Wild signs Sioux's Chay Genoway

Update: As I reported today, Cal Clutterbuck was being considered to play for Canada in the Worlds. He's been asked and he's agreed. Check out that meaty notebook here

Also, here are the other links today:

Todd Richards fired and Chuck Fletcher looks ahead

Rachel Blount's very good column

Todd Richards talks

The Candidates

It's official: The Wild signed Fightning Sioux defenseman Chay Genoway, a First Team All-America this year, to a one-year deal this morning.

Casey Wellman was able to sign a two-year deal, so he burned his first year by playing last year, meaning he's a restricted free agent this summer. Just a little college UFA tutorial.

The Wild, which is continually looking to upgrade its prospect pool, hopes to sign a handful of college and European free agents in the coming days.

Genoway is 5-foot-9, 177 pounds and helped lead UND to the Frozen Four this past season. He's scored 127 points in his career, which is fourth among defensemen all-time at UND. I've got a team of researchers looking up where Brad Bombardir ranks.

Genoway was named to the All-WCHA First Team this year. He's the first player ever to be named a four-time All-WCHA selection. Genoway was the UND captain the past two seasons, and was named to the All-College Hockey News Second Team in 2010-11. Genoway received a medical redshirt in the 2009-10 season due to a concussion. Genoway, a +48 player in his college career, is the second player in WCHA history to be named a WCHA Scholar-Athlete four times. Genoway hails from Morden, Manitoba and is a 2005 graduate of Shattuck-St. Mary's in Faribault, Minn.

I'll update blog later with some Genoway quotes.

Lastly, I didn't have time to put this up yesterday, but for the rest of the list, go to nhl.com. There will be a lot more written by me on the draft in the coming weeks.

NHL RELEASES FINAL RANKINGS FOR 2011 NHL ENTRY DRAFT
Nugent-Hopkins Top North American Skater; Larsson Top European; Gibson Top
Goaltender

TORONTO (April 11, 2011) – Center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins of the
Western Hockey League and defenseman Adam Larsson of the Swedish Elite
League today were named the top NHL 2011 draft-eligible skaters from North
America and Europe as the NHL Central Scouting Bureau released its final
rankings.

The 2011 NHL Entry Draft will take place at the Xcel Energy Center in
St. Paul, Minnesota. The first round will take place on Friday, June 24
commencing at 7 p.m. ET and the subsequent rounds (two through seven) will
begin at 11 a.m. ET Saturday, June 25. The NHL Draft Drawing, a weighted
system to determine the order of selection for the first 14 picks of the
Entry Draft, will take place tomorrow, April 12, at 8 p.m. ET, live on TSN
in Canada and simulcast on VERSUS in the US.

Nugent-Hopkins, a native of Burnaby, British Columbia, tallied
75 assists in 69 games for the Red Deer Rebels to lead the Western Hockey
League and aims to be the first WHL player selected first overall in the
NHL Entry Draft since 1996 when Ottawa selected Chris Phillips from the
Prince Albert Raiders.

Joining the debate over which player will be selected first overall
are two high flying, skilled forwards: #2-ranked left wing Gabriel
Landeskog (Stockholm, Sweden) of the Ontario Hockey League's Kitchener
Rangers and #3-ranked center Jonathan Huberdeau (Laval, Quebec) of the
Quebec Major Junior Hockey League's Saint John Sea Dogs.

Following closely behind the top three ranked North American
skaters are two stand-out, mobile defensemen: #4-ranked Dougie Hamilton
(St. Catharines, Ontario) of the OHL's Niagara IceDogs and #5-ranked Nathan
Beaulieu (Strathroy, Ontario) a teammate of Huberdeau's on the Saint John
Sea Dogs. John Gibson (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), from the U.S. Under-18
National Team Development Program, remains the top-rated North American
goaltender.

The final ranking features the top 210 skaters and 30 goaltenders in
North America as well as the top 140 skaters and 10 goaltenders from
Europe.