Minnesota Wild: Graovac Is In Position to Make Minnesota Starting Lineup

2015-16 was supposed to be Tyler Graovac’s first full NHL season but was cut short by an opening day injury that saw him bounced back down to Iowa. This offseason it seems that Graovac has been set back to square one, but with some good play and positional decisions he might just be in position to break camp again with Minnesota.

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Tyler Graovac came into this offseason knowing that this was a brand new offseason. Last offseason was very good to him as the young forward made the Minnesota Wild roster out training camp, and looking like he was poised for a strong first full-season NHL campaign. We all know that season never came to fruition as Graovac was injured on the opening night of last season. After making it back to play he found no room on the Minnesota roster and was forced to play in Iowa for the rest of 2015-16.

This offseason though things have shaped up well for the 6’5’’ center. With the fourth line center position wide open, it’s largely been thought that Graovac has had a better than average chance to be inserted on that fourth line as the center for that line. Still there seemed to be some reluctance to pencil him in due to the fact that new coach Bruce Boudreau might not see it that way and choose someone else.

There also seemed to be a cloud over him concerning his injury from last season. Was he completely healed? The scrutiny seemed to come from the fact that his point production in the AHL was significantly down from the year before. In the 2014-15 season with Iowa, Graovac was tallying a point on average about every two games for 46 points in 73 games (21 goals and 25 assists). Last season in Iowa that average was down to a point every three games with only 16 points in 39 games (5 goals and 11 assists).

Sep 29, 2016; Winnipeg, Manitoba, CAN; Winnipeg Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey (36) skates with the puck as Minnesota Wild center Tyler Graovac (44) defends during the first period during a preseason hockey game at MTS Centre. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Fedyck-USA TODAY Sports

So when Graovac started training camp everyone wanted to pencil him in, but still knew he’d have to play for his spot in the lineup. Thus far Graovac has done a great job making his case. He had the lone assist on Bartley’s goal in Tuesday’s tilt against the Avs, and has played a lot of strong minutes thus far in all three preseason games.

Then some news yesterday seems to signal that the spot might indeed be wide open for him to take. Michael Russo of the Star Tribune reported yesterday Boudreau has told Charile Coyle that he will play right wing as his primary position next season. That really clears up a lot of positional questions as now we know that Granlund will also be on the wing, thus leaving the Wild with Staal, Koivu, and Haula up the middle. There was talk that if Boudreau declared Coyle was a center that would give the Wild four centers and thus might box out Graovac from the Minnesota roster.

So for Graovac the spot is open, and right now he looks to be the strongest center candidate to fill that fourth line. Joel Eriksson-Ek is not showing that he’s NHL ready, and frankly Graovac has played better than him in thus far in the preseason. Not to mention that Graovac has NHL experience already, and therefore would really be less of a risk.

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In addition to all the hockey arguments that seem to be very strong there’s a big contractual issue with Graovac. If he does not make the Minnesota roster he needs to be put on waivers to be place in Iowa. That’s a huge factor considering if a player like Eriksson-Ek doesn’t make the roster, he can be placed in Iowa or sent back to Sweden with no issue of losing him. If the Wild try to send Graovac to Iowa, they risk having him claimed by another club and that’s completely possible considering his low price tag and big potential.

Next: What to Look For in the Preseason

So right now things look great for Graovac to make the Minnesota Wild’s roster as the fourth line center. Sure the economics seem to point to that, but I think more importantly he’s earned it hockey wise. Unless something really changes on the hockey side of this argument in the rest of the preseason, you can bet serious money that Graovac will have a repeat performance of last season and will break camp on the Minnesota roster.