Post Mortem Edition of who Should the Minnesota Wild Sign

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA - JUNE 22: Paul Fenton of the Minnesota Wild attends the 2019 NHL Draft at the Rogers Arena on June 22, 2019 in Vancouver, Canada. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA - JUNE 22: Paul Fenton of the Minnesota Wild attends the 2019 NHL Draft at the Rogers Arena on June 22, 2019 in Vancouver, Canada. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
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5. Mats Zuccarello (57.5pts)

Let’s address one thing first. Mats Zuccarello scored a 57.5 in my model because he was injured just under half the season, making him the first player to really break the formula I had created. That said, in 2017-2018 he played 80 games, scored 16 goals, and contributed 37 assists. Mats and Jason Zucker are extremely similar players. Undersized, incredibly fast, help generate scoring opportunities for his teammates on the ice because of his physical ability and sneaky grit.

And, good news Wild Fans, it seems like the Scandinavian Trio will be complete.

It’ll be interesting to see who he plays with. I would certainly be a fan of sticking him with Zucker and letting them run rampant on the ice, and maybe create some scoring opportunities for Eric Staal. Could maybe see him playing with Jordan Greenway because they’d average about 6′ 1″ on the ice, depending on who they played with.

Also, if you’d like to think creatively, we essentially traded Mikael Granlund (who has a $6.5M cap hit this year) for Kevin Fiala ($832,500) and Mats Zuccarello ($6M cap hit). Not too shabby.