Wild Take Local Boy - No, Not That One

My first reaction to our pick was “that’s not what this team needs!” I guess now I would rephrase that as “that’s not what this team needs today.” Maybe that’s not such a bad thing overall, because really how many players in the first round are NHL ready? Relief from picking up a power forward would only come 2+ years down the line, and that’s only if we didn’t make the stupid move of pushing the player in too early like this organization has a history of doing.

I also think the the “sure thing” cutoff ends pretty quickly — maybe even before the 8th pick. I took a quick run through a few names on our roster to look where they got drafted:

Owen Nolan 1st overall
Mikko Koivu 6th
Pierre-Marc Bouchard 8th
James Sheppard 9th
Martin Skoula 17th
Brent Burns 20th
Nick Schultz 33rd
Dan Fritsche 46th
Cal Clutterbuck 72nd
Eric Belanger 96th
Andrew Brunette 174th
Marek Zidlicky 176th
Antti Miettinen 224th

Skoula got picked up 17th and Zidlicky 176th? Neither has unblemished records, and while I think Skoula is a more solid D-man, Zidlicky put up 42 points this year.

In Skoula’s same draft year (1998), the Leafs picked up Nikolai Antropov with their 10th pick, and he wasn’t expected to go until at least the second round.

The more I look at any kind of historical draft numbers, outside of the top 10 the level of success in the NHL appears to be more about luck than anything else.

I guess we’ll just have to wait a couple years to find out if we made the right gamble.

Is Martin St. Louis too small? Brian Gionta? Daniel Briere? No. And Thompson is a moron. He talks about how Leddy can generate offense, but he’s a freaking defenseman and schroeder is instant offense from a needed right-hand shot from center. And if it’s so much harder to find Leddy than Schroeder, why do we have so many puck moving defenseman in the system and nobody who can score?

Oh yeah, and by the way, Leddy was taken WAY too high.

Minnesota Wild trade their third round selection to the Nashville Predators after losing Birkholz.

Wild should have cleaned house and sent Tommy Thompson and Chris Snow out the door with Risebrough, Lynn and Lemaire.

Fletcher ****ed it up, and he better hope Schroeder blows a knee.

Quote: At 5’9/180, Schroeder isn’t the biggest freshman in stature, but he may be the most complete. Schroeder is a highly intelligent player that thinks and understands the game exceedingly well. He possesses excellent vision, awareness, and knows where plays will end up. He is instinctive and creative. Schroeder has the ability to make players around him better and his infectious enthusiasm and passion for the game is difficult to miss.

While some may feel that Schroeder’s lack of size could hinder his chances of being a top ten selection at the upcoming NHL Entry Draft, he has proven time and again that he is more than capable of competing against bigger and stronger players. Schroeder is remarkably strong on his skates and while he is still growing into his body, the strength that he now has he uses to great advantage. This can be seen in areas such as protecting the puck and his play along the boards. Schroeder has also demonstrated that he can handle the physically punishing aspects of the game as well.

Schroeder is an excellent skater with tremendous speed who is also very good in transition. He is versatile in that he can play both center and wing equally well. He is a superb playmaker with passing skills that are among the best in college hockey today. One aspect that sets him apart from many collegiate rookies is his great patience and poise with the puck.

Quote: More of a playmaker than a goal scorer, Schroeder danced around NCAA defenders all season, leading the Gophers with 32 assists along with his 13 goals. A true freshman, Schroeder has been twice selected to the US U20 World Junior team, leading the team this past year in Ottawa with 8 assists and 11 points through 6 games.

Quote: Some have been critical of Schroeder because of his size, but he would be a useful asset to any team in terms of his skill alone. Schroeder is a wizard with the puck, consistently findings ways to penetrate defenses with his deft stickhandling or speed. Schroeder does need to bulk up some to play professionally, but his skill level is already near-NHL caliber. Don’t be surprised to see Schroeder as a first or second-line center in the near future.

Quote: Jordan Schroeder has excelled with the Minnesota Golden Gophers as a star center. He possesses the skills do distribute the puck effectively every night. Jordan has a rare play-making ability similar to that of Daniel Briere. His passing is excellent but needs to shoot more often. He lacks NHL size, but makes up for it with deft skating and streamlined stick-handling. Look for Schroeder’s name to be called early in the first round this year in Montreal. He will likely be a top-flight talent in the NHL for years to come.

Quote: NHL Central Scouting’s Jack Barzee
"He’s a dynamic player, a leader and a type of player that has developed into a complete offensive and defensive threat every time he is on the ice. He has a rocket of a wrist shot and he can beat you by putting the puck in the net, going around a defender, or freezing the goaltender and passing it off to one of his wingers. The concern is going to be his overall size, like there was with Scott Gomez, with Brian Gionta and with Patrick Kane, but at the same age he is probably a little thicker and a little bit more compact than they were. He’s a great hockey player."

Quote: The biggest surprise among the upper-body strength measurements was University of Minnesota center Jordan Schroeder. Despite measuring in at 5-8.25 and 175 pounds, he did 17 repetitions of 150 pounds on the bench press, one fewer than the leaders — Saginaw right wing Jordan Szwarz, Erie center Ryan O’Reilly and Swedish forward Carl Klingberg. Schroeder also generated 351 pounds on the push-strength measure, one pound less than leader Carter Ashton of the Lethbridge Hurricanes.