Dobber’s Offseason Fantasy Grades: Minnesota Wild

Dobber

2016-08-18

Dobber's offseason fantasy hockey grades – Minnesota Wild

 

For the last 13 years (12 with The Hockey News) I have reviewed each team from a fantasy hockey standpoint, and graded them. My 14th annual review will appear here on DobberHockey throughout the summer. This is not a review of the likely performance on the ice or in the standings, but in the realm of fantasy hockey.

Enjoy!

 

GoneThomas Vanek, Ryan Carter, Justin Fontaine, David Jones, Jarret Stoll

 

IncomingAlex Stalock, Victor Bartley, Chris Stewart, Eric Staal, Bruce Boudreau (coach)

 

Impact of changes – The biggest change in the offseason is the coach. Bruce Boudreau is one of the best and his teams always make the postseason. He has also had more of a defensive slant over the past few years, which could act as a drag on production. Then again, the highest scoring player on the team last year was Mikko Koivu, who had just 56 points. Can it get worse than that?

Perhaps the high end won’t be very high, but I think you can look for several more 45-point players as this team scores by committee. Last year three players topped that mark and it’s entirely feasible that seven or even eight players reach that target in 2016-17.

The other big change was the big-name disappointing star leaving (Vanek) and the big-name disappointing star arriving (Staal). The difference here is that expectations for Staal are set properly: he’s a 2A center, possibly third line, depending on how often they use Charlie Coyle and depending on how well Erik Haula handles more responsibility. Nobody expects Staal to get to 55 points (and he’s paid accordingly).

 

Ready for full-time – Christian Folin has limited upside as a puck-moving NHL defenseman, given the other options already in the Minnesota lineup. But he’s probably 50-50 to make the team as their No.6.

(Read more on Folin here)

Mike Reilly was last summer’s big NCAA prospect that made the news for deciding not to sign with the team that drafted him (Columbus). Instead, he signed with the Wild and went minus-27 in 45 AHL games with Iowa. With the big club he had seven points in 29 games and wasn’t used at all in the postseason. So far, the Mike Reilly experiment is following the same script as Edmonton’s Justin Schultz experiment. (Read more on Reilly here)

Alex Tuch, one of Minnesota’s top forward prospects, could also sneak in there with a huge camp. But the former college star will likely need a full AHL season first. (Read more on Tuch here)

 

Fantasy Outlook – Minnesota kind of stalled last year when they slipped from 12th in goals-for down to 19th. And I project them to finish 21st in 2016-17 so it won’t get any better. Mikael Granlund showed some nice flashes of offense that gives us hope, and Boudreau said that he’d like to see Granlund on the wing with Mikko Koivu. And Nino Niederreiter improved in leaps and bounds last season, so if he can build on that then there is hope. In the pipeline, the Wild are hoping that Alex Tuch will eventually become a solid second-liner and Joel Eriksson Ek will be top-line guy in a couple of years. But other than that, the farm system is slim for fantasy owners.

 

Fantasy Grade: C (last year was C+)

 

Pick up the 11th annual DobberHockey Fantasy Hockey Guide here (available now for immediate download)

📢 advertisement:

OR

Get the Fantasy Guide and the Prospects Report as part of a package and save$7.00 – here!

 

 

Offseason Fantasy Grades: Anaheim Ducks

Offseason Fantasy Grades: Arizona Coyotes

Offseason Fantasy Grades: Boston Bruins

Offseason Fantasy Grades: Buffalo Sabres

Offseason Fantasy Grades: Calgary Flames

Offseason Fantasy Grades: Carolina Hurricanes

Offseason Fantasy Grades: Chicago Blackhawks

Offseason Fantasy Grades: Colorado Avalanche

Offseason Fantasy Grades: Columbus Blue Jackets

Offseason Fantasy Grades: Dallas Stars

Offseason Fantasy Grades: Detroit Red Wings

Offseason Fantasy Grades: Edmonton Oilers

Offseason Fantasy Grades: Florida Panthers

Offseason Fantasy Grades: Los Angeles Kings

 

One Comment

  1. isle b. 2016-08-18 at 14:11

    On paper, this looks like the most “un-Boudreau” team Boudreau has ever coached.

Leave A Comment

UPCOMING GAMES

No data found.

Starting Goalies

Top Skater Views

  Players Team
NIKOLAJ EHLERS CAR
GUSTAV NYQUIST WPG
MASON MCTAVISH ANA
PORTER MARTONE PHI
BOWEN BYRAM BUF

Top Goalie Profile Views

  Players Team
SPENCER KNIGHT CHI
MACKENZIE BLACKWOOD COL
ANDREI VASILEVSKIY T.B
CHRIS HOLT
DARCY KUEMPER L.A

LINE COMBOS

  Frequency CHI Players
24.2 ILYA MIKHEYEV RYAN DONATO CONNOR BEDARD
21.0 JOE VELENO LANDON SLAGGERT LUKAS REICHEL
21.0 TEUVO TERAVAINEN FRANK NAZAR TYLER BERTUZZI

DobberHockey Podcasts

Fantasy Hockey Life: Calgary Flames with Steve MacFarlane

Steve MacFarlane is here to report on the Calgary Flames. Jesse and Victor interview Steve about returning pros Nazem Kadri, Jonathan Huberdeau, Matt Coronato, Connor Zary, Yegor Sharangovich, Morgan Frost, Martin Pospisil, Joel Farabee, MacKenzie Weegar, Rasmus Andersson, Zayne Parekh, Dustin Wolf, Dan Vladar, and Devin Cooley. In Cat’s Instincts, Cat Silverman of InGoal mag […]

Fantasy Hockey Life: Buffalo Sabres with Mike Augello

Michael Augello of The Hockey News and Hockey Hot Stove is here to report on the Buffalo Sabres. Jesse and Victor interview Michael about returning pros Tage Thompson, JJ Peterka, Alex Tuch, Jason Zucker, Jack Quinn, Ryan McLeod, Josh Norris, Jiri Kulich, Zach Benson, Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power, Bowen Byram, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, James Reimer, and […]

FIND US ON FACEBOOK

📢 advertisement: