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By Luke Sims -
Since 2014, the Minnesota Wild have selected in the top ten of the NHL Draft the same number of times they’ve advanced past the first round of the NHL playoffs. Once. Still, according to The Athletic's Scott Wheeler, the Wild have the second-best prospect pool.
How does that happen?
The other teams with Wheeler’s top prospect pools have been at the bottom of the standings for years. Teams like the Chicago Blackhawks, San Jose Sharks, and Montreal Canadiens have all enjoyed the luxury (or misery) of selecting in the top ten and often top five almost every year.
Marco Rossi in 2020 was Minnesota’s only top-ten selection, and he just graduated from being a prospect. Therefore, he no longer factors into the prospect pool rankings. So, how does the Wild have the second-best prospect pool?
Two words: Judd Brackett.
Bill Guerin hired Brackett away from the Vancouver Canucks after the Wild fired Paul Fenton before the 2020 draft. Brackett is responsible for drafting Brock Boeser (Round 1, Pick 23), Thatcher Demko (Round 2, Pick 36), Elias Pettersson (Round 1, Pick 5), and Quinn Hughes (Round 1, Pick 7) in Vancouver.
Those players became cornerstones in Vancouver. However, Brackett has had to be even savvier in Minnesota to create one of the league’s best prospect pools.
Let’s start at the top.
Zeev Buium
Minnesota landed Wheeler’s second-best prospect in a trade with the Philadelphia Flyers. The Wild gave up their third-round pick in the 2025 draft to move up one spot from 13 to 12 and snag the left-handed defenseman.
Buium was the fifth defenseman taken in the draft. However, given how he’s played at the University of Denver and on the international stage, he should have been the first. Buium helped lead the U.S. National Team to Gold at the 2024 World Junior Championships and has helped Denver defend their NCAA title.
He has improved his game from last season when he broke the freshman record for points as an NCAA defenseman. The San Diego native has 33 points through 28 games as a sophomore. He’ll look to join Minnesota’s roster after the college hockey season ends.
Danila Yurov
After trading Kevin Fiala, the Wild also acquired Yurov, the second-best prospect in their system.
Minnesota traded Fiala to the Los Angeles Kings in June 2022, bringing back Brock Faber and the 19th overall pick. The Wild used L.A.’s first-round pick to take Liam Öhgren, another stud prospect in Minnesota’s system who Wheeler ranked fifth.
After taking Öhgren, the Wild used their own pick to take Yurov with the 24th overall pick. The flexibility of having the 19th pick to complement their own pick at 24 allowed the Wild to take a swing on the Russian forward. Given how complicated it is to bring over Russian prospects and the geopolitical climate, Yurov fell right to Minnesota late in the first round.
Brackett gambled on Yurov, and it has paid off handsomely. Yurov was the best player on a team that won the Gargin Cup, the KHL version of the Stanley Cup. He should arrive in America next season.
Earlier this season, the Wild acquired the 6’4” Czech defenseman in a trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets. He’s got a huge shot and the size to be a top-four defender. That’s why Columbus made him the sixth overall selection in 2022.
The Wild gave up their best left-handed defensive defender, Daemon Hunt, and multiple picks, including this year's first-rounder. While that seems like a steep price for a guy who could not crack Columbus’s roster, Minnesota took a wise risk. In six games with the Wild, Jiříček showed his value, recording a goal and an assist.
Minnesota got good value in the Jiříček trade. The Wild’s first-round pick will likely fall in the late first because they should make the playoffs. It’s unlikely that a player with Jiricek’s upside will be available in the late 20s.
Hunt was a solid prospect in the Wild’s system and a crucial cog in Iowa’s defensive core. Still, he was a left-handed shot, making him expendable. The Wild already have Jacob Middleton and Jonas Brodin in their top four, and Buium should take a spot soon. The Wild don’t have the spot for Hunt in the future, making him more valuable as a trade piece.
The Wild have aggressively added their three top prospects. Without Judd Brackett’s scouting expertise, phone calls, and some virtual handshakes, the Wild wouldn’t have a high-end prospect pool.
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