Its been a crazy couple weeks since the 2011 NHL Draft for the Minnesota Wild. There’s been a couple major roster changes in that time.
General Manager Chuck Fletcher has been working to improve his team so they can make the playoffs while still building for the future by drafting talent and making spots available to some of the young players in the Wild’s developmental system. I’m sure Fletcher was making it clear to every team in the NHL that he’d consider trading anyone except Mikko Koivu* to improve the roster. Once he named a coach, Chuck could get to work on improving his team.
*He probably should’ve added Clutterbuck to that list! I don’t know what he’s thinking! That’s just lunacy! I mean, its Cal Clutterbuck!!! If they trade him, my blog sounds stupid! He shouldn’t be taking those kinds of risks! That’s very careless on his part!
It doesn’t take a diehard fan to realize that Brent Burns was the biggest asset the Wild had to get something in a trade. He has game-breaking ability and plays with a lot of heart. The Wild needed shooters and goal-scorers on the roster in order to get over the hump of making the playoffs. With Burns as their biggest asset and little else, they didn’t have enough to get guys like Jeff Carter or Mike Richards from the Flyers.
The San Jose Sharks wanted to make some changes to their roster to fill some weaknesses that were exposed in the playoffs. One of them was a puck-moving defenseman and Brent Burns fit the bill but they had to meet the Brown Fox’s asking price and Fletch wanted something big in return for Burnsie. They agreed to exchange Brent Burns and a 2012 2nd-round pick for Devin Setoguchi, 2010 1st-round pick Charlie Coyle and the 28th pick (Wild selected F Zach Phillips) in the 2011 NHL Draft.
Most fans are excited for Setoguchi but don’t know much about Charlie Coyle and the trade never would’ve been made if he wasn’t included in the deal. He’s a big kid at 6’2”, 202 pounds. He played his 2010-11 season at Boston University as a freshman and had 7 goals and 19 assists in 37 games. He also played for team USA at the U20 World Junior Championships and helped lead the team to a Bronze Medal. He tied for the team lead in points with 6 points (2 G, 4 A) in 6 games. He might be the best part of this trade.
We’ll miss Brent Burns but the Wild needed to get better quickly so they can get back into the playoffs race and see if they can make something happen.
After arguably the biggest blockbuster trade in franchise history, I’m sure, like me, most Wild fans were not expecting anything big in free agency. I could see a depth signing but nothing shocking.
They did acquire Darroll Powe from the Flyers for a 2013 3rd-round pick. Darroll Powe (pronounced POW) is compared to Cal Clutterbuck* because he throws big hits and kills penalties. He led the Flyers in hits last season with 196 and had the second most minutes on the Flyers’ penalty kill units with 257.
*TWO CLUTTERBUCKS!!! NO WAY!!! Call the engraver! How can any team compete against two Clutterbucks? He doesn’t have the shot that Cal does but, c’mon, who does? Only Cal can BRING THE CLUTTERSHOT!!! Darroll Powe is 5’11” and 212 pounds which compares to the Clutterbuck, who is listed at 5’10” and 202 pounds. They may even be on the same line! Forechecking with CLUTTER-POWE will definitely be intimidating!
There were some rumors that the Wild and Chuck Fletcher had something up their sleeve but that could mean anything and it could mean absolutely nothing with some of the rumors out there. There was a rumor that the Wild were going to sign Tomas Kaberle and that didn’t happen!
How many Wild fans were sitting around on Sunday night wondering if the Wild would sign a free agent anytime soon since free agency started the Friday before? Probably not very many since we knew they weren’t going to try to get any of the big free agents. Then around 10pm, it came out that the Wild had done it again! Another blockbuster trade! This one was even bigger considering the players involved.
The first I saw of it was on Facebook through EA Sports NHL Facebook page and I didn’t believe it at first. I thought it was some video game trade or something. I started checking various sources and there was nothing else posted yet which made me more suspicious. Then I finally saw it start to get tweeted from more and more people and reality was setting in. The Wild had traded Martin Havlat to the San Jose Sharks for Dany Heatley!
Dany Heatley will be playing for the Minnesota Wild for the next 3 Seasons!!! He’s the kind of player that can change a whole franchise around. He scores goals and has averaged a point a game throughout his entire career. The Wild haven’t had a 30 goal scorer since the days of Gaborik in 2007-08! Their top goal-scorers by season since then are Owen Nolan with 25 in 08-09, Brunette & Latendresse with 25 each in 09-10 and Martin Havlat last season with a measley 22!!! He was the only player over 20 last season!
Let’s just say that Dany Heatley might be all over the franchise record book if he plays like he’s capable of playing. A top line of Heatley, Koivu and Bouchard and a second line of Latendresse, Cullen/Brodziak and Setoguchi is a good start to changing the offense of this team from too many passers to guys who like to shoot the puck and shoot it often! Practice your passing Butch!!!
Tell us what you think of the Wild’s offseason so far! Do you like what they’ve done? Don’t like it? Are they going to make the playoffs next season? Will Dany Heatley break some Wild season records? Goals? Points? Bouchard break his own assists record?
Here are some interesting articles I’ve read over the past couple weeks:
Report: Gary Bettman proposes major NHL realignment – (SportingNews.com) – 6/23/2011
Glamorous free-agent fare fails to tempt Wild – (StarTribune.com – Michael Russo) – 7/2/2011
Brunette’s leap is a no-brainer – (StarTribune.com – Michael Russo) – 7/2/2011
- Andrew Brunette signed with the Chicago Blackhawks – Why was it an easy choice and a good fit for him?
Sharks trade Dany Heatley to Wild – (ESPN.com – Associated Press) – 7/4/2011
Digesting Heatley-Havlat Trade – (StarTribune.com – Michael Russo) – 7/4/2011
Dany Heatley welcomes trade to Minnesota, ready to become Wild’s go-to scorer – (Winnipeg Free Press) – 7/4/2011
Why the San Jose Sharks traded Dany Heatley for Martin Havlat – (Yahoo’s Puck Daddy blog – Greg Wyshynski) – 7/4/2011
Why the Minnesota Wild traded for Dany Heatley – (Yahoo’s Puck Daddy blog – Greg Wyshynski) – 7/4/2011
Fletcher and Heatley React to Sunday’s Trade – (Wild.com) – 7/4/2011
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You’ve been CLUTTERPUCKED!!!
