Dylan Holloway Is A Cautionary Tale For Liam Ohgren

Liam Ohgren’s ready to battle for a full-time spot for the Minnesota Wild. He’s prepared to show general manager Bill Guerin that he’s ready to make an impact in the NHL. However, Ohgren will compete with Marcus Johansson for ice time, and Guerin and head coach John Hynes love Johansson’s game. Guerin recently signed Brett Leason to a Professional Tryout (PTO), and he brings a little more to the table than Justin Brazeau. 

If Leason makes the team, he’ll slot in as the 12th forward, but where will Ohgren fit? If the Wild prioritize Johansson’s veteran play over Ohgren’s development, then the Wild are in danger of Ohgren becoming the next Dylan Holloway. 

The Athletic’s Joe Smith wrote the projected lines for the 2025-26 season, and Ohgren is the 13th forward behind Johansson, whom Guerin and Hynes need to stop obsessing over. 

The Wild have always wanted large, skilled players. Johannson brings elite skating, but he’s not in his 20s anymore. Johansson is 34 years old and isn’t expected to be a better producer. So, why do Guerin and Hynes still obsess over him? It’s not like Johansson is like Mats Zuccarello or Eric Staal. Those veterans made a true top-six impact. 

Johansson has been a polarizing player who was never a top-six player in the NHL like Zuccarello and Staal. Johansson is approaching his 1,000th game with only 17 games left to play. Is it really that important for them to showcase Johansson? The Wild owe him absolutely nothing. The Wild need to develop Ohgren into their version of Holloway. 

The Edmonton Oilers took Holloway 14th overall in the 2020 draft. Below is The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler’s scouting report on Holloway: 

He’s a unique athlete in this class, an outstanding skater, a physical presence, and a talented scorer with a hard wrist shot. I’d expect a breakout season as a sophomore. It wouldn’t surprise me, either, if he quickly becomes an NHL player in the next couple of years, given his A-level skating and advanced physical maturity.

The Wild drafted Ohgren 19th overall in the 2022 draft. Here is Wheeler’s scouting report on him:

His offensive arsenal is multi-faceted, and he’s got some really sneaky craftiness and evasiveness to his game to complement the tools of strength over the puck/through his shot that are obvious.

There are parallels between Holloway and Ohgren. While Holloway’s skating is significantly better than Ohgren’s, Ohgren’s game revolves around asserting his physicality and a heavy shot. Holloway only played 89 games with the Oilers, producing 18 points (9 goals and 9 assists) before they traded him to the St. Louis Blues after he signed an offer sheet in August 2024. 

The Oilers decided not to match their offer sheet. Holloway later came out and said that he’s disappointed that he couldn’t stay in Edmonton, but he’s moving on to show why the Oilers made a mistake in trading him. Guerin needs to avoid making this mistake. 

In Holloway’s first season with the Blues, he showed everyone why he was a first-round prospect. He had a breakout season, scoring 63 points in 77 games played. He finished 3rd in scoring behind Jordan Kyrou (70) and Robert Thomas (81). Holloway quickly became a top-three scorer. I expect Holloway to be a vital piece in St. Louis’ top-six who can play in all situations and be a pain to play against for the Wild. 

Here’s the rest of Holloway’s stats during the 2024-25 season: 

Team rankings

• T-2nd in primary assists 
• 5th in hits 
• T-6th in blocked shots
• 1st in takeaways 
• 3rd in Goals Above Expected (GAE)
• 3rd in Goals Per 60 (G/60) 
• 2nd in Assists Per 60 (A/60)
• 3rd in Points Per 60 (P/60)

League rankings 

• Primary assists: T-71st 
  • Ahead of Kyrou, Dylan Cozens, Alex Ovechkin, Elias Pettersson, Gabriel Vilardi, Tage Thompson, Macklin Celebrini, Brad Marchand, Andrei Svechnikov, JJ Peterka, Matthew Knies, and Kevin Fiala
• Hits: T-49th 
  • Ahead of Trent Federic, Sam Bennett, Adam Lowry, Matt Rempe, Jamie Benn, Ovechkin, and Matthew Tkachuk
• Blocked shots: T-97th 
  • Ahead of Marcus Foligno, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Mika Zibanejad, Sean Couturier, Bennett, Brayden Point, Jordan Staal, Mark Stone, Bo Horvat, and William Karlsson
• Takeaways: T-18th 
  • Ahead of Vincent Trochek, Kyle Connor, Seth Jarvis, Connor McDavid, Nick Suzuki, Ryan O’Reilly, Anze Kopitar, Auston Matthews, Sidney Crosby, Nugent-Hopkins, Mats Zuccarello, Lucas Raymond, and Bennett. 
• GAE: 36th
  • Ahead of Kopitar, John Tavares, Adrian Kempe, Peterka, Kirill Kaprizov, Nikolaj Ehlers, Alex Tuch, Sebastian Aho, Thomas, Martin Necas, Connor Bedard, Tim Stutzle, Mitch Marner, and Nathan MacKinnon
• G/60: T-64th 
  • Ahead of Matevi Michkov, Clayton Keller, Peterka, Bennett, Mikko Rantanen, Aho, Suzuki, Dylan Larkin, Timo Meier, Necas, Celebrini, MacKinnon, Jack Eichel, Marchand, McDavid, and Raymond
• A/60: 46th 
  • Ahead of Aho, Evgeni Malkin, Michkov, Dylan Guenther, Matt Boldy, Celebrini, Benn, Point, Bedard, Tavares, Vilardi, Sam Reinhart, Zuccarello, Pavel Buchnevich, Ovechkin, Pettersson, Seth Jarvis, Jake Guentzel, Larkin, and William Nylander 
• P/60: T-48th 
  • Ahead of Peterka, Alex DeBrincat, Jarvis, Vilardi, Cole Caufield, Michkov, Aho, Celebrini, Boldy, Kopitar, Larkin, Tuch, Brady Tkachuk, Malkin, Marco Rossi, and Fiala

Holloway appears to be trending toward becoming a high-end, two-way top-six forward. Maybe even a star if his production continues to improve. His combination of scoring, playmaking ability, defensive awareness, and physical presence suggests he has the potential to be a core player. If the Blues keep him in a bigger role, he could break out into a Selke-candidate type of player as soon as this season. 

Right now, the Oilers would rather have Holloway than Vasily Podkolzin, Trent Frederic, or Evander Kane (who they later traded to the Vancouver Canucks). Perhaps McDavid would've loved to play with Holloway because he would become Zach Hyman 2.0. Now the Oilers are still looking for secondary scoring to back up McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Nugent-Hopkins. 

The Wild would love a player like Holloway on their team, but they already have Ohgren. Ohgren has the opportunity to produce similarly to Holloway, and he should be placed in a scoring role. Playing him with Zuccarello and Joel Eriksson Ek will help kick-start his breakout season. Giving the Wild three scoring lines. It's time for Guerin to start investing in Ohgren’s growth and stop deferring to Johansson.