By Tony Abbott -
If Judd Brackett, the Minnesota Wild's head scout, has a type, it's "top talents who unexpectedly fall." In 2020, Marco Rossi surprisingly fell to Minnesota's No. 9 overall spot, where he snatched up the high-end center prospect. 2021 saw Jesper Wallstedt drop from a potential top-10 pick into the 20s, where Brackett moved up to grab the (supposedly) consensus top goalie. Then came Danila Yurov dropping to Pick 24 in 2022. Then in 2023, he got Riley Heidt, who most in the public thought was a first-round pick, at the very end of the second round.
So when thinking of who the Wild might pick at the No. 13 slot, it might be best to ask: Which high-end prospect is most likely to fall into Brackett's lap?
Most mock drafts see the Wild picking a player outside of the upper echelon on Elite Prospects' Consolidated Draft List. ESPN pegs Konsta Helenius as the Wild's pick (10th on the CDL), while Sportsnet is projecting Minnesota to get Carter Yakemchuk (13th), and NHL.com's writers predict a big defensemen in Adam Jiricek or Stian Solberg (18th and a rising 38th).
Any of those could well be the names the Wild call on later this month, and it wouldn't be surprising to see any of them available for Minnesota in that spot. But for the moment, let's try to look beyond the probable and view this class through the lens of Brackett the Dreamer, the Opportunist. What's the big fish that might fall to No. 13 this year?
Berkly Catton fits this bill for the ideal Brackett pick. He combines the raw skill and staggering production that has been a trademark of Brackett's top forward prospects, while also adding a missing element to the organization.
While the Wild have injected much more skill into their group of young players with Rossi, Yurov, Heidt, Liam Öhgren, and Matt Boldy in recent years, these players tend to lack a crucial element: Speed. We're not talking about being able to skate at an NHL level here; we're talking about speed. Hot, nasty, badass speed. Catton would bring those kind of jets to Minnesota.
Just how hot, nasty, and badass are Catton's feet? He earned a "7" Grade on Elite Prospects' "2-9" scale, and he ranked as the fourth-best straight-line skater in the draft behind forwards Macklin Celebrini and Jett Luchanko. For The Athletic's Corey Pronman, he is one of just two prospects (the other being a 5-foot-7 prospect Alexander Zetterberg) to earn a projection of "High-End" NHL skating in this class.
Count Scott Wheeler of The Athletic as yet another fan of Catton's wheels. "He's a smooth, fast, and nimble high-end skater," says Wheeler. He thrives in tight spaces and on cutbacks, he can play on the perimeter or take it to the net, and... he draws a lot of penalties with his skating."
This arguably hasn't been the skill set of a Wild player since Kevin Fiala was still in town. Sure, Kirill Kaprizov is a good skater, but not because of top-end speed. Kaprizov is so powerful on his edges that he can maneuver around defenders and the net while not sacrificing his ability to make plays. Catton has that Kaprizov-like ability on his edges but can (and will) just blow by anyone, especially when you see how his hands and feet work in concert.
"Catton makes a ton of difficult plays on the move and has a lot of pace in his game," notes Pronman. "[He's] a master at scoring goals in motion," raves Elite Prospects' Cam Robinson on Twitter. Wheeler quotes Stefan Legein, one of his coaches with the Spokane Chiefs, saying "When he has the puck, he can really toy with guys."
The numbers don't lie. Despite playing on a Chiefs squad that finished 16th of 22 teams in the WHL, Catton had a season for the record books. He finished the year with 54 goals and 116 points in 68 games, making for a 1.71 points per game average that is behind only Connor Bedard, Sam Reinhart, and 2023 draftee Andrew Cristall as the best scoring pace from a draft-eligible player this century. Some of the competition Catton eclipsed include Seth Jarvis (1.69 points per game), Leon Draisaitl (1.64), Evander Kane (1.57), and then Heidt from last season (1.43).
"Every night, every coach was gameplanning to stop him specifically, and he still scored over 50 goals... while killing penalties and playing a premium position," an NHL scout told Elite Prospects. "Don't overthink this one, he's a top prospect."
But this is the NHL, which loves to overthink things, and that gives Brackett an outside shot at getting one of the draft's most dynamic players at a lower pick... again.
At 5-foot-10, it's reasonable for scouts to think he might not stick at center. Maybe he does, or maybe he transfers to the wing like Kyle Connor did once upon a time. If this is the consensus opinion of NHL scouts, Catton might get passed over in favor of players who play premium positions. Cayden Lindstrom, for one, is a center who has an NHL-ready 6-foot-3 frame. Then there's the fact that there are a half-dozen high-end defensemen ready to come off the board in the draft's top 15 picks. Even if it's not terribly likely, it's not hard to see a run on defensemen pushing Catton down the board.
Or maybe it's more likely than we think. Bob McKenzie's draft rankings are essentially a snapshot of what the scouting community thinks as a whole. Catton sat at 11th in his class in that poll, released on May 6. That's not very far of a fall to get to the Wild at No. 13...
If so, it'll be hard to imagine that Hockey Wilderness, or anyone else, has to tell Brackett to grab a highly-skilled, speedy kid with good character. At that point, it'd be a shock if he wasn't skipping to the podium in Las Vegas to grab his next Rossi, Yurov, or Heidt-style draft steal.
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