A Decade of Minnesota Wild 1st-Round Picks Ranked

Being a Minnesota Wild fan in 2023-24 has not been a pleasant experience. The team’s failure to play at the level they are capable of is disappointing and difficult to endure, so we are going to ignore it and rank players instead – because that is a lot more fun.

Over the last 10 seasons, the Wild have made 11 first-round selections in the various drafts, although five of those selections were made in the last three years alone. Nevertheless, here’s a look at each of the Wild’s first-round picks and we’ll rank them based on their skill, contribution to the team, and future potential in the case of the younger players.

#11 – Filip Johansson

In 2018, the Wild questionably selected Swedish defenseman Filip Johansson with the 24th overall pick. He could arguably be left as an honourable mention on this list as he is, to date, the only first-rounder that the Wild elected not to sign at all and instead let him walk back into free agency, where he signed with the Vancouver Canucks. The Wild received a compensatory second-round pick in 2022 that they turned into Rieger Lorenz.

Now a Canucks defenseman, Johansson is a 6-foot-1 right-shot who, at 23 years old, is only 15 games into his first season in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Abbotsford Canucks. While not always guaranteed an impact player with the 24th overall pick, the Wild passed on fellow Swedish defensemen Nils Lundkvist (28th overall) and Rasmus Sandin (29th overall) to make the selection. 

#10 – Charlie Stramel

Ranking the Wild’s latest first-round pick this low is not an indictment of Charlie Stramel himself but is based on the lack of knowledge we have to place him any higher. The Wild knew what kind of player they wanted with their 21st overall selection, and they took a swing with the 6-foot-3, 220-pound Minnesota-native centerman. Stramel had a much higher draft projection at the beginning of the 2022-23 season, but a weak team dropped his stock rather quickly and seemed to make his ranking a big question mark for a lot of scouts.

Now that he is part of the Wild’s prospect pool, the question marks have not become any clearer as an injury has limited him to just seven games this season, during which he had no points. Fingers crossed he can still wiggle his way into the 2024 World Junior Championship (WJC) so we can see him play against some top-end…