As the winter chill settles in and the holiday season approaches, hockey enthusiasts have their eyes fixed on more than just festive decorations and snowfall. The Minnesota Wild’s vibrant prospect pool continues to make waves across various leagues, and while we eagerly anticipate the 2024 World Junior Championship (WJC), some of the Wild’s best young players have been snubbed by their respective teams.
Disappointing for fans who were hoping to cheer for the youngsters across multiple teams, but that might be exactly what some of them need to kick them into another gear. Most notably, Charlie Stramel finally had a stellar week, showcasing a level of performance that fans have been eagerly awaiting. Let’s look at the others that had impressive weeks of their own.
CHL Remains a Feeding Ground
The Canadian Hockey League (CHL) and its three sub-leagues are a veritable smorgasbord of young talent. The games are intense, the stakes are high for a lot of players, and it provides the perfect breeding ground for young prospects to evolve their skills into something a little closer to the professional style of hockey. The Wild have four prospects between the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) and the Western Hockey League (WHL) that have been dominant all season.
Hunter Haight (OHL) led those prospects last week with a goal and an assist in both games the Saginaw Spirit played, including an absolutely beautiful goal against the London Knights on Dec. 9. The 19-year-old was passed over for Team Canada’s selection camp for the 2024 WJC. Riley Heidt, the leading point producer in the entire WHL was also passed over by Team Canada and still produced another two points in the Prince George Cougars’ two games last week. It will be interesting to see how he responds to not even making the training camp.
Related: 6 Minnesota Wild Prospect Hopefuls for 2024 WJC
We can find two more Wild prospects in the OHL who are more than likely going to be representing their countries at the WJC with Servác Petrovský and Rasmus Kumpulainen. Petrovský has already been named to Team Slovakia’s training camp after being a strong piece of their team for the last couple of years. His three points with the Owen Sound Attack last week bring him to a point-per-game on the season. Kumpulainen’s two points last week also brought him to exactly a point per game as we eagerly wait for Team Finland to announce their training camp roster. It would be a major surprise if he was left out.
1st Rounders Putting the Work In
The exclusion of Charlie Stramel from Team USA’s selection camp fed more fuel into mocking the Wild, selecting him in the first round in 2023. The big center’s draft stock fell hard after a poor 2022-23 season, but the hope was that he would rebound strongly this season at the University of Wisconsin. Instead, he had a single point in 10 games as a bottom-line winger in an ever-diminishing role. Thankfully he took being snubbed by Team USA to heart and put up four points in two games. This could be exactly the wake-up call Stramel needs to get back to playing at the level worthy of someone selected 21st overall.
Liam Öhgren has faced a lot of adversity in trying to get his season going with a major time-loss injury that caused him to be out of commission until late November. He only played a couple games before being sidelined with an illness for another two games. With all of that now behind him, he looks to be picking up steam as he had two goals in three games split between the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) and the Champions League while averaging over 15 minutes of ice time per game. Öhgren has also been named to the final Team Sweden roster for the WJC where he should play a large role.
You can’t talk about the Wild’s first-round picks without mentioning Jesper Wallstedt. The young phenom was at it again last week, laying down 52 saves and a .929 save percentage (SV%) in two games with the Iowa Wild. He now has nine wins this season and leads the American Hockey League (AHL) with a .935 SV% on the season and is fourth with a 2.04 goals-against average (GAA).
Constant Flow of Talent Ahead
The sheer volume of note-worthy Minnesota Wild prospects is truly astonishing. The Wild themselves have not had the most success in the early stages of the 2023-24 season, but it is hard to be worried about the future of the team when they have droves of elite talent constantly making their way towards the NHL. Even if only a small percentage of their prospects make their way into playing meaningful NHL games, they are still primed to have a consistent, reliable feed of youth into their lineup for many seasons to come.
