Minnesota Wild: What’s become of the traded draft picks?
By Luke Ryan
Heading to Florida for the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, all of the talk was about Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel; that was just noise for the Minnesota Wild though, who were drafting eighteen spots later!
It was blatantly that the Edmonton Oilers would be selecting Connor McDavid with the first overall pick and it was highly likely that Jack Eichel would go second to the Buffalo Sabres.
Nobody needed a crystal ball to see those two picks play out; lo and behold, that was exactly the way of it and both players these days carry the hopes of their franchises on their young shoulders.
Looking at the options available to the Minnesota Wild, you might wonder if Brock Boeser would’ve been a better choice with their first round (20th overall) pick.
Joel Eriksson-Ek is a decent player but not quite the point-scorer that Boeser has turned out to be for the Vancouver Canucks. Again, draft hindsight is a bit silly as there are numerous other factors that affect a player’s development.
Jordan Greenway was a great second round pick-up for the Minnesota Wild, whilst their third round pick went to the Arizona Coyotes.
The return on that pick was Devan Dubnyk, so it’s important to look at the draft pick with the thinking that Dubnyk was the return.
Going in the third round at 81st overall was Brendan Warren. He finds himself with the University of Michigan, his NHL rights now in the hands of the Philadelphia Flyers. In his four NCAA years, he’s put up 44 points across 122 games. Not bad going really.
However, when you look at the fact that was what brought Devan Dubnyk to the Minnesota Wild, you have to think that the deal was a bit of a steal. The Arizona Coyotes have nothing to show for it, the Minnesota Wild have a top-tier starting goaltender.
Moving on though, the Wild gave up practically all of their picks in 2016. We look at who they might’ve had, or at least who their draft picks became.