Minnesota Wild Prospects Report: More Injuries & Top NCAA Prospects

A day later than usual due to the trade deadline yesterday, but we’re back. Here’s your Minnesota Wild prospects update.

Alexandre Belanger, G, 2013 Round 7

The Cape Breton Screaming Eagles played four games over the last week, with Belanger seeing time in the first two. In his first of the week he lead the Eagles to a 3-2 win over the Saint John Sea Dogs despite the Eagles getting outshot 40-24. Great game for Belanger on that one.

The second should have been a goaltending duel between Belanger and Zach Fucale of Team Canada fame (who actually isn’t having that great of a year despite the name recognition for most). However, Belanger stopped just eight shots in the first period before exiting with a head injury. He didn’t play in the next two games. He is currently going through standard concussion protocol, according to The Q News. No word on if that means the team is being cautious or if he has been diagnosed with a concussion and is dealing the that at the moment.

John Draeger, D, 2012 Round 3

Draeger grabbed an assist in Friday’s MSU loss to the Gophers and then opened up the scoring for MSU as they beat the Gophers in Saturday’s rematch.

Reid Duke, C, 2014 Round 6

Duke has missed the last seven games for the Brandon Wheat Kings with a lower body injury.

Adam Gilmour, C/RW, 2012 Round 4

Gilmour grabbed an assist on Alex Tuch’s goal in Boston College’s 2-0 win over Notre Dame on Friday.

Pavel Jenys, C, 2014 Round 7

The Sudbury Wolves lost all three of their games this week, including a 3-0 loss to the Kingston Frontenacs. They were lucky the loss was only 3-0 after being outshot 41-16. On Sunday they played a tight match against the Mississaugua Steelheads, in which the Wolves outshot the Steelheads 42-35 and Jenys potted two of the team’s three goals in a 4-3 loss.

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• Where Will Marco Rossi Line Up This Season?

With a recent surge of scoring, Jenys, in his first year in the OHL, leads the Wolves in points with 13 goals and 28 assists through 55 games. He’s just one point ahead of Matt Schmalz, who has played five more games than Jenys.

The Wolves are having a terrible season, which can be highlighted by noting that Jenys is a minus-30 this season, but he has the best plus/minus among the top four scorers on the team and only the second worst among the top six scorers on the team.

Dylan Labbe, D, 2013 Round 4

Labbe and the Shawinigan Cataractes had three games against QMJHL opponents this week. In the first game of the week, Labbe posted two assists in a 7-2 win over the Sherbrooke Phoenix. He was held without a point in the next two, which were both losses for the Cataractes.

Chase Lang, C, 2014 Round 6

In the week’s first two games Lang added a goal, two assists, and a plus-3 rating for the Calgary Hitmen. Unfortunately, in a rough game against the Everett Silvertips, one that the Hitmen lost 7-2 despite outshooting the Silvertips 43-29, Lang took a dirty shot to the head late in the game.

Everett’s Ben Betker caught Lang in the head, for which he got a five-minute major for checking to the head and a game misconduct (plus a fight after Calgary’s Michael Zipp dropped the gloves with Betker for the hit). No update on Lang’s status is currently available, but Lang did not play in Saturday’s game against the Kelowna Rockets.

Mario Lucia, RW/LW, 2011 Round 2

Lucia grabbed an assist in the Saturday match between Boston College and Notre Dame, a weekend series full of big name Wild draft picks. Lucia currently has 19 goals and eight assists through 36 games this season. He has far fewer assists than previous years, but has set a NCAA career-high goal total.

Steve Michalek, G, 2011 Round 6

Michalek had a tough start to the weekend, allowing five goals on 25 shots as Harvard lost 5-2 to No.10/9 Quinnipiac. He bounced back nicely on Saturday though, stopping all 27 shots against a lesser Princeton club, leading Harvard to a 5-0 win.

Carson Soucy, D, 2013 Round 5

Soucy grabbed the only goal in the University of Minnesota-Duluth’s 1-1 shootout loss to the University of Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks on Friday. The team wound up with the same result on Saturday, less the Soucy goal, as they lost in a 1-1 shootout again.

Friday’s goal was Soucy’s fifth of the season. He currently sports a plus-13 rating.

Alex Tuch, RW, 2014 Round 1

Tuch took on fellow Wild prospect Mario Lucia and Notre Dame in a series over the weekend. Boston College took Friday’s game 2-0 with Tuch grabbing the second goal of the night. According to the Boston College site, Tuch leads the team in points with 14 goals and 14 assists. Second on the team in points in fellow Wild prospect Adam Gilmour with nine goals and 17 assists.

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Also, Chris Dilks and Jeff Cox at SBN College Hockey are ranking the top 100 NHL prospects in the NCAA currently. Their most recent update is #21-30, but here where the Wild prospects who have been on the list ranked so far. (And do keep up with it, it’s a great list and can serve as a nice primer for the draft or the end of the NCAA season and the Frozen Four if you don’t follow college hockey.

#37 – Mario Lucia, Notre Dame (dropped quite a bit since last year)
#53 – Carson Soucy, Minnesota Duluth
#62 – Louie Belpedio – Miami Ohio
#84 – Steve Michalek – Harvard
#88 – Adam Gilmour – Boston College
#93 – Avery Peterson – Nebraska Omaha

Expect to see Tuch high on this list in the coming days.