Sights on the Second Half: Part Three
As the Wild open the second half of our inaugural Western Hockey League season, we are turning the clock ahead and examining some of the decisions awaiting the team in the coming weeks…we’re breaking the conversation down into six key questions, continuing with question 3:
Q: How was the Wild roster built? (Dec 26)
A: First, it’s important to know that the Wild inherited the protected list, draft picks, returning players and other similar assets in the relocation of the Winnipeg ICE. Almost all current players in the WHL were born from 2003 to 2007 – Caelan Joudrey (the organization’s top draft pick this past spring in the third round) made his WHL debut in November and became the team’s first 2008-born player to appear in a game.
Of the 25 players currently on the Wild roster, only 12 were selected in the WHL Draft by the Winnipeg or Kootenay ICE, and only two of those 12 were chosen later than the sixth round. Two were selected in the Canadian Hockey League’s Import Draft, and seven were acquired by trade – the other four were signed as free agents, either by Winnipeg or by Wenatchee. 11 players on last year’s roster who are no longer with the organization were also acquired by trade.
Two of the team’s first-round NHL draft picks were chosen back-to-back in the 2019 WHL Draft, as the team was in the process of moving to Winnipeg, while another was chosen in 2020 – we’ll cover these players in more detail in our next part of our series.
