A Look at the Minnesota Wild's Current Depth Chart

FORWARDS

Line 1: Pierre-Marc Bouchard ($4.25 million salary, $4.08M salary cap hit); Mikko Koivu ($7.29M, $6.75M); Dany Heatley ($8M, $7.5M)

Line 2: Guillaume Latendresse ($2.6M, $2.5M); Matt Cullen ($3.5M, $3.5M); Devin Setoguchi ($2.75M; $3M)

Line 3: Darroll Powe (RFA); Kyle Brodziak ($1.3M, $1.15M); Cal Clutterbuck ($1.5M, $1.4M)

Line 4: Eric Nystrom ($1.4M, $1.4M); TBD; Brad Staubitz ($600K, $575K)

TBD; TBD

Note: Two or three spots are open depending on if the Wild keeps 13 or 14 forwards, or seven or eight defensemen.

Vying for spots: Colton Gillies, Casey Wellman, Cody Almond, James Sheppard, David McIntyre, Carson McMillan, Matt Kassian, Jed Ortmeyer, Jeff Taffe.

Restricted free agents: Powe, Wellman, Sheppard, Gillies, Jarod Palmer

Unrestricted free agents: John Madden, Antti Miettinen, Patrick O’Sullivan

Minor league unrestricted free agents: Robbie Earl.

DEFENSEMEN

Pair 1: Nick Schultz ($3.6 million salary, $3.5M salary cap hit); Marek Zidlicky ($4M, $4M)

Pair 2: Greg Zanon ($2.1M, $1.933M); Jared Spurgeon ($535K, $527K)

Pair 3: Clayton Stoner ($575K, $550K); TBD

TBD; TBD

Note: Two or three spots are open depending on if the Wild keeps 13 or 14 forwards.

Vying for spots: Marco Scandella, Nate Prosser, Justin Falk, Drew Bagnall.

Restricted free agents: Falk, Jeff Penner.

GOALIES

Starter: Niklas Backstrom ($6 million salary, $6M salary cap hit)

Backup: Josh Harding ($750K, $750K)

SALARY BREAKDOWN

• Actual 2011-12 payroll (as of today): $52,219,445

• Salary cap hit: $50,418,111

Welcome to the Wild, Danny Heately!

Danny Heately was traded for Marty Havlat. This is a huge trade that sends Havlat to San Jose where he goes to a for sure title contender. According to the StarTribune, Danny Heately is ecstatic about this deal. He is really good friends with Setoguchi, and the two have dreamed on playing on the same line together. What does this mean for the Wild though?

We know what Heately brings to a team: scoring. Ever since 2001, all Danny Heately has done is score. In fact, he has 325 goals since 2001, good for third best since that time. The Wild now have two guys who could score a lot of goals in Setoguchi and Danny Heately.

I like this trade, but I would have liked it a lot better a few years ago. Heately scores a lot of goals, but he is starting to get really old. He's also very prone to injuries as he has had a lot of injuries the past six seasons. Hopefully the Wild get a motivated and healthy Danny Heately that scores a ton of goals for them this season.

Wild Sign Goalie Josh Harding

The Wild have found their back up to Niklas Backstrom! The Minnesota Wild signed Josh Harding to a 1 year, 750,000 dollar contract yesterday. The Wild said Harding was given a clean bill of health after tearing both his MCL and ACL.

By signing Harding, the Wild have all but ended their relationship with Jose Theodore.

I'm glad the Wild signed Harding. I think he can do a really good job and he's wayyyy better than Jose Theodore. Theodore was a bum. Congratulations to Josh Harding, go buy a new car or get a hair cut, and to the Wild for getting the back up goalie they always wanted.

Minnesota Wild Trade for Darroll Powe

The Minnesota Wild traded fro a physical forward in Darroll Powe over the weekend. The Wild traded a 2013 third round pick to get him. Powe was a fan favorite in Philadelphia because of his hitting and hard play. He is really fast and strong, although he is not very skilled.

The Wild really like the idea of having their back lines being filled with high energy guys such as Clutterpuck and Powe. Their aggressiveness and speed represents the types of players that the Wild are trying to add to their roster.

Powe isn't much of a scorer, but he was great at killing penalties. He led all Flyers in short handed minutes last season with 257 minutes. He really hasn't done much goal-scoring wise in his career, scoring only 22 goals in 203 career games.

Don't worry Wild fans, Powe understands his role:

"My role is to use my speed and be a physical presence. My game is mainly energy," said Powe, who has scored 22 goals and 43 points in 204 games. "I've definitely watched [Clutterbuck] play over the last few years. He's a guy who plays his role very well. He's a physical presence and someone to watch and someone who would be fun to play with."

Powe is also Scandinavian so he should fit in swimmingly in Minnesota.

Wild Will get Plenty of Trade Calls for Brent Burns

Wild defenseman Brent Burns is the center of many trade rumors. Brent Burns is going to be a restricted free agent next year, so the Wild are trying to figure out if they are going to try and sign him for the long haul or if they should be trading him. If they trade him, they can likely acquire the impact forward that they have been looking for and maybe a few other assets. Burns is well aware of this and knows its all apart of the business. They might not sign Burns just because he could be asking for a ton of money. The Wild have been in contact with Burns' agent all week to try to figure out if signing him to a long term extension is at all feasible.

The NHL Draft is tonight and the Wild are very excited. They've got the 10th pick in the draft. They say they will either pick an impact forward or defenseman with the pick. They have also discussed moving down or up a couple of slots and maybe picking up a few assets or a player they have been targeting. General Manager Chuck Fletcher said that we shouldn't expect the Wild to move down more than a couple of spots if they do. He believes there is a huge drop off in this draft after the first 13 picks or so. I bet the Wild stick at 10 and make a real solid pick.

Details for 2011 NHL Draft at Xcel Energy Center

2011 NHL draft at Xcel Energy Center

First round: Friday, 6-9 p.m. (VS); door open for fans at 4 p.m.

Rounds 2-7: Saturday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., (NHL Network); doors open for fans at 8 a.m.

Tickets: All tickets for Friday's first round have been reserved; tickets for Saturday's session are available. For information, go to www.wild.com.

Wild picks: 10 (first round), 71 (3rd), 101 (4th), 131 (5th), 161 (6th), 191 (7th).

All this information is from the Startribune website

Yo Yo Yo Mike Yeo is the New Wild Coach

What's up everyone?? The Minnesota Wild named Mike Yeo the new head coach of the Minnesota Wild. This should be really exciting. Yeo has absolutely zero head coaching experience and barely played in the NHL. Here are my thoughts on this.

Okay Wild. So you put me through a horrible, boring long season in which you collapse like LeBron James in the 4th quarter. You have no superstars and are a losing team, therefore there are little reasons for me to go out of my way to pay you to let me watch your lousy team. You decide to fire your coach, that's great. You decide to replace your coach that had little experience and failed because of it with a coach with even less experience!

I'm not rooting against Yeo, but lets be real here. The Wild needed something to energize their fan base and this didn't do it at all. The Timberwolves are catching all the headlines with their crazy antics and the Wild can't even hire a coach whose first and last name aren't even a combined 8 letters. At least hire some crazy European with a cool name to get me interested. This team better be real damn good or else...

That's all for today!

Teams Interested in Former Wild Coach Todd Richards

Former Wild Coach has got interviews with Colombus, Winnipeg for assistant coaching positions. Detroit’s also interested in Richards, while Dallas could be a possibility if Peter Horachek, who used to coach Richards in Orlando, gets the Stars’ coaching job. This is all according to the Startribune.We should expect to see him on someones bench next season. Later in the article, he mentions that he really likes watching the games, but would really like to get back into coaching.

Good luck Todd, even though you were a terrible coach for the Wild and you don't know how to coach a hockey team.

Game 7

The most exciting game in all of sports. Game 7 is going to be needed to decide these Stanley cup Finals. I'm personally rooting for the Vancouver Canucks. Why the Canucks you might ask? Let's let Canada win something they really care about. Boston, you have the Red Sox, Patriots, and Celtics, I won't at all feel bad for you if the Bruins don't win this game. What else is even in Vancouver, nothing? Let them win, they will be very happy and you can wait a couple of monthes for your precious Red Sox to win the World Series (they're stacked). Plus, the Canucks have way cooler jerseys and their best players are twin brothers, that is so cool.

Wild Fans Honor Boogaard

Minnesota Wild fans have always held a special place in their hearts for Derek Boogaard. This was apparent through the memorial service organized for Minnesota Wild fans shortly after Boogaard was found dead in his apartment. Fans converged at the arena on Sunday night with candles and memories to honor the fallen fan favorite. Boogaard played for the Wild from 2005-2009. The event drew around 350 fans.

Peter Horachek is a Minnesota Wild Coaching Candidate

Until recently, I can't say I had ever heard of Peter Horachek. Peter Horachek has been confirmed as a Minnesota Wild Head Coach candidate and has interviewed for the position. This shows Minnesota Wild fans that Fletcher is truly not keyed in on a veteran coach only.

Peter Horachek has spent the past 7 seasons as an assistant coach for the Nashville Predators. His responsibilities included running the forwards and the Predators power play. He has a natural ability to relate to players, both with veterans and young players transitioning to the NHL.

Craig MacTavish Interviews For Head Coaching Job

Craig MacTavish has been interviewed by Minnesota Wild general manager Chuck Fletcher for the vacant head coaching job. MacTavish was also in the running two years ago when Fletcher went for a younger face, Todd Richards. Craig MacTavish coached the Oilers from 2000 to 2009. He got his master’s degree in business from Queen’s University late last year and he has worked for TSN for the past two seasons.