The targets:
Cole Eiserman
Berkly Catton
Konsta Helenius
Tij Iginla
Zayne Parekh
Carter Yakemchuk
"To assess some of the options, we interviewed Wheeler, Chris Peters (NHL Draft and prospects analyst for FloHockey) and a long-time NHL scout for their analysis on the picks we believe the Wild could be targeting at No. 13. We recently posted a one-on-one with Wild director of amateur scouting Judd Brackett for his thoughts."
Pretty decent breakdown on the six here: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5544128/2024/06/24/wild-draft-expert-roundtable?source=user-shared-article
by PaxDragoon
3 Comments
If any of them are available, I think they’d prefer this order
1. Yakemchuk
2. Iginla
3. Catton
4. Parekh
5. Helenius
6. Eiserman
I’m going to guess Iginla and Parekh are going to be gone. Yakemchuk, Catton, Helenius, and Eiserman have been available around that spot in drafts. Wheeler says Helenius is the smart play, though Catton has been touted as a better upside center. Helenius can be put at wing too, so he has positional flexibility. Can’t hurt to have that, if you don’t have massive upside.
I’d be thrilled if one of those two defenseman falls to us, or Catton. Out of the three it seems like Yakemchuk’s stock is falling a bit so he might be our best shot, but at the same time it’s hard to imagine a 6’3 RHD with his offense falling to 13.
Really just makes me wish we weren’t playing Kaprizov 26 minutes a night and putting Faber out there with his broken ribs in the last week or so after we were eliminated. Those wins are completely meaningless.
Any of these guys would be great. I think for sure Catton and Iginla will be gone by the time the Wild pick. I would take Eiserman, Helenius and Parekh, in that order. They better not trade back if any of these are available.