
Among the fan bases of the Wild and Wolves, it seems fashionable right now to believe one can do nothing right and one can do nothing wrong.
Perhaps that stems from more than just recency bias, but I suspect that is playing a large role in opinions about the new guy who hasn't presided over a loss or bad trade (Gersson Rosas with the Wolves) and the no-longer-new guy who has presided over both (Paul Fenton of the Wild).
Regardless of what you thought of both Fenton and Rosas going into their respective drafts a few days ago, this much is true: Both seem to have done a solid job in my estimation — and in the general consensus of those who are paid to "grade" drafts in their immediate aftermath. Here is a sample of a few such grades for both teams:
WILD
The highest mark I could find came from Sporting News, which doled out an A-minus to the Wild. The No. 12 overall pick, Matthew Boldy, was the centerpiece of the haul.
It's safe to say that sophomore GM Paul Fenton's haul from the weekend in Vancouver made up for the odd decisions he and his staff made last June in Dallas, beginning with the selection of elite 200-foot winger Matthew Boldy, and continuing with finesse flanker Vladislav Firstov.
Indeed, it might have also helped reverse the negative momentum from last year's draft, which earned the Wild poor marks.
Yahoo graded Fenton's draft a B+, saying Boldy isn't NHL-ready yet but that he has the makings of being the complete package.