Minnesota Wild participating in Traverse City prospect tournament

August 26, 8:30 AMMinnesota Wild ExaminerJoseph Gunther

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Defenseman Tyler Cuma (71) will lead the Minnesota Wild's team at the Traverse City prospect tournament. (AP Photo)

The Minnesota Wild will participate in the 2009 NHL Prospect Tournament in Traverse City, Mich. from Sep. 6-10.

The Wild will compete in the Western Conference with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars and St. Louis Blues.

The Houston Aeros coaching staff of head coach Kevin Constantine and assistant coaches Mark LeRose and Troy G. Ward will coach the Wild's team.

The most experienced player on the Wild roster is Morten Madsen. The 2005 fourth round draft pick has completed two seasons with the Houston Aeros. He is a solid two-way center that does a little of everything, but does not excel at anything. He scored nine goals and had 33 assists in the two seasons with the Aeros.

The only other player with professional experience is Justin Falk. The 2007 fourth round draft pick is a big, physical, stay-at-home defenseman. He recorded no goals and three assists for the Aeros last season.

The Wild will have two other players from its 2007 draft at the tournament, fifth round pick center Cody Almond and seventh round pick right wing Carson McMillan. Both players are power forwards that improved their offensive production over the last couple seasons.

The Wild's first and second round draft picks, defensemen Tyler Cuma and Marco Scandella, in the 2008 draft will also participate. Cuma is coming off a knee injury sustained on the first day of the Canadian juniors camp that limited him to only 21 games last season. Scandella is a defensive defenseman that improved his offensive production to 10 goals and 27 assists last season.

Three players from the 2009 draft will play for the Wild. Third round pick goaltender Matt Hackett and sixth round goaltender Darcy Kuemper are the two netminders for the Wild. The third player from this year's draft is fourth round left wing Kristopher Foucault.

The other 15 players for the Wild are invites on a tryout. There is a lot of offensive production in those players, including six players that scored at least 60 points last season. The top scorer was Jay Fehr, who scored 84 points with the Brandon Wheat Kings of the WHL.

The Wild also has a pair of enforcers that combined for over 350 penalty minutes in 108 games, including 6-foot-6-inch tall, 230-pound Maryland native Anthony Pisano.

The full roster can be viewed at the Wild's official website.