounding 91.3% of his face-offs (21/23). In a league where a face-off percentage higher than 50% is considered good, Koivu had an unreal night. He’s currently sitting at 55% on the season.

Full List Of Mandatory-Protection Players In Expansion Draft

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Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston has published the full list of players who, due to no-movement clauses in their current contracts, must be protected in the upcoming expansion draft for the new Vegas Golden Knights. These are players who will count against the protection limits should they choose not to waive their NMC rights prior to the draft.

Each team has the right to protect either:

A) Seven forwards, three defenders, one goaltender

or

B) Eight skaters, one goaltender

These players will count against those numbers, and as Johnston points out, there are some notable inclusions and omissions from this group. Players like Jordan Staal, Rick Nash and Bobby Ryan all had incorrect information spread about their contracts. The former two will now need protection, while the latter will not, due to his deal only having a no-movement to the minors clause.

The Chicago Blackhawks, with eight players listed, will have little flexibility at the draft, with only four forward spots (or one defenseman) left to use. Many others, according to Johnston, including Toronto’s Nathan Horton, are likely to be made exempt if they are still on LTIR as the draft approaches.

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2016-17 Season Preview: Minnesota Wild

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As the NHL season is now less than a month away, we continue our look at each team’s offseason and preview the upcoming year. Today, we focus on the Minnesota Wild.

Last Season: 38-33-11 record (87 points), 5th in the Central Division.  Lost 4-2 to Dallas in Round 1.

Remaining Cap Space: $2.1MM as per Cap Friendly

Key Newcomers: D Victor Bartley (free agency, Montreal), Head Coach Bruce Boudreau, W Chris Stewart (free agency, Anaheim), C Eric Staal (free agency, NY Rangers)

Key Departures: RW Justin Fontaine (PTO, Florida), RW David Jones (free agency, unsigned), C Chris Porter (PTO, St. Louis), C Jarret Stoll (PTO, Columbus), Head Coach John Torchetti (was the interim coach last season), RW Thomas Vanek (buyout, Detroit)

[Related: Wild Depth Chart from Roster Resource]

Player to Watch: C Mikael Granlund: Over the last three seasons, Granlund has been a quality secondary player but has yet to take that next big step forward into a true core piece for the franchise.  On the international stage, he is routinely one of Finland’s go-to players but he hasn’t been consistent enough to be one regularly in Minnesota.

With a new coach and system (more on that momentarily), the chance is there for Granlund to take those next steps and become a core player up front.  If he needs any more motivation, he’s heading into the second and final year of a bridge deal that carries a salary of $3.2MM and a cap hit of $3MM.  This is his big chance to prove that he’s worthy of a long-term, big money contract, not to mention a bigger role on the team.

He may have to spend some time on the wing this season (with Mikko Koivu and newcomer Eric Staal also at center) but if he does, he should at least still be in a top six role on a regular basis.  The opportunity is there for Granlund; can he take advantage of it?

Key Storyline: The Wild have historically been known as a defense-first team dating back to the days of Jacques Lemaire as head coach.  Even in recent years with different coaches behind the bench, that still has been the case as the team has finished in the top half in NHL scoring just once since Lemaire left following the 2008-09 campaign.

Expect things to be different with Bruce Boudreau behind the bench.  His teams have a penchant for being in the top-10 in goals scored and he preaches more of an up-tempo system, something Minnesota hasn’t utilized much in recent years.  Will that style of play help get veteran players like Staal, Zach Parise, and Jason Pominville back to the numbers they have shown themselves to be capable of producing?  If that happens without hurting the team too much at the defensive end while youngsters like Granlund and Nino Niederreiter continue to improve, this is a team capable of surprising in the West.

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