Refacing a franchise, Minnesota Wild - The rebuild

[Dynasty]

Season opener recap

Team news:
The Minnesota Wild were purchased during the off season by local investors, who have as suspected kept GM Steve Pattenden in place, Pattenden will also resume his role as head coach for the 2011-2012 season. It was made public knowledge that the new management team wants Pattenden to take a more aggressive role this season and bring back marquee players to the organization, while the team remains in debt, it is significantly less due to Pattendens brilliant managing skills and the teams heroic on ice performances throughout the 2010-2011 season.

Rookie Draft:

NHL Draft Recap
Pick	Player	Pos	Ht	Wt
1st round (25 OVR)	Shane Mccolgan	RW	5'10"	160
3rd round (84 OVR)	Gabriel Corson	LW	6'3"	207
3rd round (85 OVR)	Jeremi Janneteau	C	5'6'"	157
5th round (145 OVR)	Wilson Dumais	LW	5'11"	180
7th round (205 OVR)	Jordan Evans	D	6'1"	175

Honestly all these guys are kinda.. meh... Corson is the best out of them, but we shall see what they grow into.

Minnesota made no trades during the draft this year.

Resign phase:
Here is a list of players that unfortunately did not fit my team model for the next season, I want to take a moment to thank them all for the fantastic run we had last year and wish them luck with their careers.

Minnesota releases:
LW Andrew Brunette 81 overall 37 years old E potential
LW Robbie Earl 72 overall 26 years old C potential
RW Chuck Kobasew 80 overall 29 years old C potential
RW Antti Miettinen 80 overall 30 years old C potential
RW Jed Ortmeyer 78 overall 32 years old C potential
RW Jean-Michel Daoust 72 overall 27 years old C potential
D Drew Bagnall 74 overall 27 years old C potential
D Maxim Norreau 74 overall 24 years old C potential
D Justin Falk 74 overall 22 years old C potential
D Nate Prosser 73 overall 25 years old C potential
G Jose Theodore 82 overall 34 years old C potential
G Josh Harding 81 overall 27 years old C potential
G David Brown 74 overall 26 years old C potential
G Anton Khudobin 74 overall 25 years old C potential

The Wild resign:
G Andro Michel 21 years old 3 years @ 900K per season 79 overall B potential
We are hoping that Andro will be our soloution for a long term number one net minder

G Dennis Endros 26 years old 3 years @ 900K per season 75 overall C potential
Depth signing

C James Sheppard 23 years old 3 years @ 3M per season 82 overall B- potential
James played a heck of a season for us, we are happy to bring him back into the fold.

LW Brett Maclean 22 years old 3 years @ 645K per season 77 overall B- potential
I want the Aeros to be much more competitive this year, I am looking to Maclean to provide alot of scoring for them.

D Theo Peckham 23 years old 3 years @ 1M per season 76 overall B- potential
Theo played so well for me last season, a solid rock in his own zone and strength to punish with. he lead the team in hits, happy to resign him.

C Casey Wellman 23 years old 3 years @ 1M per season 74 overall B- potential
Depth signing

RW Shane Mccolgan 18 years old 3 years @ 765K per season 70 overall B- potential
Depth Signing

LW Brett Bulmer 19 years old 3 years @ 685K per season 67 overall B- potential
Depth Signing

LW Tyler Brown 20 years old 3 years @ 605K per season 64 overall B- potential
Depth Signing

LW Kyle De Vries 19 years old 3 years @ 550K per season 62 overall B- potential
Depth signing

C Jeremi Janneteau 19 years old 3 years @ 500K per season 58 overall B- potential
Depth Signing

Minnesota signs free agent:
G Jean Sebastian Giguere 34 years old 2 years @ 2M per season 84 overall C potential
We are looking to Giguere to be our number one this year, we hope he can get back some of the form he seen while playing in Anaheim.

C Ilya Zubov 24 years old 3 years @ 1M per season 75 overall B- potential
Depth Signing

D Hal Gill 36 years old 1 year @ 1.555M 83 overall D potential
Old Skillzy, I just can't turn this guy down.

C Rob Niedermayer 36 years old 1 year @ 1.5M 82 overall D- potential
Depth signing

LW Zach Parise 27 years old 4 years @ 6M per season 90 overall C potential
WOOOOOOOO! Excellent player to find in the free agent pool. snapped him up immediately.

RW Tomas Kopecky 29 years old 2 years @ 2M per season 81 overall C potential
Depth signing

G Chris Osgood 38 years old 1 year @ 690K 80 overall D potential
Depth signing

LW Alexandre Frolov 29 years old 3 years @ 5M per season 84 overall C potential
This should solidify the Wild as a top offensive threat.

LW Steve Sullivan 37 years old 1 year 1.66M 82 overall D potential
Offensive depth signing

Minnesota trades:
C James Sheppard 23 years old 3 years @ 3M remaining on his contract 82 overall B- potential
2012 1st (MIN) 2012 2nd (MIN)
TO BOS FOR:
C Tyler Seguin 19 years old 3 years @ 770K remaining on his contract 85 overall A- potential
This one was a tough trade to complete, James had played so well for us the previous season but being able to get Seguin in return is hard to say no to as well. We wish James luck in Boston

RW Jon Disalvatore 30 years old 1 year @ 1.045M remaining on his contract 72 overall C potential
D Greg Zanon 31 years old 1 year @ 2.31M remaining on his contract 80 overall C potential
LW Jeremy Morin 20 years old 2 years @ 975K remaining on his contract 76 overall B potential
TO NYI FOR:
RW Micheal Grabner 23 years old unsigned 84 overall B potential
We believed Micheal is going to be a scoring threat in the upcoming season and we tried very hard to bring him to Minnesota, I am very pleased we were able to close this deal with the Islanders.

Minnesota signs:
RW Micheal Grabner 23 years old 8 years @ 6.6M per season 84 overall B potential
Locking up a long term superstar here, I believe Grabner will produce big numbers for many many years to come.

Minnesota signs free agent:
D Jay Mckee 34 years old 2 years @ 2M per season 81 overall C potential
Solidifying my blueline.

Player Progression:
Del Zotto was 79 is now 83 A-/B/B- potential
Seguin 85 A/A-/A- potential
Grabner 84 B/B/B- potential
Parise 90 C/C/C potential
Frolov 84 C/C/C potential
Cowen was 71 is now 74 B/B/B potential
Benn was 82 is now 84 C/B-/B- potential
Granlund was 72 is now 74 B/B-/B potential
Kerbashian was 66 is now 69 C/B/A- potential
Jobke was 58 is now 63 B-/A/B- potential
Corson 64 B-/B-/B- potential
Zubov 75 B-/B-/B- potential
Michel 79 A-/B/B potential

Opening night lines:

Line 1
LW Zach Parise C Tyler Seguin RW Micheal Grabner
LD Hal Gill RD Micheal Del Zotto

Line 2
LW Alexander Frolov C Pierre-Marc Bouchard RW Jamie Benn
LD Marek Zidlicky RD Nick Schultz

Line 3
LW Steve Sullivan C Matt Cullen RW Cal Clutterbuck
LD Jay Mckee RD Theo Peckham

Line 4
LW Tomas Kopecky C Rob Niedermayer RW Eric Nystrom

Power play 1
LW Zach Parise C Tyler Seguin RW Micheal Grabner
LD Micheal Del Zotto RD Marek Zidlicky

Powerplay 2
LW Steve Sullivan C Pierre-Marc Bouchard RW Jamie Benn
LD Alexander Frolov RD Nick Schultz

Captains:
C Zach Parise
A Brent Seabrook
A Nick Schultz

On the block:
C Matt Cullen 3.875M
D Marek Zidlcky 4.375M
C Pierre-Marc Bouchard 4.55M

Team cap space: 7.79M
Team wants: Bottom 6 wingers Youthful defensemen with high potential.

Expectations: Managment wants conference semi finals this year
Salary cap Max: 60.900M
Min: 44.900M
My cap: 50.420M

[Dynasty]

Injury update

During game one Hal Gill suffered a seperated shoulder that will remove him from the line up for 4-5 weeks. Gill seperated his shoulder laying a hit on Calgary forward Jarome Iginla

Eric Nystrom will also miss significant time, expected to be out with a lacerated arm for 5-6 weeks. Nystrom suffered the injury while blocking a point shot from Jay Boumeester.

To plug the holes Minnesota has called up D Clayton Stoner, who will see time on the third defensive pairing. Tough guy Brad Staubitz will see time on the fourth line

[Dynasty]

Injury update

D Theo Peckham will miss 5-6 weeks or action due to a hip pointer suffered in a 8-0 throttling by the Vancouver Canucks.

D Tyler Cumma has been recalled from the Huston Aeros to fill in on the third line until peckham is able to return.

Were heading live to a press conference with GM Steve Pattenden

"Well what can you say other then, ouch. We have been rocked by injuries and our D core is depleted. We have lost two straight games in where it looks like there has been a lot of beer drinking over the summer, and not so much working out and preparing. I have been asked if we were going to pursue trading but at this point I don't see that as a Viable option. I will be phoning around to kick some tires on a specific list of D men we would like to acquire, but at this point I doubt many of them are available"

[Dynasty]

Trade update

Were transferring over to a media conference that has just begun.

Pattenden: I realize we met just a few hours ago but I wanted to give this update myself before it leaked, we are very excited to announce a trade.

The Wild trade:
LW Jamie Benn 22 years old 1 year @ 820K remaining on his contract 84 overall C potential
2012 5th round pick (MIN)
TO Chicago FOR:
D Brent Seabrook 26 years old 1 year @ 3.62M remaining on his contract 87 overall C potential

First I wanted to do alittle explaining, Jamie I don't think has fit in too well in our organization, since he came from Dallas it has always been a struggle for him to fit into our style of play and workman like attitude. Now Jamie is a skillful young man and will have a brilliant career in the NHL of that there is no doubt, but we felt that it would not be here in Minnesota. After some Discussion with Chicago GM Stan Bowman it was decided that his trouble resigning Seabrook to a longterm deal in the off season and his favorable outlook of Jamie Benn that a deal could be reached.

We are excited to bring Brent into our locker room, we think his hard hitting style and work ethic will blend seamlessly into our lineup, and we need his talents on all sides of the puck, it was very clear after the 8-0 loss to the Stanley cup winning Vancouver Canucks that we needed a shut down D man, especially with the long list of injuries on the back end we currently have. As such you can look for Seabrook to be depended on to lock down our D zone and punish those who dare enter.

Brent will pair up with Micheal Del Zotto on our first unit he will also see power play time on the second unit. He will also anchor the first 4 man PK unit and second 3 man PK unit. It will be a trying time for Seabrook, and a test of his abilities, we are stretched thin on the blue line right now and need him to eat up alot of minutes, which is why we jumped on this deal immediately. We are confident Brent will be able to handle the work load, and perform well.

[HeroWorship]

You have some young, elite superstars on your roster. Surprised you traded Sheppard, but getting guys like Grabner, Seguin, and co will go a long way for you to win it all.

[Dynasty]

Quote: Originally Posted by HeroWorship

You have some young, elite superstars on your roster. Surprised you traded Sheppard, but getting guys like Grabner, Seguin, and co will go a long way for you to win it all.

Thanks for reading Hero. Yeah I wasn't looking to trade him, but when the opportunity to turn him into seguin came up I wasn't saying no. I tried so many combinations for that trade, and the only time they ever came back with a "this is close but you have to add a little bit more to make it work" was with him in it.

Wild update

Seabrook has immediate impact. the 1-2-0 Wild welcome new comer Brent Seabrook with open arms, in his first game with his new club, Seabrook posted 3 assists 2 PIMS +3 1 shot 4 hits and 25:67 minutes on the ice.

Player interview: Brent Seabrook
"You know, its an exciting thing to go to a brand new team, meet all the new guys, new staff, new coach, new rink, new fans, I never said anything to my agent about leaving Chicago, but I am glad I came here, after getting the reception in the locker room and on the ice that I did here, I felt like I never left home at all. The guys here are fantastic people and awesome teammates I immediately felt like one of the group, like I wasn't new here at all"

Seabrook went on to mention that he was excited to get to their next game against the Sharks and help his new team make a push for the playoffs.

[bthomp05]

Excellent work with the offseason and some fantastic moves as well. Funny that in both our chises we picked up Mckee and Brent. :-)

As always Kudos Dynasty.

[Dynasty]

Quote: Originally Posted by bthomp05

Excellent work with the offseason and some fantastic moves as well. Funny that in both our chises we picked up Mckee and Brent. :-) As always Kudos Dynasty.

Thanks for reading and participating. I think it's because were both leaf fans and we want to see what real Dmen look like. Schenn is a beast but... Yeah Schenn is a beast!

It was hard not to offer sheet him out if Chicago. But I didn't want to resort to doing that, it was nice being able to get him with a fair trade. Now I need to sign him long term.

My current contract strategy is sign my franchise player(s) long term (5-8 years) then role players/ depth guys 2-4 years then veteran/depth guys 1-2 years.