*** Wild Prospects 2023-'24: IOWA, NCAA, EUROPEAN LEAGUES, MINOR LEAGUES ***

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

 

 

 

Thread for the upcoming 2023-24 season.
Prospects from any league the Wild have players!

Edited October 2, 2023 by TropicalFruitGirl26

[Alexandron]

You missed KHL logo. 

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

1 hour ago, Alexandron said:

You missed KHL logo. 

 

I certainly did, didn't I?
Ok, well, that is fixed.  

[Icechipper]

Mason Shaw signed to Iowa Wild deal and with main roster in Duluth this week. Good to see he's still in the fold. He's not cleared to play or practice, but skated, according to team.

Edited October 4, 2023 by Icechipper

[IllaZilla]

Looks like Lambos, O'Rourke, Beckman, Wallstedt, and Walker got assigned to Iowa.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

3 hours ago, IllaZilla said:

Looks like Lambos, O'Rourke, Beckman, Wallstedt, and Walker got assigned to Iowa.

 

Well....first time EEK, Zucc, Foligno, or Hartman come up lame with an injury, I bet Beckman and/or Walker get a quick call back.

Best thing they can do is play down in Iowa like they EXPECT to be back.

Same with Wallstedt.
You just know MAF will need some time on IR and Gus will need a backup.

[CreaseAndAssist]

Maybe not, they have almost no cap space.  

 

Iowa has crushed Rockford in a few AHL pre-season games.  Looks like they will have plenty of firepower there with Sammy Walker, Vinni Lettieri and Nic Petan to supplement the bunch of young prospects there.  Jujhar Khaira will another interesting player to watch as he played pretty well in pre-season play.  Caeden Bankier, Mikey Milne, Sam Hentges and Daemon Hunt are hurt to start the season.  Wallstedt has been sharp.    

 

Hunter Haight and Riley Heidt off to fast starts in the OHL and WHL respectively.  

 

Vladislav Firstov and Danila Yurov also off to a good start in the KHL.  

[Alexandron]

On 10/8/2023 at 9:54 AM, CreaseAndAssist said:

Maybe not, they have almost no cap space.  

 

Iowa has crushed Rockford in a few AHL pre-season games.  Looks like they will have plenty of firepower there with Sammy Walker, Vinni Lettieri and Nic Petan to supplement the bunch of young prospects there.  Jujhar Khaira will another interesting player to watch as he played pretty well in pre-season play.  Caeden Bankier, Mikey Milne, Sam Hentges and Daemon Hunt are hurt to start the season.  Wallstedt has been sharp.    

 

Hunter Haight and Riley Heidt off to fast starts in the OHL and WHL respectively.  

 

Vladislav Firstov and Danila Yurov also off to a good start in the KHL.  

Thank you for reminding me about our prospect Vladislav Firstov (22 y.o.). I just looked for his data. Interesting that he was signed by the Wild, but  Khusnutdinov and Yurov not signed yet. Firstov played before for Waterloo Black Hawks 1 season, then for 3 seasons for the University of Connecticut team, then only 9 games in Iowa and now he is in KHL 2nd season in a row is playing for Torpedo team. And doing pretty well there. The last season he had 26 points (11 goals; 15 assists) in 47 regular season games; and 4 points( 3 goals;1 assists) in 10 playoffs games. This season he has already 8 points (4 goals;4 assists) in 16 regular season games so far. And Yurov started well too ( 8 points (3 goals;5 assists) in 15 played games there). But Khusnutdinov doesn't have points yet in 6 played games of this season and already has transferred from one team to the other one. Kind of a slow start for him.

[Podein25]

34 minutes ago, Alexandron said:

But Khusnutdinov doesn't have points yet in 6 played games of this season and already has transferred from one team to the other one. Kind of a slow start for him.

 

He was traded so should get some ice time. Similar story to Michkov. 

[CreaseAndAssist]

Khusnutdinov got his first goal with HC Sochi, he needed ice time because SKA St. Petersburg wasn't going to play him probably unless he re-signed with them.  Ironically his goal came against SKA St. Petersburg.  

 

 

[Alexandron]

Our Iowa Wild goalie prospect Jesper Wallstedt was named AHL player of the week for the period ending on November 5th.:

 

https://www.iowawild.com/news/detail/jesper-wallstedt-named-ahl-player-of-the-week

 

 

 

[Alexandron]

On 10/10/2023 at 11:23 AM, Podein25 said:

 

He was traded so should get some ice time. Similar story to Michkov. 

Michkov doing pretty well there for HK Sochi team. In 19 played games he has already 18 points(9goals;9 assists). And our prospect Khusnutdinov has in 10 played games 4 points (2 goals;2 assists) for the same team. 

[Alexandron]

More updates for our other prospects which are playing in KHL:

Firstov (round 2; #42 overall) has 17 points (8 goals; 9 assists) in 27 played games;

Yurov (round 1; #24 overall) has 13 points (6 goals;7 assists) in 23 played games.

[CreaseAndAssist]

Firstov is having a heckuva season for Torpedo.  He's under contract, it will be interesting to see if they manage to get him over to North America next year if his strong KHL season continues.  

 

Iowa won 4-2 last night in Rockford.  Wallstedt had 35 saves.  Lucchini had two goals, Pavel Novak got his first professional goal and Jujhar Khaira scored the insurance goal to seal the win.  They looked a lot better last night; and seem to be finding their groove.  They have a tough one tonight against the Chicago Wolves.  

 

The Raska kid they got in the Addison trade likes to fly around and hit people.  Not sure there is much skill but he gives Iowa speed and some snarl which it needed.  Lambos continues to look good too.  Daemon Hunt should be back for tonight's game too.  

[CreaseAndAssist]

Iowa 4, Rockford 2 - Highlights

[CreaseAndAssist]

Iowa followed up the win in Rockford with a dominating 4-0 win over Chicago in Rosemount, Illinois on Saturday night in a place where they have traditionally struggled.  Wallstedt had the shutout.  Steven Fogarty, Carson Lambos (his 1st pro goal), Andy Welinski and Adam Beckman with the goals for Iowa.  They seem to be finding a groove and impressively, without their most talented offensive player in Nic Petan in the lineup.  Sammy Walker also seems to be using his speed more again which is great to see.  

 

 

[IllaZilla]

It's nice to see the Baby Wild having success. Until they get their farm system straightened out, I don't hold much hope for the Wild to progress in the Playoffs.

[Alexandron]

About 1 hour ago was published a very detailed article of Tonny Abbott at hockeywilderness.com site regarding our prospect talent.

" Danila Yurov is hopping on the Kirill Kaprizov track".

 

[CreaseAndAssist]

Iowa earned a 2-game sweep of the Colorado Eagles this weekend in Loveland, CO which is never an easy place to play.  Wallstedt got both wins and gave up 4 goals on over 80 shots faced in the two games.  He really kept Iowa in those games when they had little reason to be.  Daemon Hunt had two really good games as well.  Some of the other veterans are starting to come around as Joel Teasdale got his first two goals for Iowa this weekend.  

 

Caeden Bankier is closer to getting back in the lineup as well.  

 

Riley Heidt had another big weekend for the Prince George Cougars and Jimmy Clark has been a nice freshman surprise for the Gophers this season.  

[Alexandron]

Nice to see the Iowa Wild team , especially Wallsted doing some progress there.

Edited December 3, 2023 by Alexandron

[Alexandron]

On 11/7/2023 at 10:55 AM, Alexandron said:

Our Iowa Wild goalie prospect Jesper Wallstedt was named AHL player of the week for the period ending on November 5th.:

 

https://www.iowawild.com/news/detail/jesper-wallstedt-named-ahl-player-of-the-week

 

 

 

Wow. Second time already this season Jesper Wallstedt was named AHL player of the week. This time is for the period ending  on December 3rd., 2023. So far nice stats for him according to this article.:

https://www.iowawild.com/news/detail/jesper-wallstedt-named-ahl-player-of-the-week-1.

 

 

[CreaseAndAssist]

Zane McIntyre has played pretty well in Wallstedt's absence.  Bankier looks like he is power forward with good on-ice vision.  He protects the puck reasonably well but still needs to add muscle to his frame.  Nic Petan has rediscovered his scoring touch and has 5 goals in his last 3 games.  Unfortunately, not many other Iowa players are doing much scoring right now.  David Spacek has looked good playing elevated minutes with Daemon Hunt and Dakota Mermis being called up with the big club.  He seems to be more physically prepared for the rigors of AHL hockey than some of the other rookies.  

 

Kyle Masters moves well and you can see some offensive creativity to his game but he too needs to hit the weights.  He just gets muscled off the puck too easily.  

 

Maxim Cajkovic, the kid we got along with Pat Maroon has played well with the Heartlanders and with all of Minnesota's injuries he got called up to play for the Iowa Wild and had a goal apiece in his first two games.  

 

Riley Heidt didn't get invited to Team Canada's WJC camp, but he just keeps scoring for Prince George with 17 goals, 63 points in 31 games.  

 

Hunter Haight has 14 goals, 38 points in 30 games for Saginaw (OHL), barring a trade or injury (knock on wood) he should be in the Memorial Cup this year as Saginaw is the host this year.  

 

Rasmus Kumpulainen has 14 goals, 27 points in 27 games for Oshawa (OHL) this season.  Not bad for his first season in North America.   

 

Danila Yurov has 12 goals, 27 points in 36 games in the KHL with Metallurg Magnitogorsk, unfortunately there seems to be speculation that he's going to sign another 1-year deal to stay and play in Russia.  

 

Sophomore Rieger Lorenz is having a decent year for the Denver Pioneers, 6 goals, 12 points in 18 games.  

 

 

[IllaZilla]

So how’s that stud Charlie Stramel doing?

[Alexandron]

On 12/24/2023 at 2:35 PM, CreaseAndAssist said:

Zane McIntyre has played pretty well in Wallstedt's absence.  Bankier looks like he is power forward with good on-ice vision.  He protects the puck reasonably well but still needs to add muscle to his frame.  Nic Petan has rediscovered his scoring touch and has 5 goals in his last 3 games.  Unfortunately, not many other Iowa players are doing much scoring right now.  David Spacek has looked good playing elevated minutes with Daemon Hunt and Dakota Mermis being called up with the big club.  He seems to be more physically prepared for the rigors of AHL hockey than some of the other rookies.  

 

Kyle Masters moves well and you can see some offensive creativity to his game but he too needs to hit the weights.  He just gets muscled off the puck too easily.  

 

Maxim Cajkovic, the kid we got along with Pat Maroon has played well with the Heartlanders and with all of Minnesota's injuries he got called up to play for the Iowa Wild and had a goal apiece in his first two games.  

 

Riley Heidt didn't get invited to Team Canada's WJC camp, but he just keeps scoring for Prince George with 17 goals, 63 points in 31 games.  

 

Hunter Haight has 14 goals, 38 points in 30 games for Saginaw (OHL), barring a trade or injury (knock on wood) he should be in the Memorial Cup this year as Saginaw is the host this year.  

 

Rasmus Kumpulainen has 14 goals, 27 points in 27 games for Oshawa (OHL) this season.  Not bad for his first season in North America.   

 

Danila Yurov has 12 goals, 27 points in 36 games in the KHL with Metallurg Magnitogorsk, unfortunately there seems to be speculation that he's going to sign another 1-year deal to stay and play in Russia.  

 

Sophomore Rieger Lorenz is having a decent year for the Denver Pioneers, 6 goals, 12 points in 18 games.  

 

 

Thanks for posting. It seems Height, Haight, and Kumpulainen have a nice offensive future for the Wild club if they will continue that persistency in production.

[CreaseAndAssist]

On 12/24/2023 at 10:48 PM, IllaZilla said:

So how’s that stud Charlie Stramel doing?

 

Other than a weekend where he had 4 points he's been mostly forgettable or hurt.  3 goals, 3 assists in 16 games, as a sophomore on a pretty good Wisconsin team.  

 

Contrast that to sophomore Rieger Lorenz, at the Denver University; 8 goals, 8 assists, 16 points in 20 games.  

 

Not that this matters a lot, last night the Iowa Wild played the San Diego Gulls.  Caeden Bankier really stood out, 2 goals (he has 6 goals in 12 AHL games) and really was Iowa's go-to option all night.  They lost the game, but he was dangerous on most of his shifts; once he adds some more muscle to his frame he could be a decent player.  Great shot; good instincts and protects the puck well.  

 

Another player who looked pretty good IMO; he isn't ours anymore was Nikita Nesterenko.  Lanky but fast, and really changes angles well to elude defenders and make things tough for goaltenders.  But we traded him.  

 

Iowa is getting healthier.  Mikey Milne was back as was Adam Beckman.  Beckman, stick a fork in him...there's nothing there to see.  He isn't fast enough to be dangerous and he doesn't handle or protect the puck well enough to turn himself into a power forward kind of player either.  His shot, which is something we don't see nearly as much as we used to, isn't fooling much of anyone even when he does let it go.  Milne's wheels were evident and helpful even though the club didn't win.  

 

Carson Lambos had a rough night.  He needs to simplify his game; a few of his turnovers were very Matt Dumba-esque.  High-risk, low-reward kinds of plays.  

 

Riley Height (39GP, 22-49-71), Hunter Haight (38GP, 17-30-47), Rasmus Kumpulainen (28GP, 14-13-27) and Kalem Parker (35GP, 4-21-25) are playing pretty well in the CHL.  

 

Danila Yurov, who is expected to sign a 1-year extension with Metallurg Magnitogorsk (KHL) is continuing to play well 45GP, 14-20-34.  

 

Marat Khusnutdinov is expected to come and play in North America according to Russian sports news folks.  

 

Ryan Healey, the young defenseman (a sophomore at Harvard) is having a great start so far, 14GP, 5-7-12.  Which is more impressive than what I can say for Jack Peart, Marshall Warren or Aaron Pionk although I think those players play in a far tougher college hockey conference than Healey does.