SAINT PAUL, Minn. – Going into the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, Wild GM Chuck Fletcher had two plans. The first involved making a trade to help the team immediately. The second was to restock the badly depleted organization with talent below the NHL level. After ten years of mismanagement and trading away draft picks and top prospects, Fletcher had his work cut out for him on both fronts. With crickets chirping a lonely song for trade partners, Fletcher did what he could and traded the 12th overall pick for the 16th overall pick and a handful of picks in later rounds. He replaced a third round pick, originally traded away by previous GM Doug Risebrough, to move up one spot in last year’s draft. Using the newly gained picks, and the few he had originally, Fletcher began his work of rebuilding a franchise from the ground up. In the first round, the Wild chose a local boy in defenseman Nick Leddy who has been touted as a perfect fit in new Head Coach Todd Richard’s system, but the fans will need to wait a few years to see him in a red sweater. They can however watch him play locally at the University of Minnesota starting next season. The next pick for the Wild came in the third round, and the Wild chose the top rated goaltender on the NHL Central Scouting’s list. Matthew Hackettm who played for the Plymouth Whalers (OHL) was seen as a bit of a steal to go that low, but Assistant GM Tom Tompson was high on Hackett, so the Wild decided the time was right to rebuild its goalie ranks. After Niklas Backstrom, there is backup Josh Harding who is considered trade bait. In Houston (AHL) are Barry Brust, Nolan Schaffer, and Anton Khudobin who actually spent most of the season in the ECHL, but made a strong showing in the AHL playoffs. Brust and Schaffer are both in the final year of their deals, and the Wild needed to make a move to replenish behind them. In the fourth round, the Wild chose to look at offense for the first time in the draft by choosing forwards Kristopher Foucault and Alexander Fallstrom. Fallstrom played his senior year of high school at Shattuck Saint Mary’s in Fairbault, Minnesota. An NHL.com article earlier this season had this to say about him. “Alex is a big, strong, strapping player,” said Shattuck coach Tom Ward. “He’s kind of a rough-and-tumble power forward in the Tomas Holmstrom mold. He has a chance to become a great player because he’s very intelligent. Fallstrom, who committed to Harvard in the fall, is exciting because he can both score and set up goals.” Foucalt is a different story. Most reports have him pegged as a player with magical hands and little else. Questions on speed, ability to read the play, and defensive liabilities are likely reasons why he fell as low as he did. Motivation questions linger with him as well, giving Minnesota another Benoit Pouliot situation. Time will, of course, tell if he can find a way to motivate himself in the other aspects of the game and become an NHL level talent. Owning two picks in each of the sixth and seventh rounds, the Wild chose three more forwards, and a goalie. The three forwards, Jere Sallinen out of Sweden, Erik Haula, a teammate of Fallstrom’s at Shattuck, and Anthony Hamburg, a player out of the Dallas Stars AAA midget league. All three forwards are considered long shots, but since Haula is a linemate of Fallstrom’s, and the two have chemistry together, both could push each other through the organization. The second goaltender taken by the Wild was Darcy Kuemper out of the WHL. Kuemper’s profile on Hockey’s Future’s web site states that he “is a big goalie that checks in at a hair under 6’4″, but is athletic and moves well for his size. He got better as the year went on despite playing on a fairly weak team. A bit of a project but with improved positioning and rebound control, he could be a late bloomer who really pans out.” At only 19 years old, he has plenty of time to grow into his frame and develop his skills. Taken as a group, the 2009 draft class for the Wild suits the needs of the organization fairly well. Minnesota brought in a local player with talents that match the direction the team is headed, brought in back up for a soon to be depleted goalie corps, and added forwards into a group that has never seen a positive review. While Wild fans wanted more from the new leadership, it is impossible and ineffectual to criticize a draft before most of the players have even put a Wild jersey over their heads for the first time. Only after a few years have passed will fans and the organization be able to truly determine where each of these players are at. The author can be reached at bryan.reynolds@prohockeynews.com
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