Minnesota Wild: What’s become of the traded draft picks?
By Luke Ryan
The 2016 NHL Entry Draft has already had several success stories; Auston Matthews, Patrik Laine, Charlie McAvoy and Mikhail Sergachev spring to mind immediately. Luke Kunin, the Minnesota Wild first round (15th overall) pick hasn’t quite joined their company yet.
That isn’t what we’re looking at though, and we have no doubt that he remains a prime candidate for a call-up from the Iowa Wild should one of the main roster go down injured.
The Minnesota Wild second round pick took a very roundabout route but ended up in the hands of the Chicago Blackhawks as a direct result of 2014 deal with the Buffalo Sabres that landed Matt Moulson and Cody McCormick with the Wild.
Chicago used the pick on a defenseman, Chad Krys, who is currently putting up very solid numbers with Boston University. 43 points in 79 games equates to a pace just over 0.5 points per game in the NCAA.
In all likelihood he will play out his fourth college year before potentially signing with a Blackhawks team in great need of cheap, young blood.
Next up for a former Minnesota Wild pick was Rem Pitlick who went to the Nashville Predators. The pick itself jumped between four organisations before landing with the Wild’s divisional rivals.
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Rem Pitlick actually plays right on the Wild’s doorstep, suiting up for the University of Minnesota the past two seasons and showing up too with a 0.84 points per game. He represents a really solid chance of at least making it to bottom-six action in a stacked Nashville line-up, as they seek to rotate in young and good value talent.
Boston selected in the fifth round, courtesy of Minnesota picking up Cam Clarke, a defenceman currently suiting for Ferris State University.
Matthew Phillips, picked in the sixth round by the Calgary Flames absolutely lit up the Western Hockey League in his final year with the Victoria Royals, captaining the team and producing 112 points through 71 games, as well as 19 points in 11 play-off games. Despite his late round pedigree, he has found his footing with the Stockton Heat in the AHL quite nicely.
The return on that pick was David Jones, who scored just 4 points (1 coming in the play-offs) in his stint with the Minnesota Wild; a rather weak return should Phillips continue upon his current development trajectory.
Retaining their final pick, the Wild may have found their own diamond in the rough in Dmitry Sokolov, who recently was subject to a chat with the current General Manager, Paul Fenton, who is keen to eventually bring him over from Russia.