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  • Wild Prospects at Upcoming World Junior Summer Showcase

    Image courtesy of © Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports
    Thomas Williams

    By Thomas Williams -

    That's Wild

    While we won't have any NHL hockey to watch for months, the true hockey sickos will at least have some hockey this summer. The World Junior Summer Showcase is where all the nations of the upcoming World Junior Championship get to strut their stuff and test out some players to see if they have what it takes to make their team for the year's tournament.

    This summer, it will be in Plymouth, Michigan from July 26 to August 3, and countries have started to announce their rosters for the showcase. A bonus: A couple of Minnesota Wild prospects have made it.

    Zeev Buium will be on Team U.S.A.'s roster, Riley Heidt on Canada, and 2024 fifth-rounder, defenseman Sebastian Soini has made Finland's roster.

    While other teams have more players heading to Plymouth, the Wild certainly should have some prospects playing key roles for their country. Buium will most likely play a lot of minutes for U.S.A. and in theory, Heidt should be an offensive leader for Canada. Soini is a more physical defenseman, so we should expect maybe a shutdown role with some penalty killing for Finland.

    The showcase featuring the U.S.A., Canada, Finland, and Sweden will give us something to talk about during these dead days.

    • Speaking of prospects, a very, very early look at one potential pairing for the Wild in a couple years. Will Buium and Brock Faber be better together or apart? [Hockey Wilderness]
    • The Iowa Wild have signed defenseman Will Zmolek to a one-year, AHL-only deal. The blueliner was previously in the Philadelphia Flyers organization. [The Hockey News]

    Off the trail...

    • Evgeny Kuznetsov's career in the NHL seems to be done. The Russian forward has had his contract terminated and signed a long-term deal in the KHL. [NHL.com]
    • Hot and spicy takes for each NHL team. [Bleacher Report]
    • Steven Stamkos says that the Nashville Predators have to believe they can win a Stanley Cup. Oh, great. [NHL.com]
    By Thomas Williams  

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    mnfaninnc
    2 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

    I look forward to the evaluations of these players in the world juniors situation. Should give the Wild a better sense of how ready they are to move up a level.

    I really think evaluations would be invalid on this stage. I would expect that both Buium and Heidt would do very well for their nations. But, who are they going up against? Their peers.

    This is where ODC has a legitimate take: These guys haven't done anything in the N. And an early tournament showcase against pups is another peer tournament, not full of strong men. I would expect both to get into the corners and work hard. Can they do that in the N? It depends upon how hard they took their offseason program. 

    We'll get to see the skill showcased, but what we won't see is the skill showcased with a 210 lb. man in close proximity to the player. How will they react to that? Can they shake him loose? Or, do they get crushed in a check?

    This was the whole difference between '22 Rossi and '23 Rossi, and I'd expect it to be similar for Heidt and Buium.

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    Imyourhuckleberry
    47 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

    These guys haven't done anything in the N. And an early tournament showcase against pups is another peer tournament, not full of strong men.

    I realize that, but Buium is playing NCAA. Not a lot of guys aged 24+ there, but the NCAA team that defeated Faber's Gophers had a bunch of 21-23 year olds, so it's definitely a step up from high school or juniors.

    And just playing a little better than those guys doesn't tell us they are ready, but if they are dominant in their play in a structure that is different from the team they were just on, it could still be meaningful to the Wild.

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    mnfaninnc
    On 7/19/2024 at 1:03 PM, Imyourhuckleberry said:

    I realize that, but Buium is playing NCAA. Not a lot of guys aged 24+ there, but the NCAA team that defeated Faber's Gophers had a bunch of 21-23 year olds, so it's definitely a step up from high school or juniors.

    I wouldn't consider the NCAA as apples to apples in the N, but I would say it is a better gauge than the world juniors showcase. 21-23 year olds should be bigger than 18-19 year olds.

    Can Zeev make the jump like Faber did? Personally, I think he can if. What is that big if? 200+ lbs. I have no doubt that Buium will be strengthening himself just by looking at his big brother!

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    LittleBallofHate

     Well we already know he has been in the gym enough to be a pro on the pullup bar 🙂 ... Sounds goofy, but that does indicate that he probably knows that pro hockey these days means more than just high-end skill with cartoon-droopy arms & a shoulder set that lets you slip through screen doors.

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