With the 2022 NHL Draft and Free Agent frenzy over with, Minnesota Wild hockey fans have officially entered the longest part of the offseason, where there is usually very little to look forward to until the beginning of the next year.
Fortunately this year the COVID-delayed World Junior Championship begins on Aug. 9 and will feature an array of Wild prospects to cheer on.
The cap-strapped Wild had little room in their budget for any big signings and are more likely to coast through this offseason, perhaps acquiring a middle-six player on a deal or potentially a trade.
Looking at the roster for next year the Wild only have $2.56 million in cap space if you include Marco Rossi as a roster player. Yet what they lack in money they make up for in young talent.
Recently ranked first overall in NHL prospect pool strength by Byron Bader of Hockey Prospecting, the Minnesota Wild will have their prospects spread across many participating teams, with a range of forwards, defense and even a goalie competing for gold.
NHL TEAM PROSPECT POOL STRENGTH RANKINGS (JULY 2022 - POST DRAFT) pic.twitter.com/45y2t91y8Q
— Byron Bader (@ByronMBader) July 19, 2022
Worth noting is that the teams have been allowed to alter their rosters from the ones submitted for the cancelled tournament and even with a large number of prospects in the mix, Wild fans won’t be able to see all their prospects.
The Czechia forward Pavel Novak will be unable to participate due to health issues, and highly touted Russian prospects Marat Khusnutdinov and Danil Yurov are ineligible due to the IIHF suspending Team Russia from the tournament.
A total of nine Wild prospects have made their home Countries rosters, here is who Minnesota Wild fans should be cheering for:
(All stats collected from IIHF and Elite Prospects)