If the Minnesota Wild want to rebuild or even just retool and make themselves younger, they’re going to have to get a bit creative; drafting and developing takes time. Teams don’t trade young talents either, but what about waivers?
Kerby Rychel is exactly the kind of player that the Minnesota Wild should be looking at. He offers a skill set similar to most of the fourth line and depth veterans. But, what makes him really appealing is that he is only 23 years old.
Now, looking at his track record, you have a player that has bounced around a bit. The Columbus Blue Jackets deemed him as unneeded, so did the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens. Now, he’s been waived by the Calgary Flames.
Either there is some genuine personality conflicts at play and that is why he hasn’t been renewed, or these teams didn’t understand the player they had.
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Rychel has a career record of 154 points across 232 AHL games, spending time with 3 different sides and a fourth in the Stockton Heat, if he goes unclaimed from the Calgary Flames’ waiving.
What’s more, in his short glimpses of NHL action, he has also managed to tally some points – he’s got that ability someone in there.
He lays big hits and he is happy to get rough and ready. He doesn’t quite look the part of the 2013 19th overall first round pick these days, but he has enough upside to suggest he’d be a decent power-forward to acquire.
As with other guys that are passing through waivers like Connor Brickley, he has upside, he has untapped potential and could make the fourth line (at the very least) a lot younger.
I don’t see what a veteran like Matt Hendricks offers that he doesn’t. Barring the fact Hendricks has 10+ years of NHL experience.
Rather than being risk-averse, the new Minnesota Wild General Manager should throw out a career lifeline to Rychel.
Bring him in and see if Bruce Boudreau can reshape his career trajectory.
Statistics courtesy of Elite Prospects.