Wilderness Walk: Marat Khusnutdinov is a Wild man

We haven’t written much about prospects overseas and how their individual seasons are going, but when we saw what happened to Marat Khusnutdinov on Thursday, we knew we had to share it.

The Minnesota Wild’s 2020 second-round pick was playing in SKA St. Petersburg’s first-round matchup against Dinamo Minsk in the Gagarin Cup playoffs, when he went for a gutsy defensive play that got him a a stick whacked right in his face.

Yeouch!

The 20-year-old center did not waste any time (because he is the best) and came back with a simple bubble visor and acting like nothing happened. And then, just because he is really a two-way monster on the puck, he made another sacrificing play to block a slapshot on a penalty kill.

Thankfully he did eventually get an assist on an empty-net goal goal to reward him for the bravery. Just an absolute Wild Man. We cannot wait until he makes the trip overseas next summer.

With 11 goals and 41 points in 63 games in the KHL this season, you could make the argument that he could jump into the NHL right now and not look worse for wear. He’s built in the same way as other Wild prospects, with the fact that he works so damn hard and cares so much about possession that he is a very good defender.

That’s Wild

Off the trail...