They have solutions to many of these problems. As for the top-line winger, top-pair defenseman and maybe even, *gasp* the elite center, the Wild are in luck. Elite complete two-way defensemen are hard to come by, this will be a hurdle Minnesota must overcome. Shocker, the Wild need a top-line center. Filip Gustavsson was an elite puck-stopper for the Minnesota Wild this past year.
Look at the stats and the charts, all of it. For the time being, as long as Gustavsson's play wasn't a fluke this year, I’d consider him to be a top-of-the-line goaltender. Marc-Andre Fleury spoke about how he wants to come back to Minnesota, even if he’s in the backup role. Those two pillars can be penciled in for at least the next couple of years.Īssuming the Wild can re-sign him to a reasonable dollar amount, Gustavsson will be the starting goaltender next season. Brodin would have no problem cracking any team's top four, and his smooth style of play should translate as he gets older. Brodin can play on any team's top pair, and he’s among the best in the show at shutting down opposing threats. But is he among the best in the NHL entering his age-34 season? Probably not. We saw Father Time catch up to him a little bit at the tail end of this past season, so we can see this potentially becoming an issue. Zuccarello can still play up to that level as long as he is with Kaprizov. Kaprizov is the superstar winger, and Boldy is the top-line winger. Eriksson Ek fills the role of top-line center to play behind the TBA elite center. This is a breakdown of what the Wild have at the moment.Īfter re-signing Johansson, they can plug him in as a second top-six forward. You do not need to have all of these pieces in place but the more you do have, the better. These are more or less all the requirements for building a Stanley Cup champion. A goalie who is among the best in the league or at least among the top 10.Another high-end defenseman who can be effective on the third pair.Another top-pair defenseman to put with one of the other top-pairing guys.1 caliber defenseman to play behind your first one Two more very good top-six players to play in the middle six.A top-line center to play behind your otherworldly center.Two more top-line wingers to play in the top six.An elite winger who is among the best in the league.An elite center who is among the best in the league.It’s not perfect but in general, teams tend to have the following when it comes to roster makeup. The Athletic did a study into the common themes that every Stanley Cup Champion has had. Image courtesy of Kiyoshi Mio-USA Today Sports
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