Prospect Spotlight: Charlie Stramel

This week’s Minnesota Wild prospect spotlight focuses on 2023 first-round pick, Charlie Stramel, out of Michigan State University. The 6-foot-3 center has had a productive year in his first season with the Spartans, posting career-highs with 26 points, nine goals, 17 assists and a plus-15 rating in 36 games. Stramel ranks third on Michigan State in points, T-3rd in assists, fifth in goals and is sixth in plus/minus.

The Rosemount, Minnesota native and former Wisconsin Badger has posted seven multi-point games this season, including two three-point outings. Stramel was named Big Ten Second Star of the Week on January 21 after scoring two goals, one of which was shorthanded, and tallied an assist against arch-rival Michigan. After spending two years at Wisconsin, posting 20 points (8-12=20) and 79 penalty minutes in 67 games, Stramel has found his stride in his junior season at Michigan State playing under Adam Nightingale, who coached Stramel at the U.S. National Team Development Program from 2020-22. “Charlie is a 19-year-old hockey player,” said Nightingale. “He’s a junior, but he’s only 19. He’s just scratching the surface of what he can be.”

Stramel has helped lead the Spartans to a 26-6-4 record and become the first school in Big Ten history to win the league’s regular season and tournament championship in the same season in back-to-back years. Michigan State finished the regular season as the No. 1 team in the country and enters the NCAA Tournament as a top seed. Stramel and the Spartans will begin their quest for the school’s first title since 2007 tomorrow against Cornell at 4:30 p.m. CT.