Minnesota Wild Positional Inventory: Left Wing

With the return of the NHL, it is likely helpful to take a few steps backwards and take a look at just what exactly the Wild tool chest holds. With the season previews starting to roll out, and the advanced stats crowd already predicting the Wild to finish somewhere in the bottom 10 of the league, it's time to jump in and get out feet wet.

We'll take a look at each position, gauge relative strength or weakness, and make a handful of predictions about what we think might happen. All standard fare.

Today, we look at the left wing position. Something you might notice is that there aren't many names here. In fact, there aren't even enough NHL names to fill out a roster. That would be due to the fact that the Wild now have at least seven players who are listed as centers. Which of them wind up on the wing will be determined by line chemistry and work ethic.

Enjoy.

Sorry, who now? Never heard of him.

The truth, as always, is somewhere in between.

Parise has put his face on this team, and his name on the line. His legacy is about to be determined, and you can bet that with the level of work ethic and determination Parise has shown his entire life, the option to fail has not crossed his mind.

We have more questions than answers, folks.

See? Yet another "center." Powe is a third / fourth line left wing on this team. He is part of a hard core bottom six that will not say die, and will do everything they can to be sure the opposition doesn't score. He has also shown himself to be a relentless forechecker, something the Wild have been pushing since Mike Yeo took over.

With a year in a Wild sweater under his belt, Powe is a known quantity. He will, once again, quietly do his job to little or no accolades. Just what Wild fans want him to do.

The Wild's enforcer, Kassian will find himself fighting for playing time. Kassian is a great guy off the ice, and a consumate teammate who will do whatever it takes to win. The best part of Kassian's game is that he can actually play hockey. This is something that is not always present in an enforcer type.

The unknown quantity. Dowell is a fringe forward who will see time only in the event of injury. He's a journeyman NHLer, and isn't a waste of a spot, but where he fits if the team is healthy is only in the press box. The only thing to really say here is... can everyone except that he was listed in a post full of left wings? Because, hey... if they ask him to play there, he isn't going to say no.

Overall

Right now, on paper, the Wild look solid enough on the left side. Given an injury or two, they can even back fill better than ever before. Still, when two centers and a right winger are your bottom three left wings, things could get dicey. Only time will tell.