Minnesota Wild Prospect Tiers: Where Do the Top 15 Prospects Land?
The Minnesota Wild have one of the top prospect pools in the league and recently saw five of their prospects in the Athletic's new rankings. We released our combined top-15 prospect rankings in early June before the draft (here is part one, two and three of that series).
But now with the 2023 NHL Draft in the rearview mirror, it's time to assign each of the Wild's top-15 prospects to a tier. Charlie Stramel and Riley Heidt, who were drafted in the first and second round respectively this summer, are among the Wild's top-15 prospects.
Tier 1: Jesper Wallstedt and Marco Rossi are in the top tier by themselves for a reason. Wallstedt, heralded as the best goalie prospect in the NHL by many, is the Wild's goalie of the future who displayed promising signs during his rookie year with the Iowa Wild in the American Hockey League last season.
Rossi, 21, is expected to make the center starved Wild out of camp this fall after struggling to adjust to the NHL last year. Rossi got sent down to the AHL after recording one point in 19 games. With Iowa, he scored 16 goals and 51 points, finishing second to Nic Petan in scoring. That extra year in the AHL helped him regain his confidence, and he told me in March "I'm ready" whenever that next opportunity presents itself with the Wild.
Tier 2: This second tier with prospects 3-6 can quite possibly be randomized in any order just because of how close together they are. Call it recency bias, but Brock Faber couldn't have had a better showing with the Wild in the playoffs in April right out of college from the University of Minnesota. Faber played like a top-4 defensive stalwart, and he's expected to make the team out of camp because of it.
The trio of Liam Ohgren (40th on Wheeler's list), Danila Yurov (47th) and Marat Khusnutdinov could all become top-six forwards. They have all exhibited promising signs since getting drafted by the Wild and along with Wallstedt, Rossi and Faber, they make up the core group of the organization's top prospects.
Tier 3: Heidt, the final pick of the second round, was projected to be drafted in the first round by a majority of pre-draft rankings. Heidt, an 18-year-old center, recorded 97 points in 68 games last season in the Western Hockey League, and he tied Connor Bedard with 72 assists.
Heidt has a lot of potential and headlines this third tier with Carson Lambos (LD) and Stramel (C). The former had another solid season in the WHL with the Winnipeg Ice (recording 48 points in 61 games) while Stramel is hoping to put his rookie season with the Wisconsin Badgers behind him and improve under new head coach Mike Hastings. With his skillset, there should be optimism Stramel will rebound next season, especially now that he has a year of college hockey under his belt.
Tier 4: The fourth tier includes forwards Adam Beckman, Caedan Bankier and Hunter Haight and defenseman Jack Peart, David Spacek and Daemon Hunt. The Wild may be lacking some star talent in their prospect pipeline, but what they do have is a lot of depth and prospects who have a solid chance of making an impact at the NHL level even if it doesn't end up being in a top-six or top-four role. Regardless, there's some sneaky good talent in this crop of players.