Which Wild Prospects Just Missed Out On Wheeler's Top-15?

Every year, Scott Wheeler does tremendous work covering over 500 NHL prospects for The Athletic and ranking the strength of their prospect pool. 

The Minnesota Wild added emerging top prospect Zeev Buium in last year’s draft and traded for big right-handed defenseman David Jiricek. Therefore, the Wild are a winning team and also have Wheeler’s second-best prospect pool. 

Wheeler ranks the top 15 prospects and gives an in-depth analysis of each, including projections and possibilities for each player. With the strength of the Wild’s pool, some notable players just missed the cut. 

Caeden Bankier, C, 22, Iowa Wild 

Bankier spent the last two years developing in Iowa. He’s a natural center that plays a strong two-way game. Last year, The Athletic’s Corey Pronman had Bankier ranked as his sixth-best player in the Wild’s prospect pool. While I’m not as bullish on Bankier as Wheeler, I feel as though Bankier deserved to be among the top 15 of the Wild’s prospect pool. 

He has 21 points in 45 games with Iowa, only two fewer points than he had in 51 games last season. I would have liked to see a little more of an offensive improvement in his second year, but he won’t be a star offensive contributor to make Minnesota’s roster. 

At 6-foot-2, 192 lbs., Bankier has the size to be an NHL player and projects to have a bottom-six role. He doesn’t have the skill to be a top-six player, but he’s responsible and smart on both ends of the ice. 

While Bankier’s stock has fallen slightly, I’d still expect him to get games in the NHL as early as next season. 

Rasmus Kumpulainen, C, 19, Lahti Pelicans 

Kumpulainen is a curious case. He started strongly in his first season of professional hockey in the Liiga, with two goals in his first career game. That’s rare for teenagers in the best Finnish League. He's playing against grown men, but Kumpulainen looked to be building off of the success he had in his one season with Oshawa in the OHL. 

However, Kumpulainen only has 11 points in 37 Liiga games. That’s understandable, given his age, but not what you’d like to see from a player who started the year so well. Kumpulainen is a skilled 6-foot-2, 200 lbs. player, which is why the Wild took him 53rd overall in 2023. 

We won’t know what kind of player Kumpulainen will be for a while. He could figure it out, blow up, and be on pace to play NHL games again in the next few years. But at this point, we need to see how he finishes the season. Perhaps the Wild will try to get Kumpulainen in Iowa to get a closer look at him next year. 

Jimmy Clark, W, 20, University of Minnesota

A former seventh-round pick for the Wild, Clark has progressed admirably while playing close to home. Like Kumpulainen, Clark is another prospect who started the season off hot and has cooled off lately. 

Clark has 14 points in 29 games for the Gophers. That’s three points more than he had last season in 10 fewer games. Clark is creative in the offensive zone and can make things happen for his teammates. 

At 6-foot-1, 180 lbs., the winger from Edina has decent size and should fill out that frame a little more as he grows in the NCAA. Clark will only get more opportunities to show what he can do as he plays more college puck. 

He probably will spend all four years in college and transition to Iowa after he's done playing if the Wild retain his rights. Still, the kid’s got some tools that could be a solid addition to the Wild’s third line one day if they develop right. 

Samuel Hlavaj, G, 23, Iowa Wild

Hlavaj’s numbers don’t look great in Iowa, but neither does Jesper Wallstedt’s, and he’s one of Minnesota’s top prospects. Hlavaj only has a .890 SV% and a 3.18 GAA. However’ Iowa’s porous defense makes it hard for any goaltender to succeed. Still, Hlavaj has put together some solid games, including one shutout and 35+ save performances that led to Iowa wins. 

Hlavaj has been getting a ton of time in Iowa after showing out with Slovakia on the world stage. It was a short stint of games, but he had a 1.67 GAA and a .929 SV%. Hopefully, with more games and a developing Iowa blueline, his numbers can grow with the teams. He might eventually steal some games as a backup NHL goalie. 

Will any of these guys play prominent roles for the Wild one day? Probably not. Still, with the strength of the Wild’s prospect pool forcing these guys down the rankings, I thought these prospects still had interesting upside and were worth noting.

All stats and data via Cap Wages and Elite Prospects unless otherwise noted.