Minnesota Wild 2017 Season Preview: Draft Utopia

Minnesota Wild 2017 Season Preview

Minnesota is known for their defense. The leader of their blue line is Ryan Suter.

Chris Ransom follow @DraftUtopia Posted on 9/23/2017.

Minnesota Wild Line 1 Forwards

Player	Position	Games Played	Height	Weight	Goals	Assists	Points
Zach Parise	Left Wing	69	5-foot-11-inches	197-pounds	19	23	42
Eric Staal	Center	82	6-foot-3-inches	222-pounds	28	37	65
Nino Niederreiter	Right Wing	82	6-foot-2-inches	209-pounds	25	32	57

Minnesota Wild Line 2 Forwards

Player	Position	Games Played	Height	Weight	Goals	Assists	Points
Mikael Granlund	Left Wing	81	5-foot-10-inches	186-pounds	26	43	69
Mikko Koivu	Center	80	6-foot-3-inches	222-pounds	18	40	58
Charlie Coyle	Right Wing	82	6-foot-3-inches	221-pounds	18	38	56

Minnesota Wild Line 3 Forwards

Player	Position	Games Played	Height	Weight	Goals	Assists	Points
Jason Zucker	Left Wing	79	5-foot-11-inches	188-pounds	22	25	47
Joel Eriksson Ek	Center	15	6-foot-2-inches	197-pounds	3	4	7
Tyler Ennis	Right Wing	51	5-foot-9-inches	175-pounds	5	8	13

Minnesota Wild Line 4 Forwards

Player	Position	Games Played	Height	Weight	Goals	Assists	Points
Marcus Foligno	Left Wing	80	6-foot-3-inches	228-pounds	13	10	23
Matt Cullen	Center	72	6-foot-1-inches	200-pounds	13	18	31
Chris Stewart	Right Wing	79	6-foot-2-inches	239-pounds	13	8	21

Minnesota Wild Forwards Review: Minnesota had four lines of depth on offense the past two years. This year is no different. Minnesota needs their depth at forward to translate into playoff wins. That's the one thing we haven't seen from the Wild yet even though this team is still 4 deep at left wing, center, and right wing despite losing some players in the offseason.

Minnesota was 2nd in goals scored and 9th on the power play in 2016-2017. The Wild feel like a team that could remain in the top 10 in both goals scored and power play.

Minnesota Wild Defensive Lines

Player	Line	Games Played	Height	Weight	Goals	Assists	Points
Ryan Suter	Line 1	82	6-foot-1-inches	200-pounds	9	31	40
Jonas Brodin	Line 1	68	6-foot-1-inches	194-pounds	3	22	25
Jared Spurgeon	Line 2	76	5-foot-9-inches	168-pounds	10	28	38
Matt Dumba	Line 2	76	6-foot-0-inches	183-pounds	11	23	34
Kyle Quincey	Line 3	73	6-foot-2-inches	216-pounds	6	9	15
Ryan Murphy	Line 3	27	5-foot-11-inches	185-pounds	0	2	2

Minnesota Wild Defensemen Review Minnesota has depth at defense once again. This team still has a lethal top 4 even without Marco Scandella.

Ryan Suter is my favorite player on the Wild. I think he's their best defensive player plus you also got Jonas Brodin on the top line.

Line 2 defenseman Jared Spurgeon anchors the second line. Matt Dumba compliments him.

Kyle Quincey and Ryan Murphy are going to have to step up on the third line. If they can step up then the sky will be the limit for the Minnesota Wild.

Minnesota was 7th in goals allowed and 8th in penalty killing in 2016-2017. The Wild need to maintain those numbers if they expect to contend. I can see those numbers dropping slightly without Marco Scandella. At the same time they will still have a top 15 defense.

Draft Utopia Between The Pipes Goalie Tracker

Starting Goalie

Player	Team	Games Played	Record	Shutouts	Save Percentage	Goals Against Average
Devan Dubnyk	Minnesota Wild	63	40-19-5	5 Shutouts	.923	2.25 GAA

Backup Goalie

Player	Team	Games Played	Record	Shutouts	Save Percentage	Goals Against Average
Alex Stalock	Minnesota Wild	2	1-1-0	0 Shutouts	.944	1.51 GAA

Minnesota Wild Goaltender Review Devan Dubnyk made a comeback with this stout defense. Alex Stalock performed admirably with this defense as well.

Minnesota Wild Prospect Pool: Minnesota has Luke Kunin their 2016 first round pick from Wisconsin on the Iowa Wild in the AHL. Kunin is Minnesota's top prospect at the moment.

Minnesota Wild 2017-2018 Prediction

The Wild need to win the Central Division and avoid Chicago or Nashville in the opening round of the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs if they expect to do anything. I've talked about how much potential this team has had for 3 years. The Wild haven't showed that in April though when it matters most from April to June. Loyal Wild fans are fed up with that want to see some results. I think we could see this team get to the Western Conference Finals only to lose to the Edmonton Oilers. At the same time, knowing Minnesota's history in the Stanley Cup Playoffs be prepared for a let down.

The talent for Minnesota to make the 2018 Western Conference Finals is there. The coaching and skill from these players when it matters most will be the only thing keeping Minnesota from making a deep run.