Revisiting Corey Pronman’s 2023 Minnesota Wild Prospect Pipeline Ranking (10th in the league) (High potential for tl;dr)

Since we’ve had a crap season and there’s a lot of looking to the future, especially with players like Liam Ohgren, Marat Khusnutdinov, and Danila Yurov potentially making their North American debut at some point in 2024, I thought I’d take a look back at and share his truncated views and some of my stupid views. This is from August of 2023, so this season’s steps forward or back are not factored in to his overall projections.

Original [link.](https://theathletic.com/4794544/2023/08/23/minnesota-wild-nhl-prospect-pipeline-rankings/)

Pronman graduates people at a certain age (23 I think), so there will be people in here that have already made it to the NHL.

1. **Matt Boldy**, Tier (i.e. projected best) NHL All-star
2. **Marco Rossi**, Bubble top and middle of the lineup player. My thoughts: He’s not a #1 center. Working with Eriksson Ek, I think they have a high-end 2C and shut down C. He is too short, but if the chemistry shifted from Kap-Zuc to Kap-Rossi and they got a 6’1″ high skill wing to play the opposite side named Vanilla Durov (e.g.), there could be something great here. The problem with a Kap-Rossi-Zuccy line is size. Even if they put up numbers, they’ll get neutered in the playoffs. It’s a similar problem that Marat. Short centers with short wings aren’t going to be able to skate through the molasses that are large NHL defensemen in the playoffs.
3. **Jesper Wallstedt**, Quality Starting Goaltender. My thoughts: Billy Eilish “duh”.
4. **Charlie Stramel**, Middle of the lineup player. Pronman’s analysis: ” Stramel’s pure athletic tools are highly intriguing. At 6-foot-3, he can skate well and plays a highly physical brand of hockey. He can power his way through checks and to the net and never shies away from an engagement. The amount of offense he’ll create is the major question. I think he has good hands and can create a little, but he lacks vision and won’t be a big-time scorer as a pro. If your thought process around Stramel is that the offense might be limited but he can help at even strength and potentially be a nice third-line center, you’ll be happy. And I do think there’s a chance he can be more than that, too. Due to the lack of sense, there is a possibility he may need to be a wing, but his great faceoff skills could counteract that.”
5. **Danila Yurov**, Middle of the lineup player. My thoughts: I think this is someone whose ranking likely changed based on the season he’s having in the KHL. Much of Pronman’s analysis is based on Yurov’s ice time and lack thereof so it’s hard to see how he’s improving. He thinks of him as a second line winger. I think there’s higher potential than that, and would like to see it grow at the NHL level rather than making him spend time in Iowa because we’d rather trot our usual collection of overpaid hard-working grinders.
6. **Brock Faber,** Middle of the lineup player. My thoughts: Swing and a miss, Corey. “He should have just enough offense to be a projected second-pair defenseman.” I’m so very glad for it, but guys can only judge off of what they’ve seen a player do. Faber’s role at the U of M was far different from what he’s been asked/forced to do here.
7. **Marat Khusnutdinov**. Middle of the lineup player. My thoughts: 5’11” isn’t as bad as 5’9″, but when that’s the tallest guy on the line…Pronman slots his skating at above average, his compete as high-end, and his shot at below NHL average. Either a 3C or a 2nd line winger. If I slotted him into our current lineup, I’d love to see him either given a shot centering Kaprizov-Zuccarello, or playing on a line with Ek and Foligno as part of a two-way shutdown line.
8. **Caedan Bankier,** Middle of the lineup player. My thoughts: This is a guy who needs a couple of season in the AHL, the first one to hit the season running after training camp since his injury kept him from doing so this season. Then we can see where he is. Pronman has him about NHL average on everything except his shot, which is above average. The Wild desperately need someone on this list (among the non-NHL regulars) to take a leap. That’s going to be on the player and on their developmental team in Iowa, which I’ve been very cool on.
9. **Liam Ohgren,** Middle of the lineup player. My thoughts: based on how much I’ve seen him play, I should probably stop typing. But I’ve read the same stuff about him: hard worker. Jacques would have loved him. 2nd/3rd liner.
10. **Carson Lambos,** Projected to play NHL games. My thoughts: This was one of the few players during the preseason that impressed me with his puck movement and decision-making. His first season in Iowa feels like a big step back. Pronman sees him as a 3rd pair guy. From here on out, these aren’t the difference makers.
11. **Adam Beckman,** Projected to play NHL games. My thoughts: Hopefully he gets his shot at some point. It’s likely he’ll top out as a 4th liner that can pot some goals and will otherwise be a sought-after AHL forward for a long time. Making $55-85k a year playing hockey is something a lot of people would dream of.
12. **Riley Heidt,** Projected to play NHL games. I hope this season in the WHL has been a revelation, but…well, Adam Beckman also led the WHL in scoring. So. Pronman’s analysis: ” Heidt’s a highly skilled and intelligent playmaker who can run a power play like a pro and has the hands to break open a shift. He hits seams at a high rate and makes a lot of creative passes. The question on him will be whether a 5-foot-10 forward with mediocre speed and compete is going to make a dent in the NHL. He is elusive enough of a skater too, even though he lacks the footspeed. He kills penalties in the WHL, but I wouldn’t call him a high-energy type who wins a lot of battles. He has middle-six forward potential and is someone who can run an NHL power play but will need to round out his game to become that. He’s been a center in junior and could be that as a pro due to his great hockey sense. He may need to be pushed to the wing, but if he hits he could be a [Morgan Frost](https://theathletic.com/nhl/player/morgan-frost-dEaYC3aCHhridABv/) type of center.”
13. **Jack Peart,** Projected to play NHL games. My thoughts: 5’11” defensemen who aren’t great skaters and don’t have lights-out defensive or offensive skills are okay. Just…okay. Maybe once Brett McLean and Iowa get their hands on him oh no

Pronman then has a “Has a chance to play” category, which includes Hunter Haight, Daemon Hunt, Rasmus Kumpulainen, Rieger Lorenz, Kyle Masters, Servac Petrovsky, and David Spacek. It will be interesting to see how he thinks things have changed in 2024. I expect Faber (if he doesn’t graduate off this list), Yurov, Hunt, Heidt, and Kumpulainen will all get a bump up.

The Wild need a home run (slap shot into the empty net?) on one of these guys outside of the top 3. I don’t think they’ll be in a position to acquire their dream 1C when the buyouts are done, as Russo has constantly thrown water on that. It’s the white whale for this team. Lots of middle-sixers.

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