Fantasy Impact – Minnesota has signed free agent center Matt Cullen to a three-year contract worth $3.5 million annually.

The Wild get: A speedy two-way pivot capable of logging minutes in all situations. He is a threat on the penalty kill and is also adept at playing the point with the man advantage. Minnesota had a huge hole to fill at center behind Mikko Koivu, and Cullen is the guy they chose to fill it with. He has a cup ring and a wealth of playoff experience, but he may be a bit out of place on the second line – ideally he is a guy you want on your third line.

It will be interesting to see if he can rise to the occasion playing for his home team. His career high at the NHL level is 49 points, and he has averaged 46 over the past five seasons – I’d expect him to finish somewhere around those two numbers.

Fantasy Players impacted:

This move helps Minnesota’s depth scoring wingers, as after Koivu the roster was a huge question mark before this signing. Cullen and Martin Havlat are both speedsters and would form a solid pairing on the second line behind Koivu, Andrew Brunette, and Antti Miettinen. PM Bouchard is a wildcard up front as he has yet to recover from a concussion he sustained well over a year ago. Latendresse could slot in on the left side with Cullen and Havlat. Cullen will see time on the first power play unit as well, alongside one of Brent Burns and Marek Zidlicky (my money is on Zidlicky).

Fantasy Players this helps, in order:

1. Cullen

2. Havlat

3. Latendresse

4. Kobasew

Fantasy Players this hurts, in order:

1. James Sheppard

2. Brent Burns

Comments (7)

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Kingchev said:

	... don't you think big shot bobby barker with the canon would be on the 1st pp, over a forward? both left handed, but one can actually play defense.
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July 08, 2010
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angus said:

	... I see Zidlicky and Cullen on the 1st unit. Burns gets bumped down. Just a hunch.
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July 01, 2010
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RNS said:

	... I believe Cullen plays the point on the PP sometimes and this just means more competition for Burns on the PP.
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July 01, 2010
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TML said:

	Burns Why does it hurt Burns?
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July 01, 2010
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Darcy Sulz said:

	... You could probably add Andrew Ebbett to the "players this hurts" list, IMO.
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July 01, 2010
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angus said:

	... Yup, my bad. Corrected.
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July 01, 2010
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Beef Wellington said:

	... Cullen shoots left does he not?
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July 01, 2010
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