Down the Frozen River

Tag: Dante Salituro

  • Minnesota Wild 2019-20 Season Preview

    Minnesota Wild

    37-36-9, 83 points, 7th in the Central Division

    Missed the postseason for the first time in seven years

    Additions: F Gabriel Dumont, F Ryan Hartman, F Luke Johnson, F Drew Stafford (signed to a PTO), F Mats Zuccarello, D Fedor Gordeev (acquired from TOR)

    Subtractions: F Pontus Aberg (signed with TOR), F Eric Fehr (NLA), F Landon Ferraro (signed to a PTO with VAN), F Cal O’Reilly (signed with Lehigh Valley, AHL), F Matt Read (signed to a PTO with TOR), F Dante Salituro (signed with Indy, ECHL), D Anthony Bitetto (signed with WPG), D Gustav Bouramman (traded to FLA), D Michael Kapla (signed with Toronto, AHL), D Nate Prosser (signed with PHI), G Johan Gustafsson (DEL), G Andrew Hammond (signed with BUF)

    Still Unsigned: F Chase Lang

    Re-signed: F Ryan Donato, F Joel Eriksson Ek, F Kevin Fiala, D Brad Hunt, D Carson Soucy, D Hunter Warner

    Offseason Analysis: It’s a wild time for the Minnesota Wild on what will likely be a wild ride to the bottom of the standings before things get better.

    At the very least, Minnesota tried to jumpstart things and stave off a rebuild by firing Paul Fenton one season after naming Fenton as General Manager and replacing the now former GM of the franchise with Bill Guerin.

    Guerin– who spent parts of 18 seasons as winger with the New Jersey Devils, Edmonton Oilers, Boston Bruins, Dallas Stars, St. Louis Blues, San Jose Sharks, New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins– was most recently the assistant general manager for the Penguins and is just the fourth general manager in franchise history for the Wild.

    Bruce Boudreau returns as head coach, despite finishing in last place in the Central Division en route to Minnesota missing the playoff last season for the first time since 2012.

    Before Fenton was fired, he signed Mats Zuccarello on July 1st to a five-year, $30 million contract worth $6.000 million per season.

    Zuccarello has never scored more than 26 goals in a season– a feat he accomplished in 81 games with the New York Rangers in 2015-16– and is 32-years-old.

    He usually amasses at least 50 points a season, however, so it’s not quite an overpay, but rather a bit of a concern due to the long-term nature of the contract, plus the fact that he has a no-movement clause through the first three years and a modified no-trade/no-movement clause in the final two years.

    Basically, it’s a great deal for Zuccarello because it protects him from the Seattle Expansion Draft in 2021, which is exactly why it could come back to bite the Wild.

    Minnesota’s defense is aging and the entire roster only has three pending-unrestricted free agents at the end of the upcoming season, which means Guerin’s going to have to get creative at restructuring some of the mess left behind without just letting players walk in free agency.

    If the Wild are confident this season will be better than last season– it’s make or break.

    When things don’t work out, at least the inevitable front office turmoil has already been taken care of (hopefully).

    Offseason Grade: F

    This offseason, Minnesota pulled the equivalent of making just enough of an effort on an exam to get one or two answers right, but missed the mark on everything else.

    Having said that, firing Fenton and hiring Guerin is probably the one or two questions on the exam that they got right. Other than that, there’s not much else that went well for the Wild to assure the Hockey Gods that they’re prepared for the 2019-20 season.

  • 2017 NHL Entry Draft Round 1 Recap

    2017 NHL Entry Draft Round 1 Recap

    Friday night marked Day 1 of the 2017 NHL Entry Draft and a record (welcome again Vegas Golden Knights) 31 players were selected in the 1st Round. In case you missed any of the action, here’s how it all broke down.

    2017_NHL_Entry_Draft_logo
    NHL Entry Draft photos via NHL

    2017 NHL Entry Draft– Round 1

    1. New Jersey Devils–> C Nico Hischier, Halifax (QMJHL)
    2. Philadelphia Flyers–> C Nolan Patrick, Brandon (OHL)
    3. Dallas Stars–> D Miro Heiskanen, HIFK, (Finland)
    4. Colorado Avalanche–> D Cale Makar, Brooks (AJHL)
    5. Vancouver Canucks–> C Elias Pettersson, Timra (SWE-2)
    6. Vegas Golden Knights–> C Cody Glass, Portland (WHL)
    7. New York Rangers (from Arizona)–> C Lias Andersson, HV71 (Sweden)
    8. Buffalo Sabres–> C Casey Mittelstadt, Eden Prairie (HS-MN)
    9. Detroit Red Wings–> C Michael Rasmussen, Tri-City (WHL)
    10. Florida Panthers–> RW Owen Tippett, Mississauga (OHL)
    11. Los Angeles Kings–> C Gabriel Vilardi, Windsor (OHL)
    12. Carolina Hurricanes–> C Martin Necas, Brno (Czech Republic)
    13. Vegas Golden Knights (from Winnipeg)–> C Nick Suzuki, Owen Sound (OHL)
    14. Tampa Bay Lightning–> D Callan Foote, Kelowna (WHL)
    15. Vegas Golden Knights (from N.Y. Islanders)–> D Erik Brannstrom, HV71 (Sweden)
    16. Calgary Flames–> D Juuso Valimaki, Tri-City (WHL)
    17. Toronto Maple Leafs–> D Timothy Liljegren, Rogle BK (Sweden)
    18. Boston Bruins–> D Urho Vaakanainen, JYP (Finland)
    19. San Jose Sharks–> C Josh Norris, USA U-18 (USHL)
    20. St. Louis Blues–> C Robert Thomas, London (OHL)
    21. New York Rangers–> C Filip Chytil, Zlin (Czech Republic)
    22. Edmonton Oilers–> RW Kailer Yamamoto, Spokane (WHL)
    23. Arizona Coyotes (from Minnesota)–> D Pierre-Olivier Joseph, Charlottetown (QMJHL)
    24. Winnipeg Jets (from Columbus via Vegas)–> LW/RW Kristian Vesalainen, Frolunda (Sweden)
    25. Montreal Canadiens–> C Ryan Poehling, St. Cloud State (NCHC)
    26. Dallas Stars (from Chicago)–> G Jake Oettinger, Boston University (Hockey-East)
    27. Philadelphia Flyers (from Washington via St. Louis)–> C Morgan Frost, Sault Ste. Marie (OHL)
    28. Ottawa Senators–> C Shane Bowers, Waterloo (USHL)
    29. Chicago Blackhawks (from Dallas via Anaheim)–> D Henri Jokiharju, Portland (WHL)
    30. Nashville Predators–> RW Eeli Tolvanen, Sioux City (USHL)
    31. St. Louis Blues (from Pittsburgh)–> C/LW Klim Kostin, Dynamo Moscow (Russia)

    Trades Made on Day 1 of the 2017 NHL Entry Draft

    • The Arizona Coyotes traded D Connor Murphy and F Laurent Dauhpin to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for D Niklas Hjalmarsson.
    • The Columbus Blue Jackets acquired F Artemi Panarin, F Tyler Motte and a 2017 6th round pick (170th overall) from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for F Brandon Saad, G Anton Forsberg and a 2018 5th round pick.
    • The Arizona Coyotes traded D Anthony DeAngelo and a 2017 1st round pick (7th overall) to the New York Rangers for F Derek Stepan and G Antti Raanta.
    • The Columbus Blue Jackets acquired F Jordan Schroeder from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for F Dante Salituro.
    • The Chicago Blackhawks traded a 2017 1st round pick (26th overall) to the Dallas Stars for a 2017 1st round pick (29th overall) and a 2017 3rd round pick (70th overall).
    • The St. Louis Blues acquired F Brayden Schenn from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for F Jori Lehtera, a 2017 1st round pick (27th overall), and a conditional 2018 1st round pick.
    • The Pittsburgh Penguins traded F Oskar Sundqvist and a 2017 1st round pick (31st overall) to the St. Louis Blues and acquired F Ryan Reaves and a 2017 2nd round pick (51st overall) in return.