2022 NHL Mock Draft: Wild select Gleb Trikozov with no. 24 pick

The SB Nation NHL Mock Draft is underway and instead of trying to trade away the Minnesota Wild’s pick and writing a weird and fake trade post, trying to balance the tightrope between making it sound real and making sure people know it is not real, we decided to make the pick!

And with the 24th selection in the draft, we at Hockey Wilderness decided to take a sort of dark horse first-rounder and nab Russian forward Gleb Trikozov. It might be your first time reading his name, or the hundredth, but Trikozov is beloved by a wide array of online scouts that pour over footage like it is their day job without being their day job. Maybe it’s a pick made to just look smarter than we actually are about prospects, but whatever.

The similarity between a certain Kirill Kaprizov in his draft year, seven years ago, is a little jarring. They are both forwards that have not been given the credit by national media as a potential first-rounder, but others seem to think that if everything hits right, they can be a star. It was the same thing with Kaprizov in 2015 — some wanted their team to draft him in the first round, but he dropped all the way to the fifth.

Draft similarities to a Wild star aside, Trikozov just seems like a good prospect you might as well take a swing at.

Pre-Draft Rankings

Elite Prospects: #22
FCHockey: #15
McKeen’s: #26
Bob McKenzie (TSN): #57
Craig Button (TSN): #43
NHL Central Scouting: #15 (EU Skaters)
Scott Wheeler (The Athletic): #65

Again, some publications that use a little bit more data and will go to bat for a lesser known talent, seem to love Trikozov as a first-round selection. It is not the safest of picks, but where the Wild are right now, they might as well take someone with a higher ceiling than most.

The Rundown

Position: F
Vitals: 6’1”, 185 lbs
Team: Omskie Yastreby (MHL)
Statistics: 23 G, 22 A in 35 GP

Trikozov has the potential to be one of the better forwards taken in this draft; but that’s all it is, potential. If you believe that teams should just shoot for the moon on players no matter what, then you must love this pick, but if you want to opt for more professional guarantees (like a Seamus Casey in this spot, for example) then it might not be your preferred selection.

But all it might take is to hear from a very smart analyst just what exactly the prospect with an August birthday — which makes him one of the youngest available players in this draft, and that matters — has done all season long.

If you take anything away from the video (or you do not want to watch it, Trikozov had better production in the MHL (the Russian junior league) in his draft year than Artemi Panarin and only Nikita Kucherov had a higher points per game among players that appeared in at least 30 games. Just an insane amount of production that goes along with stellar underlying and transition numbers.

This is a fun pick, so you might as well go for it, but we can imagine that the Wild would prefer to not go through another contract negotiation with a prospect overseas.

Previously on the SB Nation Mock Draft: