Now that the NBA draft is over, we can move on to the one that sits in it's shadow, the NHL Draft. This year's event is coming at you live from St. Paul, Minnesota this evening, where I will be in attendance to take in the spectacle. No doubt that prospect seems pretty silly in the eyes of many people, but what can I say, I'm a rube. Never been to a draft before, the ticket is free and it's only 20 minutes from my house, why not check it out? Plus I need "Attend a draft" to complete a row on my Sports Nerd BINGO card, along with "Plan multiple vacations around sporting events", "Run two or more fantasy football teams in a given season" and "Start a sports-centric blog". Big day for me.
Not to mention, if you follow amateur hockey, you actually know who a lot of these guys are (sad as that is to admit). Sure the Canadian junior guys are a bit of a mystery, but even the best of those pop up in the World Juniors tournament every December, so not totally unfamiliar. This year has fewer college players projected near then top than in previous years, but there are still a few names projected to go in the first couple rounds that will we'll get to watch in the WCHA next season. The NHL draft is similar to the MLB draft in the sense that players typically need a few years of development before making the team, but similar to the NFL in that many players drafted in later rounds will have a chance to make an impact. Basically it's the polar opposite to the NBA draft in a lot of ways, including fashion sense.
But just because late round picks can emerge into contributing players does not minimize the importance of a team hitting on it's first round picks. As has been lamented many times in this space, the Minnesota Wild don't have a great track record of doing this, and always seem to finish just a bit better than is wise. Tonight they pick 10th, and can ill afford to miss, given their thin piepline of talent. Seems like the perfect time to offer the 5 hypothetical questions I'd like to have answered honestly by GM Chuck Fletcher.
1. First off, something I've been dying to know for two years: Did owner Craig Leipold force your hand in the signing of Matin Havlat?
How I think he'd answer: I don't know if "forced" is the word I'd use, but he was definitely very intent on making a big signing that would create some buzz. He was a new owner, taking over the team just as Marian Gaborik left via free agency, and felt that a bold move was required to offset that. What you have to understand about Craig is, he's a fan, and that can be a double-edged sword. Sure it's obviously better than having a disengaged owner who only cares about the bottom line, but it can also force some knee-jerk decisions that have consequences in the long term.
I wouldn't say that I was against signing Marty Havlat, but at the same time, the timing was not ideal. The team was not in good shape cap-wise and already had several sizable contracts with underperforming players. Not to mention that the free agent crop that offseason was slightly below average, bidding up the price on players like Havlat, who are definitely a cut below superstar-caliber.
Was signing an injury-prone wing who's only noteworthy seasons occured while playing between two stars my ideal scenario? No way. But sometimes the boss thinks something needs to happen for reasons that go beyond Xs and Os hockey, and this was one of those times.
2. Brian Burke, who's got a great track record as a GM, has said many times that he prefers North American players, since they grew up dreaming about winning the Stanley Cup. Looking at past Cup winners seems to support this theory, as just about all, save the unique case of Detroit, have been made up of 70-80% North American players.
With that being said, do you worry that there's too great a European component on the current roster?
How I think he'd answer: Obviously I don't, or else I wouldn't have picked so many of them. Perhaps we've trended a little too much in that direction during recent years. With Koivu, Havlat, Backstrom, Zidlicky and Miettinen on the current roster, as well as Granlund, Larsson and Haula picked high in the last couple of drafts...crap, I guess that is a lot of Euros. Man, I might need to reassess the "best player available" thing tonight, right now it's looking like we might end up with another Swede in the first round, this is starting to resemble some Scandinavian national team.
But when you think about it, there was a nice run of Candian first-rounders in the years before I was hired that didn't amount to a whole lot. Mention James Sheppard's name to a Wild fan an they will begin to twich uncontrollably and froth at the mouth. Tyler Cuma's career has been plauged by one serious injury after another. Colton Gillies and Marco Scandella look like they could be solid contributors, but neither one has made the leap yet. At the end of the day, I'm looking for the best player in any situation, no matter what continent they're from. Of course we want a nice mix of skill sets, but we're not going to pass on a player simply because of his hometown. That being said, maybe I'll steer clear of the Swede this time around.
3. Acknowledging the fact that he's the captain, face of the team and a solid all-around player, didn't you guys just overpay significantly for Mikko Koivu? Isn't he essentially a second-line center on a contending team?
How I think he'd answer: Yeah, we probably did a bit, but that's the nature of the beast with this stuff. Say what you will about his offensive production, Mikko is a cornerstone of this franchise and a keeping him was an absolute must. How many big-time scorers play against the opponents top line as much as he does? How many great offensive players has he played alongside? I think if we could use him the way other teams use their top center, gearing our gameplan toward maximizing his offense, you'd see a big uptick in the goal and assist totals. Unfortunately there's no one else on the team who can handle the defensive end of things the way he does, so we're kind of stuck.
Could we have gotten by a million or so per season cheaper? Perhaps, but it wasn't a risk we were looking to take. You can call it a panic move if you'd like, but I prefer to think of it as being certain about what you want and ensuring you get it. At any rate, when it comes to pointing out the dead weight on this roster currently soaking up too much payroll, I can list quite a few guys before the name Koivu comes up.
4. Why hire Mike Yeo on the heels of Todd Richards departure, given their similar resumes?
How I think he'd answer: The short answer is because if he ended up elsewhere, I was worried it would come back to haunt us. Everyone who's ever coached was a first-time coach at some point, and every experienced coach out there who's available has been fired somewhere in the past. Craig MacTavish, Ken Hitchcock, these guys were certainly experienced, but not all of that experience was good. Both had overseen losing teams in the past, so hiring them offered no guarantee of success. That's not to say they're bad coaches, only that there are many factors that enter into fielding a winning team.
In Mike, we've got a guy who was part of a championship team in Pittsburgh, has a good track record working with young players and is respected in the organization. Sure he's going to have some bumps along the way, and a veteran coach probably offered a better chance of short-term success by maximizing the talent on the current roster. But at the end of the day, this is about the long haul and building a champion, and I think we're best positioned to do that with Mike leading the charge. I want to be a contender for a decade, not a fringe playoff team sneaking in as an 8-seed next year.
5. Fair enough, but do you see issues with veteran players on the current roster being resistant the the new coach and pending youth movement?
How I think he'd answer: As you might be able to tell from my comments in the paper this week about the players needing better offseason preparation, I'm getting to the end of my rope with some of this crap. There were some personality conflicts that developed with Todd Richards during the past few years, some players seemed to think they were above doing the little things. That will not be the case moving forward, we may not be able to part with certain guys, but we won't hesitate to lay down the law with them if they're not on board with the program. I'm a fairly low-key guy who doesn't like to air the internal laundry publicly, but I will not hesitate to call out anyone who isn't pulling their weight.
These guys have got to remember that I'm on the hot seat here too. A good portion of the issues with this franchise were dumped in my lap, but now it's getting to the point where results are required if I'm to continue in this role. Like many animals in nature, there's typically no danger, but get them cornered and you've got a fight on your hands. I'm feeling a bit cornered these days, so if they want to push, they'll be doing so at their peril.
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