The Minnesota Wild have one of the deepest prospect groups in the NHL, and after last summer’s draft, they might have improved their stock even more if Adam Benak’s first week in the OHL is any indication. The 2025 fourth-round pick made his debut for the Brantford Bulldogs a memorable one.
In his first game with the Bulldogs he casually put up three assists as Brantford built a 6-1 lead over Sudbury. Then, shorthanded in the third period, Benak scored his first OHL goal, and it was nothing if not spectacular.
Oh my goodness gracious, indeed.
The 18-year-old rather casually went between the legs to beat the goaltender on a breakaway to cap off a four-point night. After being held off of the scoresheet against Peterborough to kick off last weekend's set of matches, he bounced back with a goal and an assist in a 4-3 loss to Windsor on the next night. His goal in that one came on the power play with under three minutes to go in the game and earned Brantford a point.
Through his first three games with Brantford, Benak has 6 points (2 goals, 4 assists) with both of his goals coming on special teams. That currently puts him third on the team in points behind Caleb Malhotra (9) and Cooper Dennis (7). While Benak's overall face-off percentage is just 44%, the second selection in the 2025 CHL Import has won more than half of his draws in two of the three games.
The 5’8” forward was one of the standouts in the Wild’s prospect showcase prior to training camp and he is showing the dynamic offense that intrigued Minnesota prior to them selecting him with the 102nd pick in the draft. Had he been a few inches taller, Benak would likely have gone in the first round, but the Wild, who are no strangers to shorter players, were more than happy that he fell to them three rounds later.
After playing with HC Plzen as a 17-year-old in 2023-24, Benak came over to North America in 2024-25 and spent one season with the Youngstown Phantoms in the USHL where he put up 59 points (17 goals, 42 assists) in 56 games. While many Europeans who come over for one season in the USHL opt for a U.S. collegiate hockey program, Benak went the CHL route and was drafted by Brantford.
Based on his size, he’s going to have to show the Wild and the rest of hockey that he can score at an exceptional rate in juniors, and then carry that production over to professional hockey. He’ll likely spend the next couple of seasons with the Bulldogs before making the leap to pro hockey, but so far he’s shown that he’s capable of producing against his peers.
It wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see him cracking the top-five of Wild prospects in future rundowns of the team’s pipeline. Could he get to the top? It’s a very talented group of young players, but from what he’s shown so far, it’s not out of the realm of possibility.