Gone Puck Wild
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Deadline moves help Minnesota Wild’s present, but at what future cost?

By Tyson McKay

The Minnesota Wild select edJesper Wallstedt at No. 20 during the first round of the 2021 NHL Entry Draft at the NHL Network studios in Secaucus, New Jersey.(Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
The Minnesota Wild select edJesper Wallstedt at No. 20 during the first round of the 2021 NHL Entry Draft at the NHL Network studios in Secaucus, New Jersey.(Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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Second Round

While a significant drop in expected high-caliber players, the second round is full of solid players and is where a lot of teams pick up middle six forwards, bottom four defensemen, and take a few risks on some players that have a higher potential upside. Development of these players is expected to take a little longer and they may see a decent amount of time in the AHL honing their skills.

The Minnesota Wild have made 20 total seconnd round picks with five of them being in the last three years. Vladislav Firstov was a 2019 pick and recently signed a three-year entry level contract that starts next year.

Excluding those five players still developing, Minnesota has managed to produce nine players (60%) that have gone on to play at least 75 NHL games. Only one player managed to reach 1,000 games played:

Nick Schultz: The second pick ever by the Minnesota Wild was this elite defenseman that went on to play 1,069 games, also playing with the Oilers, Blue Jackets, and Flyers. He was recently passed by Jared Spurgeon for the most games played with the Wild by a defenseman (744).

Other notable Wild second rounders include:

Josh Harding, Pat O’Sullivan, Matt Kassian, Marco Scandella, Jason Zucker, Johan Larsson, and Jordan Greenway.

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