Wild Draft Recap; Part Five of Season Review Soon to Come

It’s officially three days before the free agency period starts. The draft is over, the die has been cast on the players that the Minnesota Wild selected and it’s now a waiting game to see how they progress.

But what do they look like initially?

Let’s take a look, shall we?

Round 1, Pick 9 – Mikael Granlund, C, HIFK Finland – I already mentioned what I think about this pick, but let’s just say this—it’s a tremendous pick for a team that is rebuilding, but not rebuilding.

Granlund is a smooth skating, fast player with incredible vision who also plays a lot bigger than his 5’10”, 180-pound frame.

He gets to the puck, he gets to the net and he gets points.

The bottom line is that this kid is going to help the Wild in a big, big way, possibly as soon as next season.

Round 2, Pick 39 – Brett Bulmer, RW, Kelowna Rockets – The Wild went a little off the board with this pick. Bulmer was one of the fastest rising players in terms of his CSS Rankings, skyrocketing himself up to number 65 in the Final Rankings from number 164 in the Midterm Rankings.

He’s a project, to be sure, but he also exhibited a lot of promise in the second half of his season this year.

He proved to be a very quick learner this season in the WHL and plays a pro-style game, even if he is still lacking a bit in the development area. As Kelowna coach Ryan Huska told NHL.com, “He doesn’t say a lot. When we talk to him, it’s yes or no, and then he applies what we tell him.”

While much has yet to be discovered about Bulmer, one thing is for sure. For a project pick, that sort of mentality bodes very, very well.

Round 2, Pick 56 – Johan Larsson, LW, Brynas Jr. – Larson was considered the best player in the world at the Under-18 World Championships this year, leading Sweden to a silver medal.

He has great hockey sense and had a decent season with Brynas this last year.

He scored 34 points in 40 games and he plays with a bit of an edge, tallying 80 penalty minutes in that time. Larsson was ranked 34 in European Skaters by the CSS and has plenty of upside that the Wild can look forward to.

Round 2, Pick 59 – Jason Zucker, LW, US U-18 NTDP – Zucker could easily be considered to be the player that the Wild drafted in the second round with the most upside to him. In fact, the Wild coveted Zucker so much that they traded their third and fourth round picks to the Florida Panthers just so they could select the young winger from Las Vegas.

Zucker has become known as a big game player and has the potential to become a big time goal scorer. He, along with goaltender Jack Campbell, is also one of two players to have won three gold medals in the last year.

In other words, this kid knows how to win.

In addition to his winning experience, Zucker also led the U.S. Developmental Team in goal scoring, with 29 goals.

He’s fast, he’s gritty, he’s competitive and he’s got himself a nasty streak that could translate well to the NHL.

Round 6, Pick 159 – Johan Gustafsson, G, Farjstad Jr. – Many people thought it surprising that Johan Gustafsson fell as far as he did. Former Wild assistant General Manager Tommy Thompson actually had the young Swede rated 44th overall in his rankings.

Gustafsson was a large reason why the Swedish Under 18 team made it to the finals in the U-18 World championships and he is a big, athletic goalie and, more importantly a young player with a great attitude.

It will likely be a few years before Gustafsson is ready to sniff the bigs, but he gives the Wild a fantastic goalie prospect in their organization.

Round 7, Pick 189 – Dylen McKinlay, RW, Chilliwack Bruins – With their last pick of the draft the Wild selected McKinlay, a winger who had a solid second season with the Chilliwack Bruins, totaling 20 goals and 42 points in 72 games with the Bruins.

Overall the Wild had a fantastic draft, in my opinion.

They recognized the need for forwards in their system and used the first two rounds to pick up four forwards that could legitimately make a huge impact on the team down the road.

Fletcher utilized the assets that he had, not to make a splash but to make trades and picks that will have a lasting effect on this franchise. Though I would have liked to see the Wild land a number two center that could help the team immediately, as I’m sure many Wild fans would agree, the trades and draft picks were both extremely shrewd and addressed immediate needs in the organization.

While this draft may not make an immediate impact on the squad, I firmly believe that Wild pundits and fans alike will look back at this draft five or six years down the road and point to this as the start of an organization that is filled with skill and character players from top to bottom.

Overall Grade: A