The 2025 NHL Entry Draft is being held Friday and Saturday, June 27th and 28th, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, California. Minnesota Wild fans may not be very interested in the draft because the team doesn’t have any picks in the first round, but there are still reasons to be excited.Â
The draft means building towards the future, especially with picks that are in later rounds. Obviously, waiting is difficult because winning now is more fun, but there can be some great surprises in waiting. In this article, we’ll look at why Wild fans should still be excited for later draft picks, starting with a quick overview of who the Wild could get in the second round.
Wild Have Second Round Options
The Wild will open their draft in the second round with pick number 52. There are several players likely to be available at this spot, depending on the site you’re looking at. The latest rankings from my colleague, Dayton Reimer at The Hockey Writers, have center Jack Nesbitt from the Windsor Spitfires in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) ranked at number 52. Other writers have him going a little higher, but if he’s still left at that spot, he’d be a great option. He has quite the size, standing at 6-foot-4, and he had some impressive numbers this past season.Â
Nesbitt played in 65 games and put up 25 goals plus 39 assists for 64 points but he also had 74 penalty minutes which is something the Wild don’t need on the roster, however he would likely have some time to hone that part of his game if the Wild would be able to pick him up. If he’s already gone, which it appears he will be, the next player up that both Reimer and Scott Wheeler of The Athletic agree on is another center in Ethan Czata of the Niagara Ice Dogs, also in the OHL (‘2025 NHL Mock Draft 3.0: Wheeler’s final predictions for the first two rounds’, The Athletic, June 24th, 2025).
The Wild have been hurting for a strong center for quite a while, and although they do have Joel Eriksson Ek, the up-and-coming Danila Yarov, who will likely be put at center when he does join the roster, and Marco Rossi, who remains on the roster for now, they could use some more centers. They do have some younger centers still coming up the ranks, but they’re always on the search for the future number one.Â
Like Nesbitt, Czata put up some impressive numbers while in the OHL. This past season, he played in 65 games, scoring 21 goals and adding 34 assists for a total of 55 points. However, he also accumulated 72 penalty minutes. Since both draft experts have Czata picked to go at 51 or 52, it’s likely that’s where he’ll be, and although he’s a bit smaller than Nesbitt, the Wild could use a center that can put up some points if his game can translate to the NHL.
Ethan Czata, Niagara IceDogs (Brandon Taylor/ OHL Images)
As with every round of the draft, sometimes players go higher or lower than expected, and if both of these players are gone already, it’s possible the Wild would go after Theo Stockselius, a forward from DjurgÃ¥rdens IF J20 (J20 Nationell). He’s picked to go 54th overall by both Reimer and Wheeler, but he could also go higher if teams are interested. He’s another bigger center at 6-foot-3, and he put up 51 points in 40 games played for his most recent team. All three of these players would need time to develop, but they could bring hope to the team’s future.Â
Wild Find Hidden Gems
Again, while the players in the first round typically get the most attention, the Wild have had a number of them over the seasons, like Rossi, Eriksson Ek, Jonas Brodin, Liam Öhgren, Jesper Wallstedt, and Zeev Buium, most recently. It’s essential to remember that the Wild have found a number of players later in the draft, including their current superstar. That’s right, the Wild didn’t draft Kirill Kaprizov in the first round, but midway through the fifth round back in 2020.
That may seem shocking, but with Russian players, it can be hard to know when they’ll come over to play in the NHL, so teams are typically more hesitant to draft them early, but that is starting to change. Kaprizov was clearly a steal, and the Wild’s scouting department clearly knew what they were doing. Sometimes drafting later can be a good thing, as those players just need a little time to develop, and they continue to get better as they play.Â
The Wild may not have drafted him, but Brock Faber was drafted in the second round, and he’s turned into one of the best defensemen on the team, and he’s not even 23 years old yet. Jared Spurgeon was drafted in the sixth round because of his small size by the New York Islanders, but they never signed him, and then he went on to become the captain of the Wild. It just goes to show sometimes you truly never know what you’re going to get, and these later picks can mean just as much as the first-rounders.Â
Wild Fans Should Have Hope
Again, it’s not as entertaining when a team doesn’t have a first-round pick, but there is still hope, even if their picks are in the second round or later. Sometimes players don’t reach their full potential until later in life, and they need time playing at the higher levels. The Wild have a great core currently and do need a few pieces, but having these later picks means they continue to build for the future as well.Â
Related: 2025 NHL Draft Guide
It’s hard when teams put everything into the current team but forget about the future, and then, when they fail to bring home the Stanley Cup that same season, it’s even more difficult because they weren’t building for after that run. The Wild are trying to do the best of both, throw everything at winning now, but also realizing they have to continue to build this team for the future. Hopefully, they can get some great picks out of this year’s draft and come away with an even brighter look ahead.
Stats courtesy of Eliteprospects.com
