The 2010 NHL Entry Draft is quickly approaching, as you can tell by all of the draft-centric posts on Hockey Wilderness and SBN Hockey as a whole (make sure you're reading that, by the way, because there's some really great coverage on all the sites).

Minnesotans have a thing about our lovely state - we love it and we love having homegrown talent. There is always the group who wishes the Wild had a Minnesotan on its roster or hopes the team drafts the Minnesotan player. Darby Hendrickson and Mark Parrish were both hometown boys who contributed for the Wild but there are also Minnesotan draft picks like A.J. Thelen.

That being said, there's a new crop of Minnesota boys in this upcoming draft (but, with the Wild picking ninth, it's very unlikely they will select a Minnesotan). Here's a graphic of some of the top Minnesota players in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft and their basics (position, hometown, teams). You can find a full list of Minnesotans available for the 2010 Draft here. Mouse over the stars to learn more about a player.

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