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Hockey scouts will tell you that you can teach skating and shooting, but you cannot instill size. With that in mind, the Minnesota Wild used their first pick in the NHL draft on some blue line girth.
After previously trading away their picks in the first two rounds, the Wild got a little impatient in Round 3, working a trade with the Los Angeles Kings to move up six spots. With the 83rd overall pick on Saturday morning, Minnesota selected defenseman Adam Andersson, who skated for Leksands IF in the Swedish U-20 league last season.
Andersson, who will turn 18 next week when he may be in Minnesota for the team’s development camp, is a 6-foot-4 blueliner. He was ranked 20th among European skaters by NHL Central Scouting prior to the draft.
“You take the players that are up on your list and you’re happy with,” said Wild general manager Bill Guerin, after they went big with all three of their picks. “They just happen to be big guys, which we like and we don’t have a ton of…The fact that they’re bigger guys is just a bonus.”
Judd Brackett, who was the Wild’s director of amateur scouting for the previous five years and had run the draft for them, left the organization a few weeks ago for an assistant general manager position with the Toronto Maple Leafs. In his place, Minnesota’s director of European scouting, Ricard Persson, ran the 2026 draft with input from assistant general manager Mat Sells from the team’s war room at TRIA Rink in St. Paul.
“Andersson is a big centerman with strong work ethic,” said Persson of his fellow countryman. “Heavy and hard to play against. Relentless worker that understands the game both offensively and defensively.”
Playing a heavy checking role primarily, Andersson was a member of Sweden’s U18 gold medal team in the spring.
The Wild’s top defensive pair of Brock Faber and Quinn Hughes (assuming a contract extension for the latter is coming) is set for the time being, but further down the depth chart, the long-term futures of players like Zach Bogosian, Jonas Brodin and captain Jared Spurgeon is less certain, so adding a blue line prospect made some sense.
In Round 4, the Wild again traded up and again went with size, grabbing 6-foot-4 forward Kayden Lemire, who played for Prince George in the Canadian major junior leagues last season. Lemire, 18, is originally from Edmonton and scored nine goals with 20 assists in 68 games last season.
“Kayden is a big, power forward that plays a heavy game,” said Wild scout Patrick Baum. “He moves well and provides a good net front presence. Operates well below the dots and behind the net.”
They went with even more size in Round 5, using their final pick on Filip Ruzicka, a 6-foot-7 goalie from Czechia who played Canadian major junior hockey last season. He won 26 games for Brandon, Manitoba, in the Western Hockey League.
Future Minnesota Duluth forward Victor Plante joined his older brother Max as a Red Wings prospect when Detroit picked the Hermantown native in the second round with the 47th overall pick. Max, who won the Hobey Baker Award as college hockey’s top player last season, was picked by Detroit 47th overall in 2024.
Picking 83rd overall was the second-latest point in the draft for the Wild to have their initial selection. In 2017, they grabbed forward Ivan Lodnia 85th overall with their first pick in the draft. With just three picks, this was the smallest draft class in Wild franchise history.
Guerin added that he has had “very, very preliminary” conversations with star defenseman Quinn Hughes and his agent about a contract extension. He did not have an updated timeline on the return of goalie Filip Gustavsson, who had hip surgery last month.
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After previously trading away their picks in the first two rounds, the Wild got a little impatient in Round 3, working a trade with the Los Angeles Kings to move up six spots. With the 83rd overall pick on Saturday morning, Minnesota selected defenseman Adam Andersson, who skated for Leksands IF in the Swedish U-20 league last season.
Andersson, who will turn 18 next week when he may be in Minnesota for the team’s development camp, is a 6-foot-4 blueliner. He was ranked 20th among European skaters by NHL Central Scouting prior to the draft.
“You take the players that are up on your list and you’re happy with,” said Wild general manager Bill Guerin, after they went big with all three of their picks. “They just happen to be big guys, which we like and we don’t have a ton of…The fact that they’re bigger guys is just a bonus.”
Judd Brackett, who was the Wild’s director of amateur scouting for the previous five years and had run the draft for them, left the organization a few weeks ago for an assistant general manager position with the Toronto Maple Leafs. In his place, Minnesota’s director of European scouting, Ricard Persson, ran the 2026 draft with input from assistant general manager Mat Sells from the team’s war room at TRIA Rink in St. Paul.
“Andersson is a big centerman with strong work ethic,” said Persson of his fellow countryman. “Heavy and hard to play against. Relentless worker that understands the game both offensively and defensively.”
Playing a heavy checking role primarily, Andersson was a member of Sweden’s U18 gold medal team in the spring.
The Wild’s top defensive pair of Brock Faber and Quinn Hughes (assuming a contract extension for the latter is coming) is set for the time being, but further down the depth chart, the long-term futures of players like Zach Bogosian, Jonas Brodin and captain Jared Spurgeon is less certain, so adding a blue line prospect made some sense.
In Round 4, the Wild again traded up and again went with size, grabbing 6-foot-4 forward Kayden Lemire, who played for Prince George in the Canadian major junior leagues last season. Lemire, 18, is originally from Edmonton and scored nine goals with 20 assists in 68 games last season.
“Kayden is a big, power forward that plays a heavy game,” said Wild scout Patrick Baum. “He moves well and provides a good net front presence. Operates well below the dots and behind the net.”
They went with even more size in Round 5, using their final pick on Filip Ruzicka, a 6-foot-7 goalie from Czechia who played Canadian major junior hockey last season. He won 26 games for Brandon, Manitoba, in the Western Hockey League.
Future Minnesota Duluth forward Victor Plante joined his older brother Max as a Red Wings prospect when Detroit picked the Hermantown native in the second round with the 47th overall pick. Max, who won the Hobey Baker Award as college hockey’s top player last season, was picked by Detroit 47th overall in 2024.
Picking 83rd overall was the second-latest point in the draft for the Wild to have their initial selection. In 2017, they grabbed forward Ivan Lodnia 85th overall with their first pick in the draft. With just three picks, this was the smallest draft class in Wild franchise history.
Briefly
Guerin added that he has had “very, very preliminary” conversations with star defenseman Quinn Hughes and his agent about a contract extension. He did not have an updated timeline on the return of goalie Filip Gustavsson, who had hip surgery last month.
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