The Minnesota Wild need to be in the market to get a lot younger; there are options out there on the trade market if Paul Fenton decides to chat to the right people.
Per mynhltraderumors.com, Joshua Ho-Sang is likely to be moved on by the New York Islanders; the Minnesota Wild were floated as a possible candidate to trade for him.
For the Minnesota Wild, this would be a high-risk, high-reward type scenario. Joshua Ho-Sang could easily be at least a top-nine, if not a top-six forward. He just happens to have a personality that has caused clashes.
Right now, he finds himself under the auspices of Lou Lamoriello, who is very much known for his penchant towards the old-school. He has taken his ‘low numbers’ rule with him to the New York Islanders, forcing Ho-Sang to drop his #66.
Not only that, the old-school mentality doesn’t exactly gel with a player that is willing to speak up on social media, not just feed the fans the same old messages the team’s public relations group want them to.
For the Minnesota Wild, to take the risk on Ho-Sang would mean that Paul Fenton can see beyond all that noise. It’d also mean that he trusts that Bruce Boudreau‘s sometimes hard-line approach could work with Ho-Sang.
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Ho-Sang’s brief spells in the NHL have him 0.5 PPG (points per game) production rate.
Not bad considering he’s never truly achieved a level of ice-time to show himself beyond that.
He once again finds himself in the American Hockey League to start the year; something some may call a learning curve, but his stat-line of 100 games, 67 points suggests that he more than meets the match of that level.
If Paul Fenton was to bring him to the Minnesota Wild, you’d be hoping it was a veteran sent in return and not a draft pick, but realistically it’s more likely the latter given the current state of the Islanders.
It would say one thing though; that the Minnesota Wild aren’t afraid of players with a bit of personality. That they’re willing to take a few risks in their attempts to get younger whilst still maintaining a playoff-level team.
It’d certainly be a sign that Fenton means business as the General Manager, and that he’s not about to mess around.
The only concern is where he fits in the team; he’s an agile offensive puck handler, but lacks the defensive attributes that you ideally want to match up with that skill.
If the Minnesota Wild took a risk on him, they’d be reliant on Boudreau and his staff to a) get the best out of him offensively but also b) teach him to play a better game at the defensive end of the ice.
I’m all for it, at the right price. The risk attached means that we shouldn’t overpay.