FUTURE IS BRIGHT FOR WILD
Jan 2, 2016By Tom Witosky | Follow @toskyAHLWild
Iowa Wild General Manager Brent Flahr is a very busy man these days.
One day he’s in Des Moines, a few days later he is in Helsinki, Finland. And, in between, he is in his Minnesota Wild office in St. Paul where he is the assistant general manager of the NHL club. Such is the workload of the man assigned to be looking constantly to improve the Minnesota Wild’s hockey future through the entry draft and minor league player development.
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In a recent chat with Flahr, Iowa’s first year GM expressed optimism that the Wild is making good progress in rebuilding its minor league roster strength that has sapped by its success in developing a strong corps of young players now playing in Minnesota. He isn’t happy about how Iowa has struggled this season, but attributed a lot of it to injuries on the front line including Tyler Graovac, Zac Dalpe and Grayson Downing.
“It’s been difficult because we really haven’t had the lineups that we wanted to have because of the injuries. We really are just now getting our guys back and I think we will begin to start winning games,” he said.
While Iowa has struggled, Minnesota’s ECHL affiliate, the Quad City Mallards, has a winning record – much of it with Wild players like Olivier Archambault, Mike Neal, and Raphael Bussieres. Plus, the work of goaltender Steve Michalek has caught Flahr’s attention.
“Michalek has been a standout at goaltender,” Flahr said. “He has performed very well and has really grown.”
Flahr attributed much of Michalek’s growth to Fred Chabot, the Wild’s minor league goalie coach
“Freddy has worked with him a lot and Michalek has really taken to it, realizing what he has to do to be successful in the pro game. It is a lot different than in college hockey as far as traffic in front of the goal and what not. He has been playing a lot and doing well”
Michalek may also get a chance to play in Des Moines before the end of the season. “We are going to leave him there for the season though we think he will get his chance up here some time this season and hope he will be a regular here next year,” Flahr said.
Much of Flahr’s overall optimism is based on the performance of some of the club’s most recent draft choices that includes players who were named to their home nation’s national team to play in the International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship in Finland between Dec. 26 and Jan. 5.
“It is a good age group,” Flahr said. “It is exciting for them and gives us a good chance to evaluate them against good talent. It also is a great chance for us to go and evaluate draft eligible players who are playing hockey at a high level.”
He said that the club’s emphasis on forwards in the most recent drafts is beginning to show some strong promise.
Here is a rundown from Flahr of some of the players doing well this season.
- Joel Ericksson Ek – 1st round draft choice in 2015 now playing forward for Farjstads BK Karlstad as well as Sweden’s world junior team. “He is a very smart two-way center. I saw him play earlier this year and will see him over at the juniors in Finland. We will see what pops next year whether he wants to stay over there or comes over next year. He is in a good program over there but he is only 18 years old. Technically he is eligible to play here, but we will evaluate that question down the road.
- Alex Tuch, 19 – 1st round draft choice in 2014 now playing forward at Boston College. “He is a big power winger with very good hands. He is a goal scorer. He is the type of kid who could be looking to turn pro after this season. But, he’s got to finish his year strong at Boston College and we will deal with that eventually. We see him as top six forward in the NHL in time. Depending on what happens, he could be here at the end of the year.”
- Louis Belpedio, 19– 3rd round draft choice in 2015 now playing defense at Miami of Ohio and for Team USA in World Junior Championships. Belpedio scored GWG in Team USA opening round victory over Canada. “He is an offensive defenseman, a good skater that makes him a very mobile defender. He is the type of player who will probably need to spend some time for seasoning in American league at some point.”
- Carson Soucy, 21 – 5th round draft choice in 2013 now playing defense at University of Minnesota-Duluth. “He is a junior now and is a big strong defenseman. He is a bit different kind of player, but he is a guy we think highly of. He could be looking to turn pro after this season, but it is up to him. We don’t put any pressure on players at all when it comes to making that decision.
- Reid Duke, 19 – 6th round draft choice in 2014 now playing forward for the Brandon Wheat Kings. “Duker is a skilled kid up-front. He has really good hands. We have asked him to really work on his game. He always has had the offensive skill, he just needs to round out his game so he can compete every game with consistency. He is young player so we will have to monitor his progress closely down to stretch to see if he is ready for the AHL level next year.
- Pavel Jenys, 19 – 7th round draft choice in 2014 now playing forward for Niagara IceDogs: “He is a big kid and we got a glimpse of him when he was here last year. As a young player, he has a big body and can really skate and shoot the puck. But he also needs to learn how to play in every situation. He is likely to be more of a bottom 6 forward so he is going to have to be competent in the penalty kill and managing the puck in those situations. “