The weather is turning bitterly cold, snow is blanketing the ground, and Christmas lights are starting to appear. That can only mean one thing: it’s almost time for the 2024 World Junior Championship (WJC). The tournament kicks off in less than a month in Gothenburg, Sweden, and once again, the Minnesota Wild should be well represented with their high-end prospect pool stocked with some of the best young players each country has to offer.
Here is every Wild prospect who we could feasibly see representing their country this year.
Liam Öhgren – Sweden – 2022 1st-Round Pick
One of three returning players, Liam Öhgren is a lock to make Team Sweden for another chance at a medal. Hopefully, he can bring a little more offense this year – they’ll need it if the Anaheim Ducks refuse to release second-overall pick Leo Carlsson to the tournament. Öhgren was injured in the offseason and only recently got into his first couple of games with Färjestad in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) but has already collected a goal and found himself upgraded from the 13th forward to the fourth line.
Öhgren will likely continue playing on a line with Noah Östlund (Buffalo Sabres) and Jonathan Lekkerimäki (Vancouver Canucks), as that trio has basically grown up playing together and could pack a serious punch. Öhgren captained Team Sweden during his under-18 days and was an alternate last season, so don’t be surprised to see the Wild representative wearing a letter again this year as he tries to push his team forward from last year’s fourth-place finish.
Servác Petrovský – Slovakia – 2022 6th-Round Pick
Perhaps not at the top of the list of best Wild prospects, but Servác Petrovský will no doubt be joining Öhgren as a returning player. Petrovský has been excellent in his third season with the Owen Sound Attack of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), averaging just under a point per game with 23 points in 24 games. It is worth noting that last season, he was listed as a tiny 5-foot-9 speedster but is now listed as a much sounder 5-foot-11 and 177 pounds.
Related: Minnesota Wild Prospect Report: October’s Top 5 Rankings
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Petrovsky has been one of Slovakia’s top players in the last two WJCs, producing six points in nine games between them, but it was last season that Slovakia really started to show how competitive their program has become when they upset Team United States in regular tournament action and took Team Canada all the way to overtime in the quarterfinals.
Rasmus Kumpulainen – Finland – 2023 2nd-Round Pick
Some people felt that the Wild selected Rasmus Kumpulainen a little too early with the first of their two second-round picks, but since making the jump from Finland to the Oshawa Generals of the OHL, he has been proving the doubters wrong. He is on a point-per-game pace as a 6-foot-3, 200-pound-plus, 18-year-old center and looks like he is only getting better as he continues to get used to the smaller North American rinks.
Kumpulainen should have no issues finding a slot down the middle on Team Finland and will try to help them recover from a rather poor performance in 2023 that didn’t even see them make it into the medal rounds. His size and two-way style should lend themselves to a bottom-six role easily, but he has more skill than is often noticed at first glance. Don’t be surprised to see him work himself into some critical game situations as the tournament goes on.
Charlie Stramel – USA – 2023 1st-Round Pick
The final returnee should be Charlie Stramel, but he is the first player with a question mark on whether or not he makes the team. Stramel had just three assists in last year’s seven games and was restricted to fourth-line minutes for most of the tournament, but overall, he was a solid player. He brings his massive 6-foot-3 frame and could be critical on the penalty kill and as a net-front presence, but the United States will have a massive selection of forwards to choose from, and Stramel’s season at the University of Wisconsin has not started great.
The Wild took a shot at filling a hole in their prospect pool when they selected Stramel 21st overall, and there is plenty of time for it to work out, but as of right now, it feels like they may have taken too big of a flier on him after drafting so well in previous years. Stramel’s inclusion in the 2024 WJC could go a long way in getting him back to the kind of player that had him ranked so high at the start of last season.
Riley Heidt – Canada – 2023 2nd-Round Pick
If Stramel is a question mark because of poor play, Riley Heidt is a question mark because of his amazing play. There are no unrealistic expectations here. Team Canada’s offensive talent is always top-end, and you have to be a very special kind of player to crack that roster. Heidt has been an offensive powerhouse for the Prince George Cougars of the Western Hockey League (WHL) for three seasons now and easily deserves an invitation to their camp.
The second-round pick that should’ve been a first-round pick has 44 points in 23 games this season after producing 97 points in 68 games last season. He has been an extremely important piece of a Cougar’s roster that is arguably the best in the Canadian Hockey League (CHL), but his inclusion on Team Canada’s roster may come down to which other players are loaned to their national teams. Players like Shane Wright, Adam Fantilli, Matthew Poitras, Kevin Korchinski, and Zach Benson are all options if they would like to participate and their parent clubs give them permission. If too many of them join the Canadian squad, Heidt may not stand a chance.
Hunter Haight – Canada – 2022 2nd-Round Pick
It could get really confusing in the coming years as the Wild’s 2022 second-rounder Hunter Haight has a very similar build, game, and last name to Heidt. Haight has seen a massive improvement in his play since being traded from the Barrie Colts to the Saginaw Spirit in the OHL, with 80 points in 64 games, including 29 points in 22 games so far this season.
Haight has been getting some massive praise since his great showing at the 2023 Tom Kurvers Prospect Showcase and training camp, but he is definitely a long shot to crack the stacked Canadian roster. Haight was added to the World Junior Training Camp in July 2022, but that was due to an injury, and he did not end up on the team. His path to the roster is a tough one, but Wild prospect Caeden Bankier showed last year that if you can just get an invite to training camp, you can work yourself into the lineup.
Bonus: Danila Yurov – Russia – 2022 1st-Round Pick
With Russia banned from playing in the WJC, we will not see first-rounder Danila Yurov in the tournament, but it is worth noting he would be a lock to make the roster if they did have a team. The 24th overall pick is again showing the talent that had everyone so excited for him heading into the 2022 NHL Draft. Despite some strange coaching maneuvers at the beginning of the season, he has finally worked himself into a consistent second-line center (yes, I wrote that right) position with Metallurg in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).
Yurov has been a massive part of Metallurg’s current 11-game win streak, working himself up from an average of 13 minutes of ice time at the beginning of November to 17.5 minutes on most nights. He has points in seven of his last nine games, including two three-point nights. As he approaches Kirill Kaprizov’s level of production at the same age, it would have been a blast to see what he could have done on the world stage.
World Juniors a Thrill for Wild Fans
One of the best things about being a Wild fan is that their prospect pool is so diverse and elite that, most years, they have players scattered across the teams, meaning almost every game is worth watching. Not only do you get to cheer for your country, but you also get to cheer for the Wild’s prospects in a rare opportunity to see them duke it out with the best players in their age bracket. Here’s hoping for another great showing this year.
