As we close in the last days before the NHL’s regular season begins there has been a boom in the number of games being played around the rest of the world, including the start of college hockey. A large number of the Wild’s best prospects were active in multiple games last week, including some preseason action for those that were sent down from training camp to their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliated Iowa Wild. We will start once again with the players north of the border, who have been absolutely lighting it up.
Thankful on Canadian Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in Canada, and a special thank you to all the Wild prospects who have been lighting up their respective leagues in the Canadian Hockey League (CHL). There is no doubt about who gets the top spot this week as Hunter Haight with the Saginaw Spirit of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) collected a hat-trick to help his team demolish their only opponent of the week. Haight continues a strong resurgence since being traded from the Barrie Colts to the Spirit last season and currently sits at six points in three games.
Both of the Wild’s 2023 second-round picks, Riley Heidt and Rasmus Kumpulainen, collected a trio of points last week. Heidt stayed hot on his offensive powerhouse of a team, managing to collect a goal and two assists to bring his season total to 11 points in just six games. Kumpulainen, on the other hand, decided to just go off during the Oshawa Generals game on Oct. 6 and collected three assists in their 4-1 win. Those are the only points he has in four games this season, but his play has been strong otherwise as he adjusts to the North American lifestyle.
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Kalem Parker netted his first of the season after being traded from the Victoria Royals to the much stronger Moose Jaw Warriors. The trade should provide the sixth-rounder a better developmental year than he would’ve seen with the Royals.
Things Looking Up in the KHL
As has become the standard, the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) in Russia is a source of frustration for a lot of teams, fans, and prospects as their utilization of players is a little unusual, to say the least. Marat Khusnutdinov has been fighting just to break the lineup this season after a massive 2022-23 season and got less than nine minutes of ice time in the one game that he did play last week. Fortunately for everyone involved, there are rumours that he could be traded to a team that might actually let him play.
The news is much better for the players, who have been playing games with Danila Yurov and Vladislav Firstov. Yurov worked his way into four games last week for Metallurg and came away with four points while also getting an average of 15 minutes of ice time per night, bringing him to eight points on the season. Firstov has become a mainstay on the Torpedo’s second line and has managed to match Yurov’s eight points by collecting three more assists last week.
NCAA & AHL
College hockey is just getting off the ground this season, but defenseman Jack Peart already has a point with St. Cloud State, and local boy Aaron Pionk collected his first point with the University of Minnesota-Duluth. All eyes are on first-round pick Charlie Stramel, who did not find the scoresheet in his team’s two wins. A roster full of NHL-drafted players at the University of Wisconsin should give him lots of talent to mesh with, but he is still young as just one of four 18-year-olds on their roster.
The Iowa Wild disassembled the Rockford IceHogs with two preseason victories in which they scored a total of 13 goals. Kyle Masters, Adan Beckman, Pavel Novak, Carson Lambos, and Sammy Walker all found the back of the net on the prospect side of things, while Ryan O’Rourke also collected a couple of assists. Jesper Wallstedt started on Oct. 6 and made 32 saves in the 7-3 victory, good for a .914 save percentage.
Full Week Ahead
Hockey will be back in all of its regular season glory this week as both the NHL and AHL regular seasons get underway meaning the full complement of prospects should be on display every week moving forward. Without any terrible luck, it already looks like the Wild could have more than a couple of young players, who are primed to have massive seasons and really show off why they were drafted into such a strong prospect pool.
