This mid-season ranking of the Minnesota Wild’s top prospects reflects a dynamic shift in talent. As their most promising players rise and are consequently promoted to the NHL, their pipeline is beginning to lack the elite talent that Wild fans have become accustomed to.
Some big names remain atop the list, but others have fallen, and the organization will face pivotal decisions that could shape their future. This article explores what we consider to be the top 15 prospects, and their notable movements in the prospect list, to shed light on emerging stars.
15 – Charlie Stramel (University of Wisconsin)
Honestly, putting Charlie Stramel this high on the list, especially instead of other defensemen, is more about my hopes that he won’t be a complete miss by Wild management than it is about his play. He is not playing like a first-round pick. He did not look like a first-round pick when they took him, and the players taken immediately after him are making the selection look even worse. I understand the Wild wanted to address a gap in their prospect pool, but they took a massive swing here, and so far, it looks rough. I hope he ends up being a middle-six, two-way power forward, but I just don’t see it.
14 – Adam Beckman (Iowa Wild)
There was more than a brief period when Adam Beckman was easily at the top of the list to be called up from the American Hockey League (AHL). The 22-year-old was a third-round pick in 2019 and has developed a lethal shot to go along with his smarts, but he has struggled to find the back of the net with the Iowa Wild this season.
His five goals in 26 games put him on pace for half as many goals as last season, and although he has dealt with some injuries, the fact that the Wild have yet to call him up despite being riddled with injuries to their roster is not a good sign for the youngster. It might be time to start thinking about giving Beckman a new start somewhere else.
13 – Servac Petrovsky (Owen Sound Attack)
Servac Petrovsky, a sixth-round pick from the 2022 Draft, has continued to be a sneaky good selection by the Wild. He is still unsigned, but he will get his chance to see what he can do in the AHL. He added size over the last year and has been a much more well-rounded player.
One of our other prospect writers here at The Hockey Writers, Peter Baracchini, had the following to say about the young Slovakian forward:
“I’m a big fan of Servac Petrovsky’s overall game as he’s been standing in the OHL and even at the World Junior Championship. He’s a smart two-way centre with great awareness in all three zones. He’s very simplistic in his game when it comes to his reads with and without the puck, making the safe but effective play and doesn’t take a lot of risks. He’s sound positionally on both sides of the puck and possesses a strong competitive edge when battling for possession.”
12 – Rasmus Kumpulainen (Oshawa Generals)
Originally considered a strange selection at 53rd overall in the 2023 Draft, Rasmus Kumpulainen is the kind of player who gets better the more you watch him. The 6-foot-2 Finn made the jump to North America this season and has been a point-per-game player on the Oshawa Generals of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). He plays a prototypical two-way, big-bodied center’s game but sees the game with a different lens than normally accompanies that type of player.
Related: The NHL’s Top 100 Prospects – Midseason Rankings
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There were high hopes for him at the 2024 World Junior Championship, but Finland’s slow start somehow ended up with Kumpulainen on the bench for a few games as a healthy scratch. He made his return to the lineup for the semi-final and promptly scored in both remaining games. If the Wild wanted another player made in the image of Joel Eriksson Ek, they might have found him.
11 – Sammy Walker (Iowa Wild)
At 24 years old, Sammy Walker is the oldest player on this list but was still counted as a prospect because he would still qualify as a rookie in the NHL if he made the Wild’s roster full-time. Originally a seventh-round pick by the Tampa Bay Lightning, Walker did not sign with them after being named captain of the University of Minnesota for three seasons. Instead, he decided to make a deal with his hometown Wild.
Walker has been on the cusp of becoming a full-time NHLer a couple of times but has just failed to make himself irreplaceable in the lineup. He has 68 points in 86 games with Iowa over the last two seasons and needs to secure a spot on the NHL roster soon, or else he risks losing out to a younger prospect on their way up. Walker is a good player, but the organization sent a definite message when they sent him back to the AHL after just two games, bringing up Adam Raska instead. If he isn’t careful, he may end up as one of those players who is too good for the AHL but unable to stick in the NHL.
10 – Daemon Hunt (Iowa Wild)
In his first season in the AHL, Daemon Hunt’s consistent play drew recognition as a potential call-up to the NHL. It didn’t him long to realize that dream this season, as he has made the most out of his opportunity thanks to some critical injuries to the Wild’s blue line. He has 10 NHL games so far, but even that small sample size is enough to see that he is going to be a full-time NHL defenseman before long.
The 21-year-old former captain of the Moose Jaw Warriors of the Western Hockey League (WHL) was a third-round pick by the Wild, and despite not having an elite skill or area of his game, he makes up for it by using technically sound skating to be good at basically everything. He has not stood out in his time in the NHL, but that is a good thing for a young defenseman in a third-pairing role. With more experience and ice time over the next couple of seasons, he looks like a solid option as a bottom-four defender.
9 – Jack Peart (St. Cloud State University)
The Wild have a massive group of defensive prospects who made the jump to the AHL this season, a new defensive star in the almighty Brock Faber, and that leaves a lot less attention for Jack Peart than he deserves. As he plays out his third season at St. Cloud State University, the second-round pick from 2021 has disappeared amid the noise of the top end of the Wild’s high-powered prospect pool.
The 20-year-old Grand Rapids, Minnesota, native was named Mr. Hockey in 2021 for a reason. He is a mobile blueliner with great skating abilities and very high intelligence that allows him to defend well but also helps him generate offense. Now listed at 6-feet and 195 lbs, he has six points in 18 games this season, but if he can continue improving his offensive skills throughout this campaign and next, there is a realistic opportunity for him to follow the “Brock Faber method” of jumping right from the NCAA to the NHL.
8 – Carson Lambos (Iowa Wild)
There are high hopes for first-round selection Carson Lambos. Selected 26th overall in 2021, he was an offensive threat in the WHL with the Winnipeg Ice for three seasons but was heavily impacted by the 2020-21 COVID shutdown. Lambos was forced to play the season in Finland, playing just 19 games that year. He made up for it with some dominant play over the next couple of seasons, amassing 95 points in 112 games before joining the pro ranks.
Lambos has received much praise from the Wild’s scouting staff, especially during prospect tournaments, where he is noticeably ahead of other defensive prospects in generating offense from the rush and sustaining pressure in the offensive zone. Concerns are beginning to appear, though, as he has struggled to convert his play style effectively to the pace of the AHL. With just eight points in 34 games and usually finding himself in a third-pairing role, it will take at least another season of development before we, hopefully, start to see Lambos use his speed to push for a call-up to the NHL.
7 – Caedan Bankier (Iowa Wild)
Caedan Bankier is a player that I foolishly dismissed. A third-round pick in 2021, he has continuously drawn positive attention and continues to produce no matter what league he is in. The big eye-opener was him making the 2023 World Junior Championship roster for Team Canada. He was not on the radar for most of the season, but an explosion of offense with the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers forced the team to give him a look, and he seemed to will his way onto the team with pure determination.
After an injury delayed the start of his professional career this season, he came in over a month ago and has already collected eight points in 14 games with the Iowa Wild. He may play some games on the wing, but at 6-foot-2 and 195 lbs, he’s a natural center who can make plays, has a deceptively good shot, and possesses the “grit” that the Wild covet so dearly. Give him the rest of the season in the AHL to see if he can maintain his level of play, and if he can, expect to see him push for a bottom-six roster spot next season. He has the drive, and I’m learning that it’s a bad idea to bet against Bankier.
6 – Hunter Haight (Saginaw Spirit)
At 47th overall, Hunter Haight looks like a fantastic pickup in the second round. I am sure there is a universe where a team picked the young Ontario native in the first round and is extremely happy with him. He has fallen behind in a lot of overall rankings because of a strange blip in production that happened at the beginning of the 2022-23 season when he only had nine points in 20 games with the Barrie Colts of the OHL. He was traded to the Saginaw Spirit mid-season and has collected 99 points in 81 games since then.
Don’t just take my word for it. Here is Baracchini with his perspective on Haight:
“What’s evident in Hunter Haight’s game, is the constant speed, drive, puck skills and power behind his shot. He’s extremely creative when he’s in control and he’s always managing to break through pressure with his agility and foot speed. It’s seems like he has found that next gear to his game this season, as he constantly thinks and creates plays at a fast pace. While his production has been okay, he does a lot more with his ability to create chances and be factor away from the puck as well.”
5 – Marat Khusnutdinov (Sochi)
The Wild had really good luck when they drafted a small, skilled Russian (Kirill Kaprizov), so they took a shot at another one with Marat Khusnutdinov, drafted early in the second round at 37th overall. It will pay off. To be clear, Khustnutdinov does not have the same style as Kaprizov, and his production is not going to be at the same level. However, Khustnutdinov offers a lot more intangibles than Kaprizov. He is a much more complete player, with high drive and a seemingly endless amount of energy. He won’t be on the highlight reels with his shot, but his playmaking abilities are high-end.
Khustnutdinov had a great 2022-23 season, with 41 points in 63 games with SKA St. Petersburg in the KHL, but he is struggling a bit more this season after some issues getting consistent ice time. After a few weeks of being bounced around from first-line center to being a healthy scratch and everything in between, he was traded to Sochi, where he has now settled in and started to look more like himself. The points from last season are not there, but the skill is obvious. There is a very good chance the Wild will try to sign him and get him over to North America this summer.
4 – Riley Heidt (Prince George Cougars)
The steal of the 2023 Draft is going to be Riley Heidt, and no one can convince me otherwise. The electric powerhouse is producing an average of 1.8 points per game (72 points in 40 games) with the Prince George Cougars of the WHL and has 12 multi-point games in the last 30 days. He has developed a reputation for being a bit nasty and looks like he should fit right into the Wild’s style of play.
I am not the only one high on his future, though. Here are Baracchini’s thoughts on the Saskatoon native:
“There’s absolutely no way that Riley Heidt should’ve fallen to the end of the second round in the 2023 Draft. This is starting to become the steal of the draft the way that Heidt continues to dismantle the competition. Even being left of Canada’s selection camp roster for the World Junior Championship is not looking like a smart decision. Heidt continues to prove everyone wrong with his tenacity, speed and high IQ with the puck. He’s extremely dynamic in every sense, showing off great puck control and soft hands in tight spaces, easily drawing opponents in and attacking the middle of the ice. He can easily manipulate plays, changing the speed of the game or shifting his body to throw off the opposition. He’s a major pain to play against and it shows when he’s battling down low or along the boards.”
3 – Liam Öhgren (Farjestad)
An injury during the offseason might have put Liam Öhgren on the shelf for a few months, but his skills did not suffer because of it. The 19th overall draft pick from 2022 has only played seven games with Färjestad in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) this season, but he has already worked his way up from being the thirteenth forward to the top line, with four goals, including two in his latest game on Jan. 13.
The captain of Team Sweden at the 2024 World Junior Championship, Öhgren collected two assists on his way to a silver medal but was a critical piece of the team’s offence and one of the most underrated players in the tournament because of his inability to convert on the chances he generated. He was fantastic in every other area. He is a hard-nosed player who made puck possession, breakout plays, board battles, and backchecking all look easy – great skills to have if you want to make an NHL roster sooner rather than later.
Between the current geo-political climate surrounding Russia and his strange draft year, Danila Yurov tumbled down to the Wild at 24th overall during the 2022 Draft. That has turned out to be a fantastic win for the organization. Yurov has shown very high interest in turning professional and making his way to North America, even showing up for the Wild’s prospect tournament last summer, so the worry of him signing long-term in Russia is minimal. There is a chance he will sign another short-term contract with his current term, Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the KHL, but since he is playing as a top-six center on a very strong team, it is likely the best place for him to be to develop anyway.
It was noted earlier this season that the Wild looked at Yurov as a potential center in the future, and after some strange roster maneuvering from Metallurg, he has found himself settled very nicely into the second-line-center position for a team that sits atop the KHL standings. Yurov has 37 points in 46 games this season after a three-point game on Jan. 14, giving him a 0.80 point-per-game percentage (PPG%). Kaprizov, at the same age, produced a 0.86 PPG%. It is realistic to think Yurov can reach Kaprizov levels of production while also being a 6-foot-1 center. Wild fans are not excited enough to see this young man.
1 – Jesper Wallstedt (Iowa Wild)
The hype around Jesper Wallstedt has been ridiculously high ever since the Wild traded up in 2021 to take him 20th overall, and he has lived up to all of it. The young goaltender has been a crown jewel in the Wild’s prospect pool for a reason. He excelled in the SHL, dominated at international competitions and has taken to collecting every honour that the AHL offers. It is only a matter of time before he takes over in the NHL as well.
His debut was one to forget, and some of that was on Wallstedt, but the team in front of him did him no favours, either. His game is about positioning, puck-tracking, and calmness. It was obvious that he was shaken by the huge moment, but he likely would have been able to overcome it had the rest of the roster managed to play any defense. Instead, they left him to be shelled by a strong Dallas Stars team and promptly sent him back to the AHL without another chance. A lot of young goaltenders would be thrown by that series of decisions, but Wallstedt appears to be very mature and should have no trouble turning that brutal loss into fuel for becoming even better.
The Wild’s season is not going as planned, and if it continues to go badly, we may see Wallstedt called back up at some point later on. At the very latest, he will be part of the roster next season. Given some time to acclimate to NHL life and a few games to adjust, we will undoubtedly see the All-Star start to shine.
Wild Have So Much Talent On The Way
Whether you agree with these rankings or not, the key takeaway is that even after graduating talents like Matt Boldy, Marco Rossi, and Brock Faber to the NHL, the Wild still have a wealth of prospects who are going to be knocking on the door sooner rather than later. The tricky part will be trying to figure out which veteran players to keep around and which ones to move to make some room. With some top prospects set to make a push as early as next season, we may start to see some internal competition for roster spots – or as much as there can be with almost everyone locked into no-movement clauses, that is.
