By Ben Remington -
NHL Draft season is truly upon us, and to celebrate, I scouted 12 players that I thought could land with the Minnesota Wild at pick 24, if they feel so inclined to keep it.
I researched several sources and hopefully guessed right when it's all said and done. I was trying to make something incredibly fan-friendly, player bios that were short and to the point, without too much jargon or stats, but with real questions that fans might have framed in a way that's fun and easy.
Something that goes down smooth, but still had good flavor, if you will.
This year's 12 pack was truly a sampler, as we had five Canadians, three Swedes, a Finn, a German, a Russian and an American. Given the general dearth of depth in the Wild farm system, I tried to even the positions out. So I featured four centers, four wings and four defensemen. But the differences didn't end there.
I also got a smattering of certain draft archetypes: the classic risk-reward, the classic safe pick and the kid who might be somewhere in between. That's the fun of the draft for me; each player is so different. Even players who have similar skill sets can have completely different circumstances or futures based on infinite variables.
Draft coverage isn't for everyone, but hopefully you'll get at least a fraction as much hooked on the draft as I am. I really enjoy the speculation, and watching the NHL Draft without knowing anything about any of these kids would probably drive me nuts.
Hopefully through these articles, you may find your own favorite, or at least understand the lay of the land a bit more when the Wild come to the podium Friday night. We'll see if I managed to throw enough darts to hit on who they ultimately end up with.
C Isac Lundestrom - Lauded for his all-around play against top competition, and still talented enough to justify taking in the first round of the draft because of his offensive upside.
C Ryan McLeod - A speedster with a pedigree, McLeod is a name at the end of everyone's first-round mock drafts. But should he be going higher?
C Akil Thomas - A bit of a decently skilled but scrappy producer, it'll be interesting to see where his talents versus his knack for production land him in the draft.
C Ty Dellandrea - A little bit of a darkhorse from the OHL, but I like his game, and especially the nickname I gave him.
LW Grigori Denisenko - The lone Russian on the List, and perhaps the Wild are willing to draft a Russian higher than the 5th round now? It's been going so well for them, you know.
RW Dominik Bokk - Bokk is about to do what very few Germans in the history of the game has done by being selected in the first round. A personal favorite.
RW Jesse Ylonen - An NHL legacy pick, the Arizona-born, Finnish-raised Ylonen was mocked by The Athletic to go to the Wild at 24.
RW Jonatan Breggren - Another personal favorite, a player it was hard not to like due to his playing style, which led to an eyebrow-raising Wild comp.
D K'Andre Miller - The lone American, and wouldn't you know it? He's Minnesotan. It'll be interesting to see if they go American heavy as they had in previous drafts, this would be a good starting point.
D Ryan Merkley - A little bit of a bad boy by reputation, but has tons of talent to go with that baggage. Fenton has ignored red flags on his draft board as recently as last year.
D Rasmus Sandin - The classic steady Scandinavian defender, which wouldn't be a sexy pick for the Wild, but it's hard to argue they couldn't use another one.
D Jared McIsaac - An interesting two-way defender from Nova Scotia, I wrestled with including him rather than a few other names, but loved what I saw in his game film.
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