Top Prospects: The NHL System Rankings

#10: Minnesota Wild

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Number of Ranked Prospects: 34

Number of Forwards in the Top 50: 2

Number of Defensemen in the Top 50: 2

Average Rank of Top 10 Prospects in Pool: 75th

Top Forward Prospect in The System: Danila Yurov (28th)

Top Defenseman Prospect in The System: Zeev Buium (4th)

System Score: 4.5

The Minnesota Wild have never won a Stanley Cup, nor have they even played in a Cup Final. In fact, since the 2015-2016 season, the Wild have either missed the playoffs entirely or lost in the first round of the playoffs. An amazing aspect of the Wild's history is that they often have solid teams that are difficult to play against, but they just fall short at crunch time. A sequence of quality coaches has not been able to get the Wild over the top, nor have the four general managers in team history (the current GM being Bill Guerin, who took over from Paul Fenton in August of 2019). Guerin, a storied NHL player in his own right, looks to have the NHL squad on the right track and he has been building a quality prospect system to support them.

Since 2018, the Wild have used nine first round picks and a further 17 second and third round picks. Despite having made one of the Hockey Prophets' least favorite first-round draft picks in 2018 (Minnesota selected Filip Johansson 24th overall, a player that Hockey Prophets had ranked at 62nd and who has yet to play in an NHL game) and took a gamble on drafting the enigmatic Charlie Stramel 21st overall in 2023, the Wild have had some solid success with their early-round picks. Full-time NHL players and burgeoning stars Matt Boldy (drafted 12th in 2019) and Marco Rossi (9th in 2020) are the headliners, but the team has also used multiple picks to stock a prospect pool with several top players including a top-five defender drafted last summer.

The Top of The Pool:

Zeev Buium, 4th overall on the Hockey Prophets top defensemen prospects ranking, has the full tool kit of a superstar NHL defenseman. He has the size at 6'0 and 185 pounds, and the offensive aggression to lead a rush, pinch in from the weak side point to support a cycle, and the great skating ability that allows him to get back into position in his own end if the attack goes awry. He plays such a sound fundamental game with so much hockey intelligence he makes even the most difficult situations look easy. Last year as an 18-year-old blueliner in the NCAA, he was the second leading scorer on the University of Denver national championship team (11 goals, 39 assists in 42 games), was named a first-team All American, and not only was he the top-scoring defenseman in all of the NCAA last season, he is only the second U19 blueliner to hit 50 points (Craig Redmond had 54 way back in the 1982-1983 season). Buium has all of the earmarks of a top-pair NHL defenseman and could start that journey in earnest at the end of his current NCAA season.

The best forward prospect in the Minnesota system is the twenty-year-old Russian winger Danila Yurov. The 6'1, 172-pound forward has been playing the KHL since he was seventeen, and so far this season he has five goals and six assists in 20 games for Metallurg Magnitogorsk. Yurov plays a power forward style, with great skating ability and fantastic strength and balance. He is a possession player, able to withstand heavy contact and keep control of the puck and then find open lanes. He likes to play in the heavy traffic areas and take up space at the crease, using his considerable leverage and positioning to minimize defenders' efforts to dislodge him. As such, he already plays a style tailor-made for NHL hockey. Yurov does everything so well, with such efficiency, that at times he looks as is he is doing nothing, but in fact he has just put himself into a position to drive a dagger into the heart of the defense. 

Liam Ohgren (ranked 42nd in the Hockey Prophets forwards list) plays a much different--yet still effective--style than Yurov. While Yurov plays a hard, heavy game at the crease, Ohgren plays a non-stop speed game off of the left wing, with flair and agility, but also with a great shot and the willingness to take the puck inside. Ohgren has been bouncing between the AHL and NHL since coming to North America last season. He started the season with the Wild, but is currently playing in the AHL for Iowa. He might need a bit more acclimation to North American and NHL play in particular, but he should soon be a more permanent fixture in the twin cities. 

Two second-round picks from the 2023 and 2024 drafts are next in the line of Minnesota forward prospects. Riley Heidt was drafted 64th overall in 2023, falling quite a bit from the original projections at a late first-, early second-round prospect (Heidt was ranked 17th on the final Hockey Prophets 2023 draft rank). Heidt's progression in the WHL has been remarkable, going from 97 points in 68 games in his draft year, to 117 points in 66 games last season, and he is currently sitting on 24 points in 14 games as the captain for the Prince George Cougars. Heidt is the best pure scoring prospect in the Wild system, and with his intensity, speed and crafty offensive intelligence, he looks like a top-six NHL winger in the making. 

The Wild drafted Ryder Ritchie 45th overall in 2024 as a hard-working right wing with good size (6'1, 185 pounds) and scoring ability. Ritchie is a player who will forecheck, backcheck, kill penalties and work the power play. There is still room for improvement in his game, and although he has good speed he could refine his mechanics and should get faster as he develops. He was traded to WHL Medicine Hat over the summer, but he has not had the smoothest start there yet as he tries to work his way into the meat of the lineup. In addition to his WHL play, he should also get a look from Team Canada for a potential spot on their WJC squad (he was a solid contributor on the U18 gold-medal team last year).

The Wild have a couple of quality defenders in the pipeline in addition to Buium. Carson Lambos (ranked 46th) and Ryan O'Rourke (78th) both have considerable NHL potential. Lambos was a first-round pick (26th overall) in 2021, and has been developing on schedule since then. His post-draft year saw the intelligent two-way defender put up 47 points in 51 games in the WHL, and then he continued that pace the following season while Captain of the Winnipeg Ice with 48 points in 61 games. He is currently polishing his game in the AHL with the Iowa Wild, and after another season there, he could be ready to compete for a full time NHL role next fall. O'Rourke has been in the system a bit longer than Lambos, and although he lacks the offensive flair, he plays a crunching, smart positional game in his own end. He can add offense, but his role in the NHL will be more of killing penalties and shutting down opposing attacks.

Further down the prospect ranking are interesting players like Caedan Bankier (currently in the AHL, with 23 points in 51 rookie games last season), Jack Peart (drafted 54th overall in 2021, playing his first full season of professional hockey after three years at St Cloud State), and Hunter Haight, a center also honing his play as a rookie in the AHL (he has 7 points in his first 11 games for Iowa). 

No look at the Minnesota prospect pool would be complete without a comment on Charlie Stramel. The Wild picked Stramel at 21st overall in 2023, but he had been a player who at one time looked like a potential top ten (note that the Hockey Prophets 2023 draft ranking listed Stramel way down at 119th). Stramel is a mysterious prospect. He has great size at 6'3, 223 pounds, and he excels in tight spaces. However, his play has plateaued so much over the past few years. He went to the Wisconsin Badgers after his time with the USNTDP, but scored only 8 goals and 12 assists in 67 games over his two seasons there. He transferred to Michigan State last summer, and so far this season he has been faring a bit better on the score sheet, with 5 points in his first seven games. It is possible that he could be the late bloomer power forward of myth and legend, or he could be a player who used his size and willingness to take on punishment early, but those same tools are not working as well for him at the NCAA level. His trajectory will be interesting to monitor over the next couple of seasons.

Return to the Team System Rankings

Below is the full list of the Minnesota Wild's ranked prospects.

Top Forwards 

Top Defensemen