Article: Danila Yurov Is Passing His First Test

[Neil Urbanski]

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[NoJoSux]

No reason to rag on Yurov, I think he will develop into a good NHL player. 

Still makes ya wish the Wild would get a top pick when you see Celebrini and Bedard piling up hat-tricks at the NHL level while being twenty years old. 

Hopefully as Yurov gains confidence he can add more production. The Wild need all the help they can get to escape their early season struggles. It's one thing when Edmonton starts slow every year. For MN, with their best guys being a Fentonism and a Fletcher-Flyer from the fifth round, it's easy to be left wondering about the Wild and whether they'll ever win a number one selection when a Barkov, Stamkos, Celebrini, McKenna type player could go to them.  

[Quebec1648]

28 minutes ago, NoJoSux said:

No reason to rag on Yurov, I think he will develop into a good NHL player. 

Still makes ya wish the Wild would get a top pick when you see Celebrini and Bedard piling up hat-tricks at the NHL level while being twenty years old. 

Hopefully as Yurov gains confidence he can add more production. The Wild need all the help they can get to escape their early season struggles. It's one thing when Edmonton starts slow every year. For MN, with their best guys being a Fentonism and a Fletcher-Flyer from the fifth round, it's easy to be left wondering about the Wild and whether they'll ever win a number one selection when a Barkov, Stamkos, Celebrini, McKenna type player could go to them.  

The Oilers had a lot of top 10 draft picks and even top 5 picks that ended up being draft busts. Year after year they had High picks and flopped. They got lucky with McDavid and Draisaitl. The Sabres also have a lot of experience with drafting high and going nowhere.

Assuming the Wild owner was willing to go the rebuild route, would you trust the Wild front office to draft and develope that #1 pick?

[Dango]

1 hour ago, NoJoSux said:

No reason to rag on Yurov, I think he will develop into a good NHL player. 

Still makes ya wish the Wild would get a top pick when you see Celebrini and Bedard piling up hat-tricks at the NHL level while being twenty years old. 

Hopefully as Yurov gains confidence he can add more production. The Wild need all the help they can get to escape their early season struggles. It's one thing when Edmonton starts slow every year. For MN, with their best guys being a Fentonism and a Fletcher-Flyer from the fifth round, it's easy to be left wondering about the Wild and whether they'll ever win a number one selection when a Barkov, Stamkos, Celebrini, McKenna type player could go to them.  

Since the the Wild came in to the league theve had 1 -3rd overall pick  in the top 3 no 1sts no 2nds the Blackhawks have had 7 picks 3rd overall or higher ..

[1Brotherbill]

1 hour ago, Quebec1648 said:

The Oilers had a lot of top 10 draft picks and even top 5 picks that ended up being draft busts. Year after year they had High picks and flopped. They got lucky with McDavid and Draisaitl. The Sabres also have a lot of experience with drafting high and going nowhere.

Assuming the Wild owner was willing to go the rebuild route, would you trust the Wild front office to draft and develope that #1 pick?

Yes!  Every player that the Wild has drafted in the top 15 of the draft has been good.  Don't believe me look it up.  When they draft were they normally draft they tend to take shots at players that either have fallen or have potential to develop which they never do.  Buium, Rossi, Boldy, Kunin, Dumba, Brodin, Granlund, Sheppard, Pouliot, Thelen, Bouchard, Koivu, Gaborik were the Wild's top 15 picks of the 13 two were bad and two were ok the rest were good.  The bottom half of the draft the Wild took, Burns, Gillies, Cuma, Leddy, Phillips, Tuch, Ek, Johansson, Wallstedt, Lambos, Ohgren, Yurov, Stramel, these players didn't amount to much in the Wild uniform as a whole.  Some didn't even play a single NHL game.  Burns, Leddy and Tuch shinned elsewhere. Ek, Wallstedt, Yurov, and maybe Ohgren have shown or show the potential of being good.

I would say the organization would pick a really good player if they drafted in the top 5.  Reason being that they have few options to mess things up when you draft at the top.   

[Pablo]

The Wild are developing a LOT of talent. Its young and they are going to have a bg group of guys hit their prime together in the next few years. We get two more recent draft picks to hit star status by ‘28 and draft 1 more surprise top 6 guy… we will be making cup run after cup run into the 30’s.  Just gotta hit on a FA/trade acquisition every year or two also.  Billy G has the money. Someone shove a horse shoe up where we need it to be! 

[Imyourhuckleberry]

They weren't incredibly crafty passes, but Yurov being in the right place and using his stick to move the puck to teammates got him 2 assists in his first game on the top line. Kaprizov and Zuccarello make it much easier to get some points, but Yurov continues to do the right things as well.

Also, I knew the Wild were missing Zuccarello quite a bit, but I wasn't expecting a 7-game points streak(in the standings) where they'd earn 13 points immediately upon his return. That's fun hockey!

Wild are now 10th in points% in the West, but tied with the 4th place team in points, right on the cusp of playoff position. It was just the first 9 games that were really bad for the Wild. Since then, they have earned points at a top 5 pace(.708), and in November, it's been at the 2nd best pace(.833).

If they continue earning at least 60% of available points along the way, that should get them back to playoff hockey by the end of the year.

[Pewterschmidt]

40 minutes ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

They weren't incredibly crafty passes, but Yurov being in the right place and using his stick to move the puck to teammates got him 2 assists in his first game on the top line.

Agree. I call this hockey sense and the kid seems to have it.  Seems like his motor is good too.  And he didn’t grip the stick all night worrying about failure.  Kid passed his first big test!!

[mnfaninnc]

16 hours ago, Dango said:

Since the the Wild came in to the league theve had 1 -3rd overall pick  in the top 3 no 1sts no 2nds the Blackhawks have had 7 picks 3rd overall or higher ..

This includes some very bad Blackhawk teams, but with those stats, it just adds fuel to the fire that the lottery system is rigged. 

Of course it is in the best interests of the NHL to have young star players in large markets. So, for the draft lottery, there is definitely a conflict of interest for teams like Chicago or NY area to get a "lottery" win. This all means that with a market like the Twin Cities, it's a lottery loss. What's the point? Even if we are bad enough, somehow the league will figure out a way to withhold the 1st overall pick from a small market team when a "generational" talent is perceived to be in that draft. 

If one of those guys is not in the draft, then Buffalo has a decent shot at getting the 1st overall pick. I do believe that the lottery evidence supports this theory, but have no idea how Edmonton got so many shots at it. This looks to be the exception. 

[mnfaninnc]

2 hours ago, Pewterschmidt said:

Agree. I call this hockey sense and the kid seems to have it.  Seems like his motor is good too.  And he didn’t grip the stick all night worrying about failure.  Kid passed his first big test!!

I didn't get to see him, but the stat line says he played well. The thing I notice about him is he has very quick acceleration to put himself where he needs to be quickly. He also has not just a strong stick, but a very nice passing touch when it's available. Some guys just throw pucks at the teammates, but Yurov's passes seem to be on target without rolling the puck. 

While Yurov isn't tiny, he isn't big except for his lower body. When he makes contact with an opponent, he's solid and you can see the big butt. I think it surprises other players. 

Now, what is odd about this is he's taken a few picks behind Ohgren. Why doesn't OgZ have the same sense as Yurov? I also think Yurov has 1 more item that is unnoticed: He makes his linemates better. That's one thing you want in a center!

[Neil Urbanski]

12 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

, it just adds fuel to the fire that the lottery system is rigged. 

I believe that 13 different franchises have had the first overall pick in the last 20 seasons. So, that's nearly half the league. 

[mnfaninnc]

This is a very small sample size, but it was against a really good Carolina team. Yurov pops 2 assists. People were complaining that in big games, Rossi had a stat line of 0s. So, what do we do with this?

I'm not ready to insert Yurov onto line 1 full time yet, but if line 1 is struggling during a game, if I'm Hynes, I tend to remember this success and am now more likely to include Yurov in my line blender. 

I noticed something coming into this stretch, the Foligno-Yurov-Trenin line performed real well as a 4th line. When Yurov got bumped up, Hynes reunited these linemates to the 3rd line and bumped Hinostroza down to the 4th. Yurov's line still played well as they pummeled the Ducks and Golden Knights. 

So, what happens when Sturm is ready? Could Yurov center a line with Hinostroza and Hartman on the wings? Or could he center something with Tarasenko on his wing? To me, Hartman and Hinostroza play better when paired together. If you put these 3 on a line, Hartman could take faceoffs on his strong side and Yurov on his. 

 

[raithis]

1 hour ago, Neil Urbanski said:

I believe that 13 different franchises have had the first overall pick in the last 20 seasons. So, that's nearly half the league. 

You're kidding right?

With a few exceptions, most of those teams are from larger markets.

Also with a few exceptions almost every single one of those teams is from the Eastern Conference.  Throw out Edmonton and only Saint Louis, Chicago, Colorado, and San Jose have gotten first overall in the entire Western Conference in the last 35 years.

Western Conference teams can be perennially bad and never get 1st overall.  An Eastern Conference team can miss the playoffs for a year or two and will "defy the odds" getting first (or second).  This seems to be especially true of larger markets in the East or Original 6 teams.

I don't know that the lottery is fully rigged, but it definitely seems like the league has the deck stacked in their favor in certain teams so they can draw more revenue from those markets.

[Neil Urbanski]

58 minutes ago, raithis said:

You're kidding right?

 

I was not kidding when I merely stated a fact. 

Since 1995, when the draft lottery started, worst team in the league was from the Western Conference 7 times. The Western Conference has 9 first overall picks over that time (Edmonton 4x, Chicago 2x, Colorado, St. Louis, San Jose). 

That's all I'm saying.

Edit: Actually, the Western Conference would have had 10 #1 picks of that time, b/c San Jose won the first pick in 1998, but owed the pick the Tampa: https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/draftcentre/nhl-draft-lottery-history-1.236014

[FredJohnson]

Danila Yurov Is Passing His First Test

But he didn't earn first line minutes! - Anthony Lapanta

[PiranhasOnIce]

"Now, what is odd about this is he's taken a few picks behind Ohgren. Why doesn't OgZ have the same sense as Yurov?"

Yurov dropped like a stone based on the Ukraine invasion as I recall. He was a top 5 rated talent for his draft class I believe. 

[Burnt Toast]

7 hours ago, raithis said:

the lottery

Isn’t the lottery not even a live event in front of people? I mean if it isn’t it isn’t legitimate IMO. If it is done live in front of some accountants or something then ya it’s probably legit. 

[Burnt Toast]

On 11/19/2025 at 8:44 PM, Pablo said:

The Wild are developing a LOT of talent

What I can’t figure out is if there’s a set salary cap shouldn’t the teams with the best overall value on every contract be at the top of the league? If not then the mid to low tier players must not be pulling their weight. 

[Neil Urbanski]

22 minutes ago, Burnt Toast said:

What I can’t figure out is if there’s a set salary cap shouldn’t the teams with the best overall value on every contract be at the top of the league?

It's an interesting question. A lot of those contract value outcomes are determined based on rates (xG%, GSAx, etc.) and the expected outcomes of those rates, instead of on actual outcomes. I think the reason for this is that actual outcomes can vary widely due to numerous factors, so rates (in theory) can tell you how a player is actually playing.

I'd be curious to see a study that breaks down actual contract value based strictly on actual output, and then compares that to team results. I'm sure there are some out there. I wonder though, if the results would be much different. 

[Mateo3xm]

On 11/19/2025 at 6:28 PM, Quebec1648 said:

The Oilers had a lot of top 10 draft picks and even top 5 picks that ended up being draft busts. Year after year they had High picks and flopped. They got lucky with McDavid and Draisaitl. The Sabres also have a lot of experience with drafting high and going nowhere.

Assuming the Wild owner was willing to go the rebuild route, would you trust the Wild front office to draft and develope that #1 pick?

How on earth did they get lucky? They were basically bad for long enough till some generational talent came along and they got them. What are you actually trying to imply? The oilers got two of the best players in the world arguably and they came within one game of winning a Stanley cup. Thats farther than we have ever been and ever will get if we don’t do a rebuild at some point.

To put it into perspective, the oilers and the Sabers are notoriously known as some of the worst managed franchises in the entire nhl and one of them made it to the Stanley Cup finals. The Buffalo sabers probably could have won a Cup if they didn’t trade their elite players before they hit their prime. Below are players the Sabers drafted but traded away: Eichel, Reinhart, Ullmark, Brandon Hagel, Casey Mittlstadt, Cozens, Peterka..Below are some players they had on the team but didn’t draft: Ryan O’Reilly, Brandon Montour, Taylor Hall etc. There’s a lot more.

The Wild aren’t a poorly managed team other than the fact they refuse to do a rebuild. They are far more competent than Edm or Buffalo. If we drafted a Bedard, Celebrini, Carlsson, Jack Hughes even a Fantilli. Those players basically develop themselves. They’re elite and basically NHL ready as is. Some may take a little longer to develop but they usually get where they’re suppose to be based on their all around skill and history of elite play.

[raithis]

15 hours ago, Burnt Toast said:

Isn’t the lottery not even a live event in front of people? I mean if it isn’t it isn’t legitimate IMO. If it is done live in front of some accountants or something then ya it’s probably legit. 

The first time it was done live was 2025.  Prior to that it was done behind closed doors and the results were aired later.

[Up North Guy]

18 hours ago, PiranhasOnIce said:

"Now, what is odd about this is he's taken a few picks behind Ohgren. Why doesn't OgZ have the same sense as Yurov?"

Yurov dropped like a stone based on the Ukraine invasion as I recall. He was a top 5 rated talent for his draft class I believe. 

Also, the Wild were pretty sure that they could get him with their second Rd 1 pick so they used the first on Ogz.

[Quebec1648]

11 hours ago, Mateo3xm said:

 

How on earth did they get lucky? They were basically bad for long enough till some generational talent came along and they got them. What are you actually trying to imply? The oilers got two of the best players in the world arguably and they came within one game of winning a Stanley cup. Thats farther than we have ever been and ever will get if we don’t do a rebuild at some point.

To put it into perspective, the oilers and the Sabers are notoriously known as some of the worst managed franchises in the entire nhl and one of them made it to the Stanley Cup finals. The Buffalo sabers probably could have won a Cup if they didn’t trade their elite players before they hit their prime. Below are players the Sabers drafted but traded away: Eichel, Reinhart, Ullmark, Brandon Hagel, Casey Mittlstadt, Cozens, Peterka..Below are some players they had on the team but didn’t draft: Ryan O’Reilly, Brandon Montour, Taylor Hall etc. There’s a lot more.

The Wild aren’t a poorly managed team other than the fact they refuse to do a rebuild. They are far more competent than Edm or Buffalo. If we drafted a Bedard, Celebrini, Carlsson, Jack Hughes even a Fantilli. Those players basically develop themselves. They’re elite and basically NHL ready as is. Some may take a little longer to develop but they usually get where they’re suppose to be based on their all around skill and history of elite play.

I say the Oilers got lucky, because all the previous top 5 picks before McDavid were huge failures. They kept drafting guys in the top 10 who flopped big time. McDavid was so talented, that even the Oilers couldn't mess things up. 

[NoJoSux]

Nuthin wrong with having Yurov and I'd like him with Tarasenko and Hartman.

What I really woulda liked is if Guerin/Brackett took Jackson Blake instead of Peart or some other guy. 

Ogie has some abilities but creating or driving play isn't really one of them. Foligno 2.0 is the feeling I get. Yurov might have some getting comfortable yet to do but hasn't shown an inate scoring touch. He's had some decent chances in the past few games and isn't getting the tucks, you'd like to see. In tight 1v1 against the goalie, he has kinda shot the puck just okayish. A little more deliberate or poised in those situations and he'd have another goal or two just in the last two games. 

 

[Willy the poor boy]

1 hour ago, NoJoSux said:

Nuthin wrong with having Yurov and I'd like him with Tarasenko and Hartman.

What I really woulda liked is if Guerin/Brackett took Jackson Blake instead of Peart or some other guy. 

Ogie has some abilities but creating or driving play isn't really one of them. Foligno 2.0 is the feeling I get. Yurov might have some getting comfortable yet to do but hasn't shown an inate scoring touch. He's had some decent chances in the past few games and isn't getting the tucks, you'd like to see. In tight 1v1 against the goalie, he has kinda shot the puck just okayish. A little more deliberate or poised in those situations and he'd have another goal or two just in the last two games. 

 

Nice to see how comfortable Boldy has gotten in tight situations this year.