Article: Joel Eriksson Ek Is the NHL’s Most Overlooked Two-Way Force

[Robert Brent]

View full article

[bisopher]

Whether it was the GREEF line, KK97 - Ek - Boldy, or the combos above, JEE has this amazing ability to find himself part of dominant lines.  Shame he never gets the credit he deserves for this.

[Patrick]

Very timely article! 3 points for Ek last night.

[mnfaninnc]

Funny, where did we draft this guy, somewhere in the 20s? I guess you can find really good players down that low, who knew?

I still believe he is the most unreplaceable player we have on this team. I'm hoping that Rossi and Yurov can help cover that position, but until they're ready he remains that guy.

[Scalptrash]

On 12/9/2025 at 2:03 PM, mnfaninnc said:

Funny, where did we draft this guy, somewhere in the 20s? I guess you can find really good players down that low, who knew?

I still believe he is the most unreplaceable player we have on this team. I'm hoping that Rossi and Yurov can help cover that position, but until they're ready he remains that guy.

You remember where Kaprizov was drafted, right? Where would the Wild be without him?!

[MNCountryLife]

Ek has earned every accolade he has received and quite a few he didn't receive.... and we got him for at least 3 more years. 😃

[mnfaninnc]

18 hours ago, Scalptrash said:

You remember where Kaprizov was drafted, right? Where would the Wild be without him?!

precisely, Fletcher's best draft year. It was a dig at the tank crowd who think you can only find great players at the top of the 1st round.

[Pewterschmidt]

40 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

precisely, Fletcher's best draft year. It was a dig at the tank crowd who think you can only find great players at the top of the 1st round.

Every 25-30 years an org gets to catch lightning in a bottle once

[mnfaninnc]

16 minutes ago, Pewterschmidt said:

Every 25-30 years an org gets to catch lightning in a bottle once

Some organizations get it and some don't. It should be cyclical, but a good scout can find some of these guys in the later rounds where he didn't just throw a dart at a name. 

I can say that we should start seeing some Judd picks from the later rounds making some noise and becoming almost ready. Should is the key word here, because from the looks of the A, none of them seem to be amounting to anything. It appears that we've even whiffed on the 2nd rounders. 

I've given Judd a pass on most of his drafts concluding it's too soon. But this year is where the grades start to come in. Just about anyone can hit on the 1st rounders, but it's the mid to late rounders that make a franchise successful or unsuccessful. Having a couple of those guys come up and make it means you can either trade them off for something you need more, or trade off who they're replacing to get something you need more. At this point, it is looking like he's wearing the golden sombrero. 

And, while looking at the dumpster fire which is currently Vancouver, it's his guys over there that were the draft picks. I'm thinking there may be some changes after this draft with our Amateur department. I realize a lot of time we're guessing on players here, but to come up empty handed, to me, would seem like there is utter failure at this area. The development area is another area of scrutiny that needs investigating, and while the fires have calmed, I think our trainers department probably needs a closer look too. 

Wow, that sounds really pessimistic when looking at it. Have I gone full Mooch? 

[Pewterschmidt]

11 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

At this point, it is looking like he's wearing the golden sombrero.

🤔

 help a playa understand this reference

[mnfaninnc]

10 minutes ago, Pewterschmidt said:

help a playa understand this reference

baseball term, when a player strikes out 4 times in a row.

I guess you could say whiffed on 4 drafts in a row, or just whiffed on the picks after the 1st round. I was referring to the ones after the 1st round, though. Just brutal.

Edited Thursday at 05:29 PM by mnfaninnc

[Scalptrash]

20 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

I can say that we should start seeing some Judd picks from the later rounds making some noise and becoming almost ready. Should is the key word here, because from the looks of the A, none of them seem to be amounting to anything. It appears that we've even whiffed on the 2nd rounders. 

I've given Judd a pass on most of his drafts concluding it's too soon. But this year is where the grades start to come in. Just about anyone can hit on the 1st rounders, but it's the mid to late rounders that make a franchise successful or unsuccessful. Having a couple of those guys come up and make it means you can either trade them off for something you need more, or trade off who they're replacing to get something you need more. At this point, it is looking like he's wearing the golden sombrero. 

That's the problem with being an indefinite bubble team, you rarely, if ever, get a legitimate top six player in the draft. Beyond the 10th overall pick, good luck!

[Pewterschmidt]

7 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

baseball term, when a player strikes out 4 times in a row.

I guess you could say whiffed on 4 drafts in a row, or just whiffed on the picks after the 1st round. I was referring to the ones after the 1st round, though. Just brutal.

Ok got it.  Jury still out on other 1st rounders too: Ogz, stramnuts 

Edited Thursday at 05:35 PM by Pewterschmidt

[mnfaninnc]

34 minutes ago, Pewterschmidt said:

Jury still out on other 1st rounders too: Ogz, stramnuts 

and Lambos. The thing is, he had 2 cracks in 2 drafts in the 1st round, and at worst it's looking like a 50% hit rate, which should be 75% or higher. 

[mnfaninnc]

40 minutes ago, Scalptrash said:

That's the problem with being an indefinite bubble team, you rarely, if ever, get a legitimate top six player in the draft. Beyond the 10th overall pick, good luck!

They can be found, you just have to have a better scouting department and amateur drafting team than everyone else. The hope was that during the Covid years, Judd was going to be better. Now, when these guys should be ready, Judd doesn't look so good.