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Wild to select 7th in NHL Draft
- Blog Post by: Michael Russo
- April 10, 2012 - 7:48 PM
The Edmonton Oilers hopped over the Columbus Blue Jackets to win the NHL Draft lottery for the third consecutive year. The consensus No. 1 pick is Nail Yakupov, the Russian-born, dynamic Sarnia Sting forward.
Barring an Oilers trade, he will likely join the past two No. 1 overall picks, Ryan-Nugent Hopkins and Taylor Hall, and young star Joran Eberle, in Edmonton.
The Wild, which had a 4.7 percent chance of winning the lottery and jumping up to No. 3 overall, instead retains the No. 7 overall pick. This draft is defenseman-heavy, and with so many young forwards about to be infused into the organization (Mikael Granlund, Brett Bulmer, Charlie Coyle, Johan Larsson, Jason Zucker and Zack Phillips), there's a chance the Wild goes this route in a draft that is considered defenseman-heavy in the top-10.
That doesn't mean at all it's a definite. The Wild will always take the best player available, so if a stud like Alex Galchenyuk fell to them, I'd think they'd go forward in a heartbeat.
Here is the top-11 North American skaters according to Central Scouting Service
| RANK | PLAYER | TEAM | LEAGUE | HEIGHT | WEIGHT | POSITION |
| 1 | YAKUPOV, NAIL | SARNIA | OHL | 5' 10.5" | 189 | RW |
| 2 | MURRAY, RYAN | EVERETT | WHL | 6' 0.5" | 195 | D |
| 3 | GRIGORENKO, MIKHAIL | QUEBEC | QMJHL | 6' 3.0" | 200 | C |
| 4 | GALCHENYUK, ALEX | SARNIA | OHL | 6' 0.5" | 198 | C |
| 5 | RIELLY, MORGAN | MOOSE JAW | WHL | 5' 11.5" | 190 | D |
| 6 | CECI, CODY | OTTAWA | OHL | 6' 2.5" | 207 | D |
| 7 | FAKSA, RADEK | KITCHENER | OHL | 6' 2.5" | 203 | C |
| 8 | MAATTA, OLLI | LONDON | OHL | 6' 1.5" | 202 | D |
| 9 | TROUBA, JACOB | USA U-18 | USHL | 6' 2.0" | 193 | D |
| 10 | REINHART, GRIFFIN | EDMONTON | WHL | 6' 3.75" | 197 | D |
| 11 | DUMBA, MATHEW | RED DEER | WHL | 5' 11.75" | 173 | D |
Here's the top-12 European skaters according to Central Scouting Service
| RANK | PLAYER | TEAM | LEAGUE | HEIGHT | WEIGHT | POSITION |
| 1 | FORSBERG, FILIP | LEKSAND | SWEDEN-2 | 6' 2.0" | 181 | C |
| 2 | TERAVAINEN, TEUVO | JOKERIT | FINLAND | 5' 11.0" | 165 | LW |
| 3 | COLLBERG, SEBASTIAN | FROLUNDA | SWEDEN | 5' 11.0" | 176 | RW |
| 4 | LINDHOLM, HAMPUS | ROGLE JR. | SWE-JR. | 6' 2.5" | 196 | D |
| 5 | HERTL, TOMAS | SLAVIA | CZREP | 6' 2.0" | 198 | C |
| 6 | ABERG, PONTUS | DJURGARDEN | SWEDEN | 5' 11.0" | 194 | LW |
| 7 | POKKA, VILLE | KARPAT | FINLAND | 6' 0.0" | 196 | D |
| 8 | BYSTROM, LUDWIG | MODO JR. | SWE-JR. | 6' 0.75" | 208 | D |
| 9 | PROKHORKIN, NIKOLAY | CSKA 2 | RUSSIA-JR. | 6' 2.5" | 191 | LW |
| 10 | SLEPYSHEV, ANTON | NOVOKUZNETSK | RUSSIA | 6' 2.0" | 187 | LW |
| 11 | VAINONEN, MIKKO | HIFK JR. | FINLAND-JR. | 6' 3.0" | 205 | D |
| 12 | LINDELL, ESA | JOKERIT JR. | FINLAND-JR. | 6' 3.0" | 194 | D |
Rielly is considered the best offensive defenseman. Trouba, Reinhart and Dumba are all considered high-end. TSN analyst Craig Button had the Wild taking Reinhart in his mock draft.
Here is TSN Insider Bob McKenzie's top-10/11
You'll be reading a lot more about the draft in June, which takes place in Pittsburgh June 22-23.
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