SBN Mock Expansion Draft: Who Did the Wild Lose?

by BReynolds on Sep 7, 2010 1:27 PM CDT

The SBNation mock expansion draft has reached its zenith. The rosters have been chosen, and the GMs are now sorting out what to do with their newly selected squads. Who did the Wild lose? What are the options on the table for replacing them?

Make the jump and find out.

To put your minds at ease, the Wild lost:

Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Josh Harding.

Harding was selected with the fourth pick in the draft, going to the new Winnipeg team, and Bouchard was selected 10th, going to Quebec.

Gabe from Behind the Net is a huge supporter of Harding's, and he is basing the success of his new team on whether or not Harding can find consistency with increased playing time. If you read the post, he built a team around defense, so it would be likely that Harding would benefit from that.

As for Bouchard, he was taken by none other than James Mirtle for the new Nordiques squad. He is taking a huge risk, but with huge risk can come huge rewards. Butch is a 60 point forward when healthy, and that would be valuable on a new team. Mirtle must be hoping that Krys Barch can intimidate the hell out of the opposition, because he also took Scott Gomez in the draft.

What Now?

Since this is all for fun, what would you do now? You need a back-up goalie and a top line right winger. With the current free agents available, and with the current roster, who do you put where? Trades are not out of the question, in fact with the new found cap space, would be welcome. Since trades are so wide open to debate and fans tend to overvalue, let's just say we promote from within or hire a free agent.

The back-up goalie seems an obvious move, with Anton "Borat" Khudobin moving into the role for the season. None of the free agent goalies still available are worth paying the money to ride the bench, and no other goalie in the system has any NHL experience.

The top line forward question is a totally different matter. The easy solution would be to leave Mittens up there, right? Is that the best option? Right wings left on the team are Martin Havlat, Cal Clutterbuck, and Eric Nystrom. Havlat has had zero chemistry with Koivu, but it's an option. Clutterbuck and Nystrom are not top line talent, so maybe it is best to explore the free agents.

Bill Guerin? Owen Nolan is still out there, but it is unlikely either of them want to play for the Wild. Most of the free agent class that are still left are either grizzled vets (read: slow) or are nothing overly special.

My bet, without a trade, the Wild would sign one of the cheaper vets, and move Mittens back to the top line.

Now it is your turn. What would you do?

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Comments

I agree with bringing Khudobin up as a backup and saving some money. This would give Hackett a ton of time to develop in the AHL and maybe give Kuemper a shot to turn pro.

As for the top line, I think signing Jonathan Cheechoo to a 1 year deal would be a decent solution. He’s only 30 and has a decent nose for the net (something the Wild could use more of). If that doesn’t work, Guerin, Nolan, or maybe even Miro Satan would be a good addition

….or we could bring back Richard Park.

by ADN on Sep 7, 2010 2:24 PM CDT reply actions

Cheechoo would be a risk, but I think for a small contract, it would be possible and reasonable.

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by BReynolds on Sep 7, 2010 3:11 PM CDT up reply actions

SBN Mock Expansion Draft: Who Did the Wild Lose?

Well first off I too would have Khudobin as backup. Second off we can’t sign Jonathan Cheechoo anyways because he is on the Dallas Stars roster. But I have a few guys who I think would be good additions to the team. In no particular order Vyacheslav Kozlov(he might cost a little more than we’d be willing to pay but still a thought),Ruslan Fedotenko,Jere Lehtinen,Christopher Higgins,Taylor Pyatt,Evgeny Artyukhin and Marek Svatos(he too may cost more than were willing to spend). Anyways out of all those guys I’d probably go with Fedotenko or Pyatt who I think at least with Fedotenko we could sign for like 1 million for a year which I think is pretty decent. Anyways these are just my thoughts not just for for the mock draft but even for real.

by bbgarnett on Sep 7, 2010 9:34 PM CDT reply actions

Cheechoo is only on a tryout with the Stars

he hasn’t signed a contract.

by ADN on Sep 8, 2010 3:14 PM CDT up reply actions

Cheechoo

OK I still thought that meant no other team could sign him to a contract since I tired looking up free agents and he’s not on there and then I went to yahoo and was looking up players and when you type in a players name who is a FA he won’t show up and well Cheechoo showed up as a Dallas Star so I just thought that meant that we wouldn’t be able to sign him unless the stars released him or whatever it would be called since he’s trying out. So even though he is trying out with them does that mean we could still sign him. Anyways I’d still go with Fedotenko or Pyatt unless we could sign Cheechoo for somewhere between 500 and 750 thousand for 1 year then I’d say it’s worth the risk at such a low cost . I think that’s what the stars might sign him for, while it’s been a few years since Cheechoo was productive on the ice, he offers a high ceiling on a team that is looking for low-cost alternatives to fill out the roster(Dallas Stars). I also think the same could be said for us to if we signed him it’d be low cost/risk and a high ceiling because of his age 30 like you said and I mean he had 56 goals one season, so he knows what to do with the puck. I mean as long as he can play a whole season that’s only happened like twice every other year he has missed like 10 to 20 games so as long as he can play a whole season and then coming into a system that is offensive minded I think could do him some good and could maybe get him up to a 45 or 55 point season maybe even more which would be great.

by bbgarnett on Sep 8, 2010 3:38 PM CDT reply actions

I researched a little more

and found that the Stars signed Cheechoo to a tryout contract, so you’re partially right. I’ve had a hard time finding out exactly what a tryout contract is, but I’ve gathered that it’s not a contract for the actual season.

So maybe the Stars have first dibs on signing him now? And I’m assuming if they don’t sign him then he returns to being an UFA.

As for Cheechoo’s possible impact for the Wild, I definitely agree with you. He’s a huge wild card, but there would be little risk involved if he didn’t pan out (see: Petr Sykora).

by ADN on Sep 8, 2010 5:20 PM CDT up reply actions

Cheechoo

OK I was wondering since I was all confused with what the stars did since it said he was on tryout but also it made it sound like he was signed so yeah that’s good to know. But yeah I mean the Petr Sykora thing didn’t work out but it didn’t really impact us salary wise or anything so yeah I agree he’d be worth the risk since we could just release him or send him down or whatever and he’d probably come cheaply.

by bbgarnett on Sep 8, 2010 9:20 PM CDT reply actions