ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Minnesota Wild have signed defenseman and Minnesota native Mike Lundin to a one-year deal.(Article made by the Associated Press and can be found here)
The 26-year-old Lundin had one goal and 11 assists in 69 games with the Tampa Bay Lightning last season. He averaged more than 20 minutes per game and blocked 106 shots and will be counted on to bolster the blue line after the Wild traded top defenseman Brent Burns to San Jose on draft night.
The signing brings Lundin home. He is a native of the Minneapolis suburb of Burnsville and played high school hockey at Apple Valley, where he was a finalist for the state's prestigious Mr. Hockey award in 2003.
He played in college at Maine and was a fourth-round pick of the Lightning in 2004.
I am no Wild fan, Goon is. I don't think Lundin is anything to write home about. He's not going to blow it out there on the ice, but he's not Brent Burns either.
Should you be excited?
I guess. The sad truth is: Mike Richards was the big name. And there is so little other notable names floating out there that Jaromir Jagr is coming back to the NHL to try again and that made almost as big of a splash as Richards' signing with the Rangers.
I expect that the major moves are done with the offseason already, which will make the NHL fan stir crazy for the season to begin. I do not foresee many big trades being made and there is certainly, in my opinion, nothing going on of note with free agency.
I do not foresee the Wild being much better this next season, but unlike in previous years, there wasn't many names they could go after to make the team much better than it is. Sure, losing Burns will hurt, but they gained Dany Heatley and Devon Setoguchi. That being said, the Wild aren't going to amount to much for a long time because of the state of affairs Risebrough left in regards to the Wild's minor league and prospect talent depth (that being fairly solid defensively and grit-wise but almost completely bereft of finishers and playmakers).
All in all, Wild fans should be happy that the Wild are active and seem to be trying to address some of what they need. But in the end, I fear that the Wild are still 2-4 years away from making any sort of noise. And how much noise that may be is still very much uncertain.
