Article: Wild Prospect Hunter Haight Crowned Memorial Cup Champion

[Thomas Williams]

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[Protec]

Height has to get into the weight room. You got the Memorial Cup, now gotta start bulking up.

Trying to beat mnfaninnc to the punch. 😄

[mnfaninnc]

Haight had 2 goals and 1 assist in 5 games. I believe the points were all in the Drummondville game. 

Saginaw was the host team and the only team that had not won their league. I guess they got the trophy they really wanted!

Yes, Haight's got to bulk up, he's listed at 5'11" 180. That message should be sent loud and clear when Shooter calls (ed) him to congratulate him on winning the Memorial Cup. 

Haight's got an advantage over some other prospects, he's an RHS. If he can get himself to about 192 this offseason, his body will be NHL ready. Still a little light, but he's on the fringe of an NHL body. 

Now, let's also know the player a little bit. Haight is an extremely skilled player who is very good in tight spaces. He's not going to be a huge hitter, he just needs enough strength to get to home plate, and to dig some pucks out of the corners. I'm not exactly sure about his shot, but he would be a candidate for Ovechkin's office in my book. 

Haight also doesn't have blazing speed. Therefore, along with the weights, he needs to be working with Andy Ness a lot. If I were Brock Faber, I'd be inviting him to MN for the summer.

Congratulations, Hunter. I believe the Spirit gave London the best fight in the playoffs and in this tournament.

[Will D. Ness]

Haight needs to come to the NHL big enough to put Jack McBain on his ass.

[Sam]

3 hours ago, Will D. Ness said:

Haight needs to come to the NHL big enough to put Jack McBain on his ass.

Why just McBain?

[Imyourhuckleberry]

I see Scott Wheeler put out his top 100 on The Athletic. Center Michael Hage now ranked 15th, in the same tier as Iginla, and ahead of Sennecke(#16), Greentree(#19), and Jiricek(#21), which are names I've seen mentioned as possibilities for the Wild.

Wheeler indicates he has a clear top 17 players. We'll see how the draft goes, but Yakemchuk and Brandsegg-Nygard are the 2 guys listed right behind Iginla at #12, so the Wild should have some good options available.

Trevor Connelly is listed at #17, but I don't see him as a Wild player and he's only 160 pounds right now at 6'1". Connelly might be skilled, and he was easily the best player on his USHL team, but that frame seems far from NHL ready.

[Sviginak]

Wheeler has picks 4-11 in Tier 3 and picks 12-17 in Tier 4. Some of the Tier 4 picks have been going top10 in a lot of the drafts. So Tiers 3 and 4 are very close, hard to say what the actual pick order will be. The Wild will get a very good player at 13.

[Will D. Ness]

21 hours ago, Sam said:

Why just McBain?

Haight was the draft pick we got when McBain bailed.

[B1GKappa97]

On 6/4/2024 at 6:54 AM, Imyourhuckleberry said:

Trevor Connelly is listed at #17, but I don't see him as a Wild player and he's only 160 pounds right now at 6'1". Connelly might be skilled, and he was easily the best player on his USHL team, but that frame seems far from NHL ready.

He's also a PoS so hopefully they just pass on the guy. Let him be somebody else's PR nightmare. 

[Imyourhuckleberry]

3 hours ago, B1GKappa97 said:

He's also a PoS so hopefully they just pass on the guy. Let him be somebody else's PR nightmare. 

Possible he is maturing. I was aware he had other issues, which was part of my comment on not seeing him as a Wild player, but decided to focus on the lean frame instead as we've seen that be an issue for many players who were productive at lower levels, but cannot seem to find the same success as they progress towards, and especially once they reach, the NHL.