When your team doesn’t have a Top 10 pick, the NHL Draft itself can take a backseat to the other stuff that comes with it, trades and the looming free agency period that begins Monday. The Minnesota Wild can get a good player with their No. 13 pick Friday night in Las Vegas, but he won’t be Macklin Celebrini.
Celebrini, a star center from Boston University, is the consensus No. 1 pick because he’s expected to play right away — on the first or second line — for the San Jose Sharks and be very good for a long time.
Technically a lottery pick, the Wild’s first-round slot could net them an NHL player — Matt Boldy was the 12th overall pick in 2019 — but it in all likelihood won’t start next season.
That’s why the possibility of trading goaltender Filip Gustavsson for a top six forward — or perhaps a higher draft pick — has in some ways become fans’ biggest interest heading into Friday’s first round in Las Vegas. Every general manager and personnel director in the NHL will be prowling the Sphere for the magic move that can make them immediately better.
And there is no doubt, after missing the playoffs for just the second time in 12 seasons, the Wild need to get immediately better. They were in the playoff chase in the season’s final week, but after a 5-10-2 start, the Wild (39-34-9) never held a playoff position.
“I’m open to anything — moving up, moving back, trading (trading the pick),” Wild general manager Bill Guerin said this week. “I’m open to anything, but it’s got to be right.”
This year’s draft class is considered deep, and the plethora of mock drafts reflect that. After players such as Celebrini, Russian winger Ivan Demidov — signed with a KHL team for next season — Michigan State defenseman Artyom Levshunov and CHL center Cayden Lindstrom, there are several players whose positions vary between the fifth and 15th picks.
“It’s a really exciting group, and an accomplished group,” Wild director of amateur scouting Judd Brackett said last week. “So, at our position, we have to wait and see how it unfolds. … The cross section of talent ranges from power-play defensemen to some size and strength back there, to some centers and certainly a lot of production.”
Among exciting prospects who could fall into the Wild’s slot:
OHL Beckett Sennecke, who had 68 points in 63 regular-season goals, then added 10 goals and 22 points in 16 playoff games at Oshawa; defenseman Zayne Parekh, who won the CHL’s Memorial Cup with Wild prospect Hunter Haight at Saginaw; and center Konsta Helenius, who scored 16 goals among 40 points in 57 games (regular and postseason) for Jukurit in Finland’s top professional league last season.
Or they could go higher. It’s hard to predict what the 12 teams ahead of the Wild will do. As Brackett noted, “The draft will be dictated to us in some ways, but I think it’s exciting.”
“It’s a good pick,” Guerin said. “We’re not going to devalue it. We’re not going to throw it away. If we move back or forward, or trade it, we’re going to get something of good value.”
With Marc-Andre Fleury signed for one last season, and prospect Jesper Wallstedt ready to take the next step, Minnesota has the flexibility to fill an immediate need by trading Gustavsson, 26, for a reliable scorer up front — if the “Gus Bus” can attract one.
After being acquired in the deal that sent Cam Talbot to Ottawa, Gustavsson emerged as one of the NHL’s best young goaltenders in his first full NHL season, going 22-9-7 with a 2.10 goals-against average and .931 save percentage. But he took a step back last season, 20-18-4, 3.06, .899.
Fleury will turn 40 in November, but he was the Wild’s best goaltender last season, 17-15-5 with a 2.98 GAA and .912 save percentage. Wallstedt was rocked in his NHL debut, a 7-2 loss at Dallas, but was 2-0 with a 1.01 GAA and .962 save percentage in April road starts at Chicago and San Jose.
Signed for two more seasons at $3.75 million, is Gustavsson the goalie who had the NHL’s second-best season in 2022-23, or has he settled into being an average pro? That’s the question facing potential suitors who so far have demurred.
“There’s no rush to do it,” Guerin said. “We have three good goalies, four with the kid we signed from Slovakia (Samuel Hlavaj, 22, who signed a two-way deal that starts this season). He’s good, too.”
WILD PICKS
The Minnesota Wild’s selection position heading into this weekend’s NHL entry draft at the Sphere in Las Vegas.
Friday
Round 1 — 13th overall
Saturday
Round 2 — 45th overall
Round 4 — 110th overall
Round 5 — 140th overall (from Buffalo); 142nd overall
Round 6 — 174th overall
