Minnesota Wild: Who Gets Protected?

The strong play of many of the Minnesota Wild’s forwards has raised the question of who will be protected from being selected by Las Vegas in the expansion draft.

Rules for the Expansion draft are as follows: each team can only protect 7 forwards, 3 defensemen, and 1 goalie. Or they can protect 8 skaters and 1 goalie. In addition, anyone with a no movement clause must be protected and counts against the protected number. A full list of the rules can be found on nhl.com.

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As of now, the Wild have four players with no movement clauses: Mikko Koivu, Jason Pominville, Zach Parise, and Ryan Suter. Assuming that does not change, the team is left with four forwards and two defensemen they can protect on the roster.

As far as the forwards go, the team will most likely protect with the remaining spots Mikael Granlund, Nino Niederreiter, Jason Zucker, and Charlie Coyle. Each of the four is 25 years old or younger and has tallied at least one 20 goal season. They also have each already set new career highs in points with a good chunk of the year remaining. It is clear (and hopefully to the Wild as well) these players need to be protected and built around.

Unfortunately, on such a deep team, there remains the possibility the team will lose an impact forward. the only one that reasonably has a chance of being selected is Erik Haula. However, given the amount of capable defensemen the team has on the team it would be surprising if a forward is taken off the roster.

On the defensive side of things it gets a little more hairy. There are only two spots remaining after the team protects Suter. It would stand to logic that one of those players is Jared Spurgeon. He is in the midst of his prime at the age of 27 and also another player who has already set a new career high in points. He also is also second in the league in plus minus at 34. Throw in an obvious chemistry working on the top pairing with the Suter and it is almost a lock Spurgeon is protected.

Which leaves one defensemen left to be protected. And there are no shortage of options. In an ideal world the wild would not have to part with any, Scandella, Dumba, and Brodin are all good players. However, they must open two of them up to the possibility of being taken in the expansion draft.

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Dumba or Brodin should be protected. Not knocking Scandella but the other two are at least three years younger with a more sustained track record of production. After weeding out Scandella the team has a choice to make. Dumba is the bigger threat offensively both with his shot and passing, but he is also not as experienced and more a defensive liability than Brodin. On the other hand, Brodin has improved his offense to the point where he has earned time on the power play and has upped his production (although it still falls short of Dumba) to go along with steady defensive play.

Next: The Opening Faceoff 7 Mar 17

It won’t be easy, but the team must weigh their options to make the right decision for the future of the franchise. It’s going to be a balancing act for sure and the planning for it should start now. Do not be surprised if at this time next season either Dumba or Brodin is playing for the Las Vegas Knights.

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