Nate Prosser should be the happiest man alive now.

The Elk River native recently signed a two-year extension on a one-way contract, solidifying his place with the Minnesota Wild.

Not only that but now he can find a permanent place, and is expecting his first child.

Although this is Prospect Tuesdays, this extension is sort of a graduation for Prosser, becoming a Wild prospect to a Wild player.

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If you visit here, much, you know that the Wild PR staff puts together a mean prospects report each week. We then turn around and share it with you, with comment. Well, we share it with you when we remember to do so. THis is one of those times.

After the jump, you will see a great deal of success from Wild prospects, including a high level of scoring from players drafted by the guy so many seem to want to be rid of. The prospect that jumps out at me the most is Bulmer. Over a point per game, and second on the team, despite missing the start of the season while he was with the Wild. Definitely convinced they have bigger plans for him than the third line at this point.

Granlund continues to be a stud, Phillips still rocking a well above PPG pace, and now Coyle is scoring at that level as well. Plus, there are a couple guys doing well in the PIM category, so you know, in case the Wild need a couple extra guys to take a ill placed penalty.

Enjoy the report. Thanks again to Wild PR for the excellent updates.

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I'm not gonna lie. I'm still kind of in vapor lock over last night's... whatever that was. But I'll try and choke a few sentences out here, despite the fact that the Aeros weekend will offer zero improvement on our collective moods.

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Remember back when the Wild had a bunch of Aeros players and the team still sucked, and the Aeros weren't doing much better?

I'm not sure what happened in the organization, apart from the renewed faith in management inspired by Marek Zidlicky earning his $4M in the press box, but we're in that same boat again. This time, however, it seems to be working!

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The World Junior Championships are over with three Wild prospects coming hold with gold. Mikael Granlund was named a top 3 player for Finland and Charlie Coyle and Jason Zucker come home disappointed but with invaluable experience.

The Wild hope to repeat their recent success in the draft.

The 2012 NHL Entry Draft is considered deep with talent, and it is. The top 3 is in very tight competition, and the rest of the class can move up and down very easily in the coming months.

But who is available?

We'll start off with the top 15, then finish it off next week with the next 15 best prospects.

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It was sad to see Colton Gillies get waived, he had such a character with the team. Loved the way he interacted in the prospect camps.

These recent runs of first round busts have killed the present Minnesota Wild team, with only Cal Clutterbuck, Clayton Stoner, Marco Scandella and Justin Falk to show for it. Scandella and Clutterbuck are very good players, and Stoner and Falk are solid, but none are ready (or will ever be) to carry the team.

It seems like the only player able to do so is Mikko Koivu, who was drafted back in 2001.

Yes, 11 years ago.

The four years of bad prospects in a row (technically five with the trade of Nick Leddy, and possibly six with Tyler Cuma), is reflected in the current lack of talent on the Wild pro roster.

Let's see where everyone else is at now

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Let's talk about Tyler Cuma for a bit. First of all, if you don't follow him on Twitter (@TCuma61), you should.

I often get asked what happened with him. Remember his first camp after being drafted and folks (including, if I recall correctly, Lemaire) were so impressed with his poise for such a young guy, that there was some fleeting thought given to turning him pro right then and there?

But reason prevailed and they sent him back to junior where he got hurt. Then hurt again. Then hurt again. Then he turned pro with the Aeros and... got hurt again.

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If there is one clear lack of something within the Wild prospect pool, it would an offensive defenseman that can run the powerplay and really get the offense started.

Players like Marco Scandella, Jonas Brodin and Sean Lorenz are all great prospects, but their main strengths lie in their ability to stop goals, not create them. Brodin may have the ability to do so, as evident when he played for Sweden, but that just isn't his main area of expertise.

Looking into the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, one name sticks out as the premium offensive defenseman, like in 2011 there was Ryan Murphy and in 2010 there was Cam Fowler.

This year, there is Jordan Schmatlz from Green Bay Gamblers.

Let's take a look

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