Team USA won the gold medal at the World Junior Championship on Thursday and players drafted by the Minnesota Wild had a lot to do with that.
There were also Wild players on other national teams who played well, too. Here’s a rundown of all the prospects that were turning heads at this year’s tournament.
Luke Kunin
Minnesota’s first-round pick from last June, Luke Kunin was Team USA’s captain. Kunin was a monster in the faceoff dot winning 59 percent of his draws.
Kunin finished the tournament with 2 goals and 2 assists.
Jordan Greenway
Nineteen-year old Jordan Greenway – Minnesota’s second round pick in 2015 – was tied for first on the team in points with 3 goals and 5 assists.
Greenway is a power forward who at 19 years old is already 6′ 5″ and 225 pounds.
Joel Eriksson-Ek
Eriksson-Ek was on the Wild’s roster earlier this season and he was Team Sweden’s captain. His 6 goals were the third most in the tournament.
Kirill Kaprizov
The diamond in the rough during the tournament was Kirill Kaprizov. A fifth-round pick by the Wild in 2015, scored 9 goals leading all players.
Those 9 goals were the most by a Russian player at any World Juniors tournament.
Which is pretty impressive considering guys like Alexander Ovechkin, Evengeni Malkin and Ilya Kovalchuk all laced up skates for Team Russia before tearing up the NHL.
???? #mnwild prospects Kirill Kaprizov, @LukeKunin9, @JGreenway12 & @ErikssonEk had a pretty good showing yesterday at #WorldJuniors. pic.twitter.com/9PGniJ65CC
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) January 5, 2017
Even though none of these players are at the AHL level yet, clearly, Minnesota has a core of prospects that other teams would be drooling over.
