An expert's take on Wild prospects, from Zeev Buium to Riley Heidt to Charlie Stramel (2024)

These may be the dog days of summer in the NHL season, but there is still plenty to talk about.

The World Junior Summer Showcase in Michigan a few weeks back featured Wild first-rounder Zeev Buium, and there’s a lot of excitement around what might be the next wave for Minnesota’s young players. Development camps wrapped up in July, with more tournaments coming in early September.

The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler, whose expertise is draft prospects, broke down what the Wild have in top guys Buium, Riley Heidt and Danila Yurov, and touched on the puzzling case of Charlie Stramel.

Wheeler appeared on the latest episode of the “Fellowship of the Rink” podcast. Here are some excerpts from that interview. The full chat will be available Wednesday and includes breakdowns of the most underrated Minnesota prospects, a look at which prospects will be impact players (top-six forward, top-four ‘D’) and more.

Our latest "Fellowship of the Rink" pod featured a ton of #mnwild prospect talk w/ @scottcwheeler
– Why Buium was pick of the draft
– Is Riley Heidt NHL ready?
– What's next for Charlie Stramel?
– Impact players in systemhttps://t.co/VVUlKFrDvd
YouTube: https://t.co/6gBAIBVC92 pic.twitter.com/GAh0BJMGU7

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— Joe Smith (@JoeSmithNHL) August 14, 2024

Why Buium at No. 12 made Wild a ‘winner’ at the NHL Draft

I think Zeev is a star. Zeev was fourth on my list (in the 2024 NHL Draft). When they got him at No. 12, he was one of the picks of the draft, frankly. Zeev was, last year, arguably the best player, best defenseman I’ve ever watched at that age at the college hockey level. He was better than the Hughes brothers. He was better than Owen Power. He was better than Zach Werenski, Seth Jones, you name it. He had an all-time teenage freshman year in college. He’s extremely mobile. The defining quality of his game offensively is his shoulder fakes and head fakes; he makes a lot of guys miss. He walks the line and beats guys off the line extremely, extremely well — that was always a big part of his game at the program, but he found another level last year.

What really elevated him last year was his defensive play, his ability to lock guys up. He was unbelievable against BU (Boston University) and BC (Boston College) in the Frozen Four. He was outstanding. He locked up Macklin Celebrini (and) locked up the top line for BC. He just glued himself to those guys defensively with his footwork and made it so hard on them. He’s a little of Brock Faber in that way where Brock has always relied on his footwork.

Zeev at this age is way ahead of where Brock was in terms of offensive talent. Both are good skaters, both about the same size. They both defend at a very high level. Brock probably was a little more polished defensively. But offensively, Zeev has another level and I think will eventually bump Brock off PP1 and be the PP1 guy for the Wild. He’s got 60-point upside. We’re looking at a star player if he continues on the path he’s been on the last year.

Is Heidt ready to make the jump to the NHL this fall?

I don’t think he’s quite there, honestly. Another season back in the WHL isn’t the worst thing in the world for him. I don’t think he’s a lock, based off some of the things staff with Hockey Canada said. There are mixed opinions on Hockey Canada on Riley Heidt. Even (Team Canada coach) Dave Cameron talked about his inconsistency (at the summer showcase). I thought he was great at the World Junior Summer Showcase, one of the most noticeable players for Canada — offensively, in particular. He was blocking shots, he was physically engaged. He’s got a chip on his shoulder these days because of folks at Hockey Canada and others don’t view him in the regard that I do — I had him as a first-round player.

I think Heidt, you spend a year in the WHL, hope he goes to world juniors and makes an impact on a deep Canada run. Then the following season, he starts to challenge (for a Wild roster spot). If they want to give him nine games, they should give him nine games. Boston gave it to Matt Poitras and he stuck around all year. Those guys have a way to figure it out, the smart players, and Riley Heidt is an extremely smart player. Smart players can play with other good players even if they may not be ready in other ways. I wouldn’t be surprised if he looked fine in nine games, stuck around and was lent to world juniors and spent the second half in the WHL. That’s often a path for those kids. He’ll be one to watch in camp for sure.

What would make a successful year for Charlie Stramel at MSU?

It’s been tough — I was lower on Stramel to begin with. But in saying that, I understand why some people were so excited about him. He was injured and missed a good chunk of time in his two years at the program. Right before the second of two injuries, he looked like he might even be a top-10 pick. They called him the Big Rig. He was a big, strong kid, he could absolutely rip the puck. He moved fine for his size and was a freak athlete who could impose himself as a centerman on the game. Then he gets back healthy, and was never a top player on that team at that point. He became a fourth-line, third-line center for that team. He was also playing up an age group because of his late birthday. Then he goes to Wisconsin and I thought it was in a big transition period. That program was a mess; frankly, one of the messiest programs in college hockey. They changed the staff. It was a work in progress and he got caught in the roster flux with the Badgers. He just didn’t really look like himself. Then he got injured again and missed some time. It’s just been a rough couple years for him. He just isn’t imposing himself on games in the same way.

Now he gets to hit the restart button. Now you hope he can become an NHL player. If he plays NHL games, that’s how you measure success by now. He’s got to get signed first. There are so many steps he’s got to take. He’s got to play in the AHL and prove himself in the AHL. He’s got to play well enough in college to get signed first. As for this season, if he can be a 20-point-in-30-game guy, that’s what you’re hoping for. He’s not all of a sudden going to be a point-per-game, first-line offensive player. But if he can be a regular contributor offensively and not a bit of a black hole like he was (in Wisconsin), if he can be (on) a second power play (or) score eight or nine goals, if he can score 10 goals and 20 points, that would be a great step forward for him.

Could Yurov be a top-six guy with the Wild this year if he comes over from Russia?

The answer is probably yes. His move from the wing to center and how good he looked at center last year completely changed his trajectory. He was a guy I had in the top 10 in his draft year. Always high on him. He never seemed to get the looks and power-play time and puck touches when he was at wing at the KHL level. At the junior level, whether he was playing wing or not, he was going to dominate because of his skill. He’s an incredibly smart player. All those things made him a dominant player against his peers.

There were parts of three years where he wasn’t involved in the KHL team (and) I started wondering if he can’t play 15 minutes a night for them, if his development would be in trouble. If his progress would be hindered, spending four seasons toiling away in the KHL. So the fact they moved him to center and he found a role on the team — he was excellent right away as a center because of the smarts piece — that changed everything. You’ve got a potential center. He’s a natural winger, but he’ll be a center now. That’s a big deal. And the production, being a team-leading scorer and all of that, that is huge for a player his age in the KHL. He’s a stud. I think he’s got legit top-six upside. He’ll be an impact player. Not sure he’ll be a true star player — not getting a (Kirill) Kaprizov kind of thing. But he’ll be an impact guy in the NHL.

(Top photo of Zeev Buium posing after being drafted by the Wild at the 2024 NHL Draft: Candice Ward / Getty Images)

Joe Smith is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Minnesota Wild and the National Hockey League. He spent the previous four years as Tampa Bay Lightning beat writer for The Athletic after a 12-year-stint at the Tampa Bay Times. At the Times, he covered the Lightning from 2010-18 and the Tampa Bay Rays and Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2008-13. Follow Joe on Twitter @JoeSmithNHL