The Wild removed one of their potential restricted free agents from their priority list on Wednesday night, re-signing Guillaume Latendresse to a new 2-year deal worth $5 million. Latendresse was acquired from Montreal in the regular season and he made quite an impact with the Wild after the joining the club, it was hard not to like him in Minnesota. This new 2-year deal is definitely a sign of their adoration for the guy and it will see to it that they love him for another couple seasons.
After the trade from Montreal, Latendresse played in 55 games for the Wild, scoring 25 goals and 12 assists, giving the Wild a better shot at making the playoffs, to which they fell short of, but not for a lack of trying. In total, between Montreal and Minnesota, Latendresse finished the year with 27 goals and 13 assists in 78 games, which shows you how badly he needed to get out of Montreal. Those final totals ranked him 191st overall in pool scoring, 138th among forwards, but his Wild totals may make you upgrade his projections for the 2011 season drafts.
| Forwards | Defense | Goalies |
| Mikko Koivu | Marek Zidlicky | Niklas Backstrom |
| Andrew Brunette | Cam Barker | |
| Martin Havlat | Brent Burns | |
| Antti Miettinen | Nick Schultz | |
| Guillaume Latendresse | Greg Zanon | |
| Kyle Brodziak | ||
| Cal Clutterbuck | ||
| Chuck Kobasew | ||
| Brad Staubitz | ||
| James Sheppard | ||
| Pierre-Marc Bouchard |
The Wild are coming along quite well in terms of their cap space and team being built. With this signing, the club now has 17 players signed on for an annual cap hit of $47.8 million, which is really good these days. I haven't seen much word as to how much the Wild are prepared to spend as a whole in 2011, whether or not there will be a ownership-imposed budget this year, but it won't be long until we see how it will all play out with the frenzy coming up.
If there was ever a poster boy for "a change of scenery will do a guy some good," look no further than Latendresse. With a new deal in his back pocket, a team that has made good use of his talents so far, he could be in line for a pretty good year with the Wild... or he could also become complacent, which is a worry for me, fantasy-wise. Right now, I would give him the benefit of the doubt with a note by his name that says to keep an eye on him in training camp, but I would rank him a little higher than his 2010 point totals may suggest, but not by too much. I'm sure we can all get him for a bargain pick this coming year.
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