Wild Prospect Depth Analysis: Defense Pt. 2

The Aero's has tons of defensive depth with Jared Spurgeon and Marco Scandella highlighting the group. Now, how about juniors and college?

The Wild have no draft picks in juniors, only prospect signings, and have no defensive prospects in Europe. They have two college defensemen draft picks but the Wild have aggressively tried to fill up their lack of forward and defensmen prospects through signings. It has seemed to help the depth of the team, and perhaps even found a great player in Spurgeon.

And I'll apologize for my below-average coding skills. Apparently, I linked a few wrong pictures and wrong links. I copy and pasted HTML coding and I guess it got mixed up. I think its all good now.

So, lets continue our analysis of defensemen in this part 2:

The first of this years group of Wild free-agent college signings, Chay Genoway brings an offensive game to the blueline.

Like Maxim Noreau, Genoway is undersized but mobile. He is a four time All-WCHA pick and has been Notre Dame's captain for the past two seasons.

GM Fletcher will hope he can develop with the Aeros and perhaps transition his game to the NHL.

big size ... likes to play physical ... long reach ... decent puck skills ... hard shot ... finalist for Mr.Hockey Award (2006) ... needs to improve his skating ... limited offensive upside

I may be wrong, but I figured since Medvec is a senior, he will have to be signed by the Wild if they want to retain his rights. I could be wrong, but to me, that only makes sense.

The huge defensive defenseman showed up during this seasons developmental camp and towered over many of the Wild prospects. He plays a safe game, which he brought back as assistant captain to University of Vermont.

tough, stay-at-home defenseman ... skates well ... good size ... smart hockey player ... plays physical ... limited offensive abilities ...

Another defensive defenseman prospect within the Wild organization, Lorenz has been quietly doing very well.

Lorenz won the CCHA Defensive Defenseman of the Year and will potentially be a captain next season. He lead the entire CCHA with plus 21 rating.

Still a junior, Lorenz will still have time before the Wild need to sign. The chance to lead some of the younger players at Notre Dame will be a good chance for himself to shine.

The Wild have not only dipped into the college free agency but has also tried to find a steal with their junior signings, one being Colton Jobke.

A teammate of Wild draftee Brett Bulmer, Jobke is a stay-at-home defenseman who showed he has some leadership capacity being named assistant captain for the Kelowna Rockets.

He impressed enough to earn an amateur try-out contract with the Houston Aeros but has not played a game yet, which is reasonable to expect of a rookie.

pure enforcer ... extremely tough ... very good fighter ... limited offense ...

The Wild has always loved tough guys and continue to try to find them when they are young. 

Josh Caron, signed after he was invited to the Wild's developmental camp and Traverse City Tournament, played only 27 games this season because of an injury. Still, Caron managed to squeeze in one fight in which fists were flying everywhere.

has decent size ... responsible in his own end ... solid defensive hockey sense ... lacks puck skills ... limited upside ...

Never a fan of Bjorn Krupp, I was hoping for him to improve this season. He has, but that isn't saying much either.

Last season, Krupp had the team's worst plus-minus rating with a -42 rating, almost double than anyone of the team. This season, he no longer has the team's worst rating, but he still has an awful -35 rating.

Krupp still has two more years with the Wild so maybe he'll turn things around but at the pace he is going at the moment, things are not looking bright.  decent points but has not been relied on by the Aeros.

Summary

The discovery of Jared Spurgeon and the emergence of Marco Scandella has really helped out the Wild's prospect pool, which has been barren for a few years now.

With them, as well as tons of depth defensemen in Justin Falk, Sean Lorenz, and Nate Prosser, the Wild have a good solid core of defensive prospects.

However, many of these prospects have bottom pairing potential. Some have a better upside than that, but none are considered bluechip.

While the Wild do suffer from a lack of offensive forwards, and have so since they arrived in the NHL, the lack of bluechip talent on the blueline cannot be ignored either.

So which defenseman is available at #10? There's Duncan Siemens, who is mobile, physical and plays a defensive game. Theres also offensive Nathan Beaulieu, who will is playing in the Memorial Cup. If the Wild wanted size, there's 6-7 Jamie Oleksiak and if the Wild wanted a European, there is smart Jonas Brodin.

So, what do you think?