Wild goes for quality over quantity on day two of 2020 Draft

The Wild entered the draft with a couple of glaring deficiencies in its system.
One has been a lack of center depth, which was addressed on Tuesday night when Minnesota selected Marco Rossi with the ninth overall pick.
The other has been a lack of true, physical defensemen with a nasty disposition.

Minnesota attacked both areas during the 2020 NHL Draft, and general manager Bill Guerin got creative in how he was able to do it.
Scheduled to pick early in the second round on Wednesday with the 39th overall selection, Guerin made a deal with the Nashville Predators to improve his NHL team and help the Wild build for the future, acquiring Nick Bonino the 37th overall selection and the 70th pick for Luke Kunin and the 101st pick.
That gave the Wild three picks overall among the draft's first 39 selections in what most considered to be a very deep draft.
Minnesota's brand new Director of Amateur Scouting Judd Brackett, viewed in many hockey circles to be one of the League's most prized "free agents" because of his talent, was armed with a couple of extra top-70 picks to do what he does best: identify talent.

"It was nice for me because I trust the guy who was sitting next to me. I think Judd did an amazing job of managing the draft," Guerin said. "I'm taking direction from him. I'm letting him know the information that's coming across my phone and he's setting the direction. I thought he did a fantastic job, very, very happy with it."
With the 37th pick, Minnesota added yet another explosive pivot to its prospect cupboard by selecting Russian center Marat Khusnutdinov.
Like Rossi the night before, Khusnutdinov doesn't have prototypical size, but at almost 6-feet and with some room to bulk up, he has hands and playmaking ability that can't be taught.
Ranked 12th among European skaters, Khusnutdinov is playing for SKA St. Petersburg in the KHL this season, having scored 13 goals and 38 points in 44 games for their minor club last season.
Through a translator, Khusnutdinov, who has this year and next year remaining on his contract in the KHL, said he's eager to come over and play in Minnesota.
"My family was so excited to be in Minnesota. I was just watching ... and everybody just started messaging me Minnesota and congratulations," Khusnutdinov said. "I wasn't expecting [it]."
In Khusnutdinov, Brackett said the Wild is getting someone who may very well slot in with Rossi as a top-6 centerman for years to come once they both arrive on the scene in Minnesota.
"Marat is a centerman, two-way player, plays with some older players as well at times. And when he does you see the defensive responsibility in his game as well," Brackett said. "Certainly the hallmark to his game is his speed, his competitiveness, skill. He's the captain for the national team when he plays in his age group, too, So, a lot of qualities to like here.
"A complete player ... but the separating skill is his speed that is really noticeable."

The Wild was back on the clock moments later when it selected defense Ryan O'Rourke from the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.
In 54 games last season, O'Rourke showed the kind of two-way defenseman the Wild hopes he can be, scoring seven goals and adding 30 assists. He's captain of the Greyhounds this season, and plays in his own zone with a surly demeanor.
"I think it's really helpful for me. I think it's just part of my game. And I think it's what adds to another attribute to myself," O'Rourke said. "I think it's just kind of part of me and it shows on the ice.
"I think I'm kind of a throwback to a defenseman, so I'm tough and gritty in the d-zone and I think I'm still offensively sound. I think my skating still needs a little improvement, but I think other than that, I'm pretty solid and I think I pride myself on that two-way game."
Minnesota doubled down on tough, two-way defenseman in the third round when it moved up five spots to the 65th selection to take Daemon Hunt from Moose Jaw of the Western Hockey League.
Hunt, the 25th ranked North American skater, slid down the draft board because of a tough 2019-20 season where he sustained a freak injury that cost him nearly three months of action.

"It was a pretty simple play honestly," Hunt said. "I had the puck on the boards and I chipped it out and their forechecker came to hit me and he kind of missed and stumbled and his skate blade came up and got me in the right forearm. I remember looking down at my arm and seeing blood pouring out of it. Your body goes into shock.
"I got rushed to the hospital and got 25 stitches put in first thing just to stop the bleeding and I had surgery about a week later in Edmonton to repair my muscle."
Once he returned to the lineup, he played just a handful of games before the pandemic shut down the league.
"For me, I always use the saying 'trust the process,' I have for a long time. And especially for this situation, it's a big injury and it's a big year for me, and I had to come to myself say I just had to trust the process, trust everything will be okay," Hunt said. "And it's part of the game as well. I'm just glad it's over with and I've learned a lot from it too."
Whatever slide the injury may have caused for Hunt became the Wild's gain, as the team believes it has a promising piece for the future.
"Daemon has a lot of experience already at the junior level, played a top-4 role even as an under-age in Moose Jaw," Brackett said. "We had to rely a little bit on what we saw last year and a guy that we also saw late after returning from the injury and we felt like the skating and continued growth was there. But a lot of experience."
Minnesota identified value again in the fifth round, trading a pair of picks to move up and select right wing Pavel Novak with the 146th selection.
Novak, a first-year rookie with Kelowna of the Western Hockey League last season, scored 25 goals and had 58 points in 55 games and was ranked the 85th best North American skater available.
That's similar production in the same league as Wild prospect Adam Beckman, who was picked by Minnesota in the third round of last year's draft. As a rookie with Spokane in 2018-19, Beckman scored 32 goals and had 62 points in 68 games.
He scored 48 goals in his second year last season while tallying 107 points, turning himself into one of the Wild's most prized prospects.
Minnesota is hoping for a similar jump from Novak this season.
"He was someone we noticed August a year ago, someone we continued to watch," Brackett said. "Point production was there, he was really driving the play for Kelowna and as a true rookie, it's someone you'd expect real growth from in year two."
Related:
- Wild Draft Central - Wild acquires Bonino, two draft picks in trade for Kunin - Minnesota selects five players in 2020 NHL Draft - In Rossi, Wild lands player it coveted all along - Rossi has big fan already in Vanek