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Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports

The Wild Are Not As Well Represented At World Juniors This Year

Originally posted on Hockey Wilderness | Last updated 12/21/23

The end of the calendar year only means one thing when it comes to hockey: It's World Juniors time, baby.

Sure, yeah, it also means a time of respite for our favorite NHL team, who get three days off. But beginning on Dec. 26, most hockey fans will be tuning in to see teenagers play for their respective countries and potentially get a peek at the league's future. This year's tournament is overseas in Gothenburg, Sweden, and will host some of the best Under-20 prospects from around the world.

Unfortunately, the Minnesota Wild will not have a lot at stake in this two-week tournament. They have some prospects going to Sweden, but the entire prospect pool and potential future of the club is not on display one bit.

Most obviously, the IIHF has blacklisted Team Russia due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, which means that we can't see Danila Yurov in action during this supposed best-on-best. Yurov has been destroying KHL defenses and has taken a monumental leap in his developmental journey this season. It would have been a treat to see him and then have the Wild be praised for having such a strong prospect pool, but alas.

Even when it comes to available players, some teams made odd decisions. Riley Heidt is doing everything he possibly can for the WHL's Prince George Cougars. The 2023 second-rounder has scored 17 goals and earned an insane 63 points in just 31 games. Those are some numbers that make your eyes pop out of your head. Those point totals are what you typically see from a top-10 selection, not someone who slipped to 64th overall.

Heidt has broken out substantially this season as one of the Wild's best prospects, and potentially the best prospect in the WHL. Still, Team Canada decided they were good. Instead of one of the hottest hands in the country, they opted to head over to Sweden with a roster that didn't include Heidt. Their loss. But also a loss for the Wild being a potential star organization of the tournament.

Add those two missing faces and that some of Minnesota's top prospects -- like Marat Khusnutdinov and Jesper Wallstedt -- just graduated from being eligible, and the Wild are left with one star prospect and a couple of depth forwards for their respective countries.

It will still be an exciting watch, as it is almost every year. But for this fan base, that's now dependent on a few prospects to give us that hope as the current Wild team is slowly sinking into mediocrity.

C Rasmus Kumpulainen, Finland

One of the Wild's second-round picks from earlier this year, Kumpulainen has a role to serve on Team Finland. But the 18-year-old certainly won't be the star of the team. On a roster that has some top-end talent like Seattle Kraken prospect Jani Nyman and 2024 NHL Draft-eligible winger Konsta Helenius, Kumpulainen will most likely be centering in the middle-six line with secondary power play duties.

Finland is much stronger on the wings than down the middle. But they might see Kumpulainen's 6-foot-3 frame and designate him for a more physical, shutdown role to pair with some speed on his sides.

Nevertheless, the man from Lahti has found a touch of goalscoring during his first season over here in North America. Kumpulainen made the jump to play in the OHL this season and has scored 14 goals and 27 points in 27 games. The total points are not remarkable, but he is still tied for the scoring lead on a not very good Oshawa Generals team.

Another strong performance from Rasmus Kumpulainen this afternoon in Oshawa's 4-1 win over Sarnia. Kumpulainen named First Star of the Game after potting 1 goal and 1 assist. He's up to 14 goals and 27 points in 27 OHL games this season #mnwild pic.twitter.com/DazTv1kgb5
— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) December 10, 2023

If he gets a larger role than we are thinking for Finland, that would be wonderful. But we are thinking that he will largely be in a supporting role and might pot a goal or two.

C Servac Petrovsky, Slovakia

Unlike Kumpulainen, Petrovsky has been here before. The 19-year-old center used last year's World Juniors tournament as a jumping-off point to impress the greater hockey world. Petrovsky was an unknown sixth-round pick by the Wild and blossomed into a well-rounded centerman who scored three points in Slovakia's five games last year. Now, he should be aiming higher on a much better roster.

We still got to see some top prospects like Dalibor Dvorsky and Filip Mesar, but now more players are returning with one year of development under their belt. More than any other team, their stars are returning for what will be their final year, and they should have the chemistry going for them.

Petrovsky is a part of that. The 5-foot-11 center should be manning one of Slovakia's first three forward lines and have talented players like Samuel Honzek, Alex Ciernik, or Adam Sykora as his wingers -- we're assuming the Dvorsky-Mesar connection will be at the top of the lineup.

Perhaps a successful tournament could be a jumping-off point into professional hockey on this continent. Petrovsky is technically improving on his production this season; he's currently a point per game for the OHL's Owen Sound Attack. At his age, though, the expectation should be greater than just sliding by. Petrovsky should be signed by the Wild in the coming months and jump into the AHL with both feet beginning next season. But let's hope that he can take charge of this electric Slovakian squad to take a jump in his journey.

LW Liam Ohgren, Sweden

We've discussed how some Wild prospects can use this tournament as a jumping-off point, but that is most true for Liam Ohgren. The 19-year-old winger will be captaining Team Sweden during their championship-or-bust year, and he's really just getting his season started.

Minnesota's 2022 first-round pick has been out with an injury since the start of the season until less than a month ago. He has played only five games for the SHL's Färjestad BK, scoring two goals. Now, he gets to stay home and play host to some of the best young hockey talent in the world, while being one of the tournament's favorites to win the whole thing.

Ohgren is a dominant two-way force on the wing, but it is truly all of Team Sweden that will let him thrive and potentially crush opponents. He might have only had two goals in seven games during last year's tournament, but this is a Sweden team that is dangerous in the most serious way. Sweden's roster has eight first-round prospects and only four undrafted players.

This is an old group -- there are zero players under the age of 18 -- and an experienced one at that. Almost every player has already had experience playing in one of the best leagues in the world, the SHL, and has faced adult men as their competition. Now they get to team up to face their peers and what should be a dominant showing. And Ohgren is at the front of it all.

There are so many talented forwards, but it's difficult to not think that Ohgren will be reunited with his junior linemates as Sweden's top line. Vancouver Canucks prospect Jonathan Lekkerimaki and Buffalo Sabres prospect Noah Ostlund should be right next to our Wild prospect and should be one of the best lines in the tournament. They had a rough showing previously, but all three are having fantastic domestic seasons and should hit the ground running.

Ohgren should have the best tournament out of the three Wild prospects, but there is immense pressure on the young man's shoulders. Not only to just win gold on home soil but to really make this entire season worth it before he eventually comes to North America in several months and shows Wild fans more of what he can give.

No matter what, it will be an electric showing for the next couple of weeks, it's just unfortunate we're not seeing the Wild's prospect pool at full force over in Gothenburg.

This article first appeared on Hockey Wilderness and was syndicated with permission.

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