Being a Minnesota Wild fan in 2023-24 has not been a pleasant experience. The team’s failure to play at the level they are capable of is disappointing and difficult to endure, so we are going to ignore it and rank players instead – because that is a lot more fun.
Over the last 10 seasons, the Wild have made 11 first-round selections in the various drafts, although five of those selections were made in the last three years alone. Nevertheless, here’s a look at each of the Wild’s first-round picks and we’ll rank them based on their skill, contribution to the team, and future potential in the case of the younger players.
#11 – Filip Johansson
In 2018, the Wild questionably selected Swedish defenseman Filip Johansson with the 24th overall pick. He could arguably be left as an honourable mention on this list as he is, to date, the only first-rounder that the Wild elected not to sign at all and instead let him walk back into free agency, where he signed with the Vancouver Canucks. The Wild received a compensatory second-round pick in 2022 that they turned into Rieger Lorenz.
Now a Canucks defenseman, Johansson is a 6-foot-1 right-shot who, at 23 years old, is only 15 games into his first season in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Abbotsford Canucks. While not always guaranteed an impact player with the 24th overall pick, the Wild passed on fellow Swedish defensemen Nils Lundkvist (28th overall) and Rasmus Sandin (29th overall) to make the selection.
#10 – Charlie Stramel
Ranking the Wild’s latest first-round pick this low is not an indictment of Charlie Stramel himself but is based on the lack of knowledge we have to place him any higher. The Wild knew what kind of player they wanted with their 21st overall selection, and they took a swing with the 6-foot-3, 220-pound Minnesota-native centerman. Stramel had a much higher draft projection at the beginning of the 2022-23 season, but a weak team dropped his stock rather quickly and seemed to make his ranking a big question mark for a lot of scouts.
Now that he is part of the Wild’s prospect pool, the question marks have not become any clearer as an injury has limited him to just seven games this season, during which he had no points. Fingers crossed he can still wiggle his way into the 2024 World Junior Championship (WJC) so we can see him play against some top-end talent to get a better gauge of his skills.
#9 – Luke Kunin
One of the older players on this list, Luke Kunin was selected by the Wild 15th overall in 2016 with the hopes he would become a high-end offensive talent. After bouncing between Minnesota and Iowa for two seasons, he finally managed to break into the NHL full-time in 2019-2020, where he produced 31 points in 63 games before being traded to the Nashville Predators as a pending restricted free agent (RFA).
Kunin is a solid player but never really contributed much to the Wild and didn’t quite meet the expectations placed on him after being taken in the front half of the first round. Instead, he plays on the third line of the incredibly bad San Jose Sharks. Perhaps more notable than Kunin are the two players that the Wild selected with the picks they received when they traded him: Marat Khusnutdinov and Daemon Hunt.
#8 – Carson Lambos
The former captain of the Winnipeg Ice of the Western Hockey League (WHL) finally turned pro this season as Carson Lambos joined the Iowa Wild as part of their large group of defensive prospects. Lambos is a 6-foot-1 prospect who was drafted 26th overall in 2021 but was majorly impacted by the COVID seasons. He tried to jump over to Finland to continue his development during the WHL’s cancelled season but did not have great results. Before those issues, he was considered a potential top-10 pick.
Related: Minnesota Wild Prospect Report: October’s Top 5 Rankings
He still has a lot of development to do thanks to his COVID delay, but Lambos is a strong, two-way defenseman with a fantastic shot. While it is unlikely that he will turn into a top-paring player, there is a realistic opportunity for him to become a middle-pairing player who packs an offensive punch to his minute-munching style of play – don’t be surprised if it takes him two or more seasons in the AHL before he finally gets a look at some NHL ice time.
#7 – Liam Ohgren
The earlier of the two selections in the 2022 Draft, Liam Ohgren joined the Wild as the 19th overall selection. As difficult as it is to predict the future of young prospects, the general consensus on Ohgren was that he would be a guaranteed top-nine, possibly a top-six, winger for an NHL team. At 6-foot-1 and close to 200 pounds, he has a great shot and physical play, along with some adept skating abilities and playmaking tendencies.
Ohgren had a great development camp in Minnesota but has been sidelined with an injury ever since, only recently making his season debut in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) with Farjestad. Perhaps more importantly, he should be able to get a couple of games under his belt and get back into shape just in time to be a key offensive piece for Team Sweden at the WJC. Ohgren was the captain of Sweden’s U-18 team and has typically been boasted as captain material, so we may see the Wild prospect with the “C” on his jersey.
#6 – Danila Yurov
He might have been selected five places after Ohgren in 2022, but Danila Yurov has the upper hand on this list. Yurov had the potential to be selected much higher than 24th, but the Russian factor limiting his experience allowed him to drop into the Wild’s hands. While he is about the same height as Ohgren, he has a slimmer build that makes him faster, which translates to a completely different play style.
Yurov had a bit of a strange start to his season with Metallurg in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), as he was a healthy scratch at random times for unknown reasons. Since then, he has found much more consistency, playing as the team’s second-line center and accumulating 20 points in 29 games, including a streak of nine points in eight games in October. Yurov is still a bit of a question mark, but there is a strong possibility he ends up as a forward with top-six upside for the Wild.
#5 – Jesper Wallstedt
The only goaltender that the Wild have ever drafted in the first round appears at number four on this list, but not for lack of talent. Jesper Wallstedt has been a top prospect from the moment he was selected 20th overall in 2021, although he actually cost the team a first and a third to acquire as they traded with the Edmonton Oilers to jump up just two selections. Wallstedt will move up this list, but as he has yet to see any NHL game, it is hard to place him any higher.
Wallstedt has excelled in every league that he has played and could already be an effective goaltender in the NHL, but the Wild don’t want effective, they want him to be the franchise-altering talent in net that they know he has the potential to be. It takes time and practice to get to that level, and there is no better place for him to be getting that practice than as the starting netminder for the Iowa Wild. It might be painful to wait it out this season, but it will be more painful for the rest of the league when he makes his debut.
#4 – Alex Tuch
I can see some pitchforks coming out just seeing Alex Tuch this high in the rankings, especially ahead of Wallstedt, but hear me out before roasting me in the comments. The Wild drafted Tuch 18th overall in 2014 as a big, right-shot winger who had shown some high skill to go along with his large frame. He played just six NHL games with the Wild before they gifted him to the Vegas Golden Knights so that they would select Erik Haula in their expansion draft.
Now, Tuch will likely end up falling down the rankings in future years as the younger prospects develop and start their own NHL careers, but currently, their futures are unknown while Tuch is an eighth-season veteran with close to 400 games played, including a season where he produced at over a point-per-game pace. He was a key piece of the Jack Eichel trade between Vegas and the Buffalo Sabres and has been a fantastic player for the Sabres as they attempt to pull out of a rebuild. He may not have spent much time with the Wild, but it’s management’s fault for giving away a young first-round pick who has now become a fantastic top-six option.
#3 – Marco Rossi
The earliest pick, and the only top-ten pick on this list, is rookie Marco Rossi, who was taken ninth overall in 2020. Rossi is a smaller center but packs more punch into his frame than should be possible. After missing an entire year due to COVID and having a very disappointing 2022-23 season when he was sent back to the Iowa Wild after nineteen games, he has returned stronger than ever this season.
Rossi is perhaps the best thing to come out of the 2023-24 season so far. He has gone from a major question mark to the team’s most effective and consistent forward, especially at five-on-five. He is top five on the Wild in points, top three in goals, and second in individual expected goals-for (ixG). He has already become a consistent top-six center, but as he continues to develop over the next couple of years, there is every opportunity for him to become the true first-line center the Wild hoped he would become.
#2 – Matt Boldy
From the first time Matt Boldy suited up for the Minnesota Wild during the 2021-22 season, there was something electric about the 12th overall pick from 2019. Boldy almost instantly became the primary offence driver for the Wild and would have easily been in contention for a Calder Trophy had he not missed 35 games due to an injury. It is pretty easy to tell that he is going to be a special player for a long time, and his seven-year, $49 million extension after just 89 NHL games tells you that Wild management knows it, too.
The 2022-23 season was his first full test with the Wild, and despite some stretches of lack-luster performance, he collected 31 goals and 63 points in the 81 games, including a dominant stretch when Kirill Kaprizov was injured and the team needed him most. He is off to a “slow” start this season with just one goal in 10 games, but he has still managed to collect eight points. There is no reason to believe that Boldy will not become a point-per-game player sooner rather than later and will be a key piece of the Wild’s core for a long time.
#1 – Joel Eriksson Ek
It seems like forever since the Wild selected Joel Eriksson Ek 20th overall in 2015, but that pick has turned into the most irreplaceable player in the Wild’s lineup. Eriksson Ek took a long time to get to this level, but his dedication to the game and to constantly improving in all areas has led him to be a vital piece in all situations. A five-on-five monster, a key penalty killer, and a power play net-front star, there is no player on Minnesota’s bench that does as much as Eriksson Ek, as well as he does it.
Despite the poor performance of the team this season, Eriksson Ek is still finding a way to score. His 15 points in 17 games put him on an 82-game pace for 39 goals and 73 points. On top of that, his defensive play and reliability are amongst the best in the league, and he does it all for a cap hit of just $5.25 million a season. He may not be the flashiest player, make the highlight reels, or be a poster boy for the team, but the Wild are a drastically better team with him in their lineup. To get that value as late as they did in the draft is outstanding, and at just 26 years old, the Wild could have this beauty around for another decade or more.
Wild Have So Much Talent on the Way
The Wild have always been a mid-ranked team with mid-round picks, meaning their first-rounders from the last 10 years do not feature any ridiculous talent that can only be found at the top of the draft. Instead, they have made their picks count by collecting sturdy, NHL-level players who can fill roster spots or be traded for decent returns, with the only real miss being Johansson. Recent good luck on draft day and a series of intelligent moves have given the Wild some high-end talent with the potential to really boost the team out of that middling range, but it could be a while before we see anyone take off enough to supplant Erikkson Ek as number one.
