Prospect Info: HF Wild Prospect Rankings: #12

[Digitalbooya]

Prospect rankings. Rank how you see fit. Feel free to list your criteria as we progress through the list.

David Spacek comes in at the #11 spot. On to #12

1. Jesper Wallstedt (71.4%)
2. Broccoli Faber (43.2%)
3. Marco Rossi (56.1%)
4. Danila Yurov (63.9%)
5. Marat Khusnutdinov (51.4%)
6. Liam Ohgren (94.6%)
7. Charlie Stramel (46.2%)
8. Carson Lambos (55.2%)
9. Jack Peart (46.7%)
10. Riley Heidt (40.6%)
11. David Spacek (44.4%)
12.


Feel free to make suggestions for prospects to add.

2022-23 Final Poll

Click to read more...

 

[P10p]

Trying to avoid the shiny new toy bias and went with Beckman. Looked much better in the A in his second full year. A much more complete player.

 

[TaLoN]

ROR

 

[Digitalbooya]

So he played the first two games with Merrill, explaining why they have similar numbers.

Faber playing 4 more games with Klingberg on top of that without his 5-on-5 metrics taking a hit? That sounds like a glowing endorsement.

Some numbers were better, some worse with Klingberg:

-better corsi for %
-same shots for %
-same goals for %
-way worse expected goals against per 60
-way worse expected goals for %
-way worse scoring chances for %

 

[Obvious Fabertism]

If the only Faber play that you remember was his diving deflection, then you maybe weren't paying enough attention to him. He had a lot of extremely good puck recoveries and outlets, he won board battles in outnumbered situations, including a 1v2 against Robertson and Hintz where he made them look foolish, and he had some very good neutral zone feeds to hit players in stride for zone entries. He played virtually mistake free and was one of the few players that was actually able to push and generate some offensive chances in our final games. He played a lot like season 3 Brodin when he finally started passing himself rather than deferring to Suter at every opportunity. You are welcome to your opinion, but I think if you keep an open mind, you will really like what you see from him next season.

Back on the actual topic, I went with Hunt here just based on readiness and I think he will a solid contributor in the bottom pairing by next season, but see lots of arguments for others. I think Milne has a very high likelihood of being an NHLer at some point too but as an energy guy. I haven't been big on Beckman too much personally, though I can see him getting some opportunities very soon, he just doesn't excite me much unless his shot starts beating NHLers.

 

[Wabit]

If the only Faber play that you remember was his diving deflection, then you maybe weren't paying enough attention to him. He had a lot of extremely good puck recoveries and outlets, he won board battles in outnumbered situations, including a 1v2 against Robertson and Hintz where he made them look foolish, and he had some very good neutral zone feeds to hit players in stride for zone entries. He played virtually mistake free and was one of the few players that was actually able to push and generate some offensive chances in our final games. He played a lot like season 3 Brodin when he finally started passing himself rather than deferring to Suter at every opportunity. You are welcome to your opinion, but I think if you keep an open mind, you will really like what you see from him next season.

Back on the actual topic, I went with Hunt here just based on readiness and I think he will a solid contributor in the bottom pairing by next season, but see lots of arguments for others. I think Milne has a very high likelihood of being an NHLer at some point too but as an energy guy. I haven't been big on Beckman too much personally, though I can see him getting some opportunities very soon, he just doesn't excite me much unless his shot starts beating NHLers.

I think Beckman has more skill than Milne. I think Milne (who I really like) has a better motor.

Of the AHLers last year.
-I could see any of Beckman, Milne, or Walker being a on and energy 4th line.
-I could see Milne being on a grinder 4th line more so than Beckman or Walker.
-I don't think any of them are future top-6 quality FWDs.
-I didn't have an issue with either Beckman or Walker when they were callups playing in the NHL last year. On the flip side I didn't see anything to where I thought they belonged in the NHL as a regular either.

 

[57special]

Went with Hunt because I think he can be playing a few games as soon as this year. Who knows what weakness the NHL will reveal, but he seems to be at least ok in just about every department down in the AHL. Decent size, strength, skating, puck handling, positioning. I haven’t given up on ROR, either.

If Walker got stronger over the summer then I think that he has a chance to make the team. At his age, though, I have my doubts that he can change his body much. Milne is on a decent trajectory to make the NHL as a 4th liner, in a year or so.

The junior players are unknown, or at least unproven, commodities to me. The AHL will sort them out.

 

[Digitalbooya]

If the only Faber play that you remember was his diving deflection, then you maybe weren't paying enough attention to him. He had a lot of extremely good puck recoveries and outlets, he won board battles in outnumbered situations, including a 1v2 against Robertson and Hintz where he made them look foolish, and he had some very good neutral zone feeds to hit players in stride for zone entries. He played virtually mistake free and was one of the few players that was actually able to push and generate some offensive chances in our final games. He played a lot like season 3 Brodin when he finally started passing himself rather than deferring to Suter at every opportunity. You are welcome to your opinion, but I think if you keep an open mind, you will really like what you see from him next season.

Back on the actual topic, I went with Hunt here just based on readiness and I think he will a solid contributor in the bottom pairing by next season, but see lots of arguments for others. I think Milne has a very high likelihood of being an NHLer at some point too but as an energy guy. I haven't been big on Beckman too much personally, though I can see him getting some opportunities very soon, he just doesn't excite me much unless his shot starts beating NHLers.

This is how I can tell that some people have rose colored glasses on. It's been three months since the playoff series. Do you expect people to remember basic hockey plays like puck recoveries and neutral zone feeds? NHL players are expected to do these things. Mistake free hockey? The guy played the least amount of time per game among the seven defenders that played. Even Merrill averaged more TOI/GP. Mistake free hockey doesn't mean much when you are playing heavily protected minutes.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

This is how I can tell that some people have rose colored glasses on. It's been three months since the playoff series. Do you expect people to remember basic hockey plays like puck recoveries and neutral zone feeds? NHL players are expected to do these things. Mistake free hockey? The guy played the least amount of time per game among the seven defenders that played. Even Merrill averaged more TOI/GP. Mistake free hockey doesn't mean much when you are playing heavily protected minutes.

I enjoy the implication of this, that you are a beacon of unbiasedness here.

 

[Wabit]

Went with Hunt because I think he can be playing a few games as soon as this year. Who knows what weakness the NHL will reveal, but he seems to be at least ok in just about every department down in the AHL. Decent size, strength, skating, puck handling, positioning. I haven’t given up on ROR, either.

If Walker got stronger over the summer then I think that he has a chance to make the team. At his age, though, I have my doubts that he can change his body much. Milne is on a decent trajectory to make the NHL as a 4th liner, in a year or so.

The junior players are unknown, or at least unproven, commodities to me. The AHL will sort them out.

Barring injury/trade, I only see one FWD spot up for grabs going into the season. That spot is Rossi's to lose. The GM didn't trade for Maroon just to sit pressbox him.

$6.25m in space with 11 FWD, 6 d-men (I'm counting Faber as on the team), and 1G under contract already. Gus+Addison will eat up between $4m-$5m of that space. So between $1.25m to $2.25m in space to fill out 1 FWD spot and a 2nd pressbox player. You figure 2 players will cost at least $1.625m in cap space.

 

[MNRube]

Went with Hunt. Seems most likely to be an NHL regular

It’s funny that Heidt went 10th & Kumpalainen doesn’t even have a vote for 12th despite the latter being picked earlier in the actual draft

 

[Circulartheory]

Went with Hunt. Seems most likely to be an NHL regular

It’s funny that Heidt went 10th & Kumpalainen doesn’t even have a vote for 12th despite the latter being picked earlier in the actual draft

I'm much lower than Heidt than most. I have lower than all our recent 2nd/3rd rounders outside of Lorenz, maybe Haight.

 

[Wabit]

Went with Hunt. Seems most likely to be an NHL regular

It’s funny that Heidt went 10th & Kumpalainen doesn’t even have a vote for 12th despite the latter being picked earlier in the actual draft

Heidt was heavily scouted/reported on and nobody really knows much of anything about Kumpalainen.

 

[AKL]

Went with Hunt. Seems most likely to be an NHL regular

It’s funny that Heidt went 10th & Kumpalainen doesn’t even have a vote for 12th despite the latter being picked earlier in the actual draft

Wild had Yurov ranked higher than Ohgren on their own board but picked Ohgren first in the actual draft, go figure

 

[Digitalbooya]

I enjoy the implication of this, that you are a beacon of unbiasedness here.

I’m plenty biased. I’m just pointing out that I’m not the only one who’s biased. It’s a much bigger scale of gopher fans than badger fans on here and I think that definitely impacted the voting and impacted the discussion afterwards.

There’s a contingent of fans on here that can’t stand that I like Caufield’s goal scoring and that I don’t think Faber is a better prospect than Yurov, Khusnutdinov, Rossi, Stramel, and possibly Ohgren. No duh I’m biased on those fronts. Caufield is my avatar, of course I’m going to be biased towards him. I just think a defensive defenseman isn’t better than potential 1st line players. If that rubs you guys the wrong way, you can surely get over it

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

I’m plenty biased. I’m just pointing out that I’m not the only one who’s biased. It’s a much bigger scale of gopher fans than badger fans on here and I think that definitely impacted the voting and impacted the discussion afterwards.

There’s a contingent of fans on here that can’t stand that I like Caufield’s goal scoring and that I don’t think Faber is a better prospect than Yurov, Khusnutdinov, Rossi, Stramel, and possibly Ohgren. No duh I’m biased on those fronts. Caufield is my avatar, of course I’m going to be biased towards him. I just think a defensive defenseman isn’t better than potential 1st line players. If that rubs you guys the wrong way, you can surely get over it

Trust me, I’m rubbed the right way by it.

 

[Digitalbooya]

Trust me, I’m rubbed the right way by it.

 

[16thOverallSaveUs]

Man we’re gonna produce a lot of middle six forwards from this prospect pool

 

[Digitalbooya]

Man we’re gonna produce a lot of middle six forwards from this prospect pool

+one middle pairing dman and a bunch of third pairing guys

 

[Digitalbooya]

I will say, not many prospect pools have guys past #5 that are expected to be NHL players. Most are long shots. I feel really good about the following being NHL regular players, even if it’s only bottom pair/bottom six:

-Faber
-Wallstedt
-Yurov
-Khusnutdinov
-Stramel
-Ohgren
-Spacek
-Hunt
-Walker
-Milne

 

[AKL]

Man we’re gonna produce a lot of middle six forwards from this prospect pool

Wallstedt is gonna do a lot of heavy lifting if we want to win anything

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

I will say, not many prospect pools have guys past #5 that are expected to be NHL players. Most are long shots. I feel really good about the following being NHL regular players, even if it’s only bottom pair/bottom six:

-Faber
-Wallstedt
-Yurov
-Khusnutdinov
-Stramel
-Ohgren
-Spacek
-Hunt
-Walker
-Milne

Gonna be a nightmare if we only get bottom 6/bottom pair players out of 4 consecutive years of 1st/2nd round picks + the Fiala trade.

I'd give 9 of those players back for the 10th one to be a star.

 

[Digitalbooya]

Gonna be a nightmare if we only get bottom 6/bottom pair players out of 4 consecutive years of 1st/2nd round picks + the Fiala trade.

I'd give 9 of those players back for the 10th one to be a star.

That's what I have for the floor of most of those guys. I expect a number of them to be up the lineup.

-Faber (2nd pair)
-Wallstedt (starter)
-Yurov (1st line wing)
-Khusnutdinov (top 6 center/wing)
-Stramel (middle 6 center)
-Ohgren (2nd line wing)
-Spacek (3rd pair)
-Hunt (3rd pair)
-Walker (3rd line wing)
-Milne (3rd/4th line wing)

 

[BagHead]

Gonna be a nightmare if we only get bottom 6/bottom pair players out of 4 consecutive years of 1st/2nd round picks + the Fiala trade.

I'd give 9 of those players back for the 10th one to be a star.

The good news is that it seems about once or twice per draft one of the late 1st or 2nd rounders breaks out later as a star so, with so many of them in the pool, maybe the Wild will get a little lucky and one of the expected middle-six forwards will become a star as he develops.

As it appears today, star power is the missing component in the Wild's prospect pool. They have depth for days, so maybe you'll get your wish and they'll trade some of it as a package for a star player if they ever get the chance.