Michael Russo: Minnesota Wild ‘Will Try’ to Trade for 1st Round Pick

June 22, 2012; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; General view of the stage and draft board order prior to the 2012 NHL Draft at CONSOL Energy Center. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY SportsAccording to a tweet by Star Tribune Minnesota Wild beat writer Michael Russo, the Wild will likely be active in trying to acquire a first round pick in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft to be held on June 30th in New Jersey.

Don’t get too excited, Wild fans; plenty of teams try to move up in the draft every year and are unsuccessful in doing so. However, knowing Wild GM Chuck Fletcher’s knack for making trades–and good ones at that–it’s certainly not outside the realm of possibility. When you consider Calgary and Columbus both hold three picks inside the top-30, snagging one of the later picks shouldn’t be too pricy for Minnesota.

While selecting the best player available is always a great option, Minnesota is in desparate need of addressing the lack of depth at right wing. Aside from Charlie Coyle–technically listed as a center–Hockey’s Future has Jarod Palmer listed as the top RW on Minnesota’s prospect pool depth chart. That’s just plain upsetting if true. Justin Fontaine and Brett Bulmer are Nos. 2 and 3.  Talented right wingers Ryan Hartman and Curtis Lazar are two potential candidates for the position that would likely be available in the mid-late first round.

Minnesota could also use another solid young defensemen as, aside from Jonas Brodin, Mathew Dumba, Jared Spurgeon and Marco Scandella, there is little to none top-4 defensive depth in the system. Nikita Zadorov, Ian McCoshen or Robert Hagg would be solid options in the latter half of round one. This is supposed to be a deep draft and likely any pick in the top-30 will go down as a good one. If Fletcher can pull off a trade, it could be an interesting day for Minnesota.