NHL draft day brings quite a bit of anticipation and hope. For the Wild it is Judd Brackett's day to call the shots. The Wild own the 21st pick in round one and two picks in the second round. They have no picks in either the third or fourth rounds as it stands now.

There is always a possibility of the Wild packaging their first round pick and a player or prospect if the right opportunity presented itself for one of the players Brackett has targeted. The pool is deep by all accounts and this is one of the most anticipated draft classes that we have seen in many years.

Brackett and his team work tirelessly throughout the year spanning the globe to identify the talent and who is the right fits and also who may be the diamonds in the rough.

There is also the potential for the Wild to trade back from 21 if their targeted players are either gone or several still on the board. That is where Bill Guerin is relied on to be able to make something happen in short order using his expertise and connections to complete draft day trades.

It is an exciting time for the Wild. They are in a self inflicted cap crunch, but have a solid playoff nucleus in which to enhance. Today is one of those dates circled on the calendar along with Saturday's opening of the free agent window.

We know that Guerin will not have much flexibility to wheel and deal on Saturday, with the Wild cap situation. However today is a different story and who knows what the Wild GM has up his sleeve?

Three of the Wild's top offensive prospects are expected to be in Minnesota at the beginning of the 2024-25 season. Danila Yurov, Marat Khusnutdinov, and Liam Ohgren are all expected to competing for NHL jobs then. That said, it is still a long year off for those bright young stars to hit the ice in North America. There is a need to improve the current Wild roster now even before those players arrive.

The next big night in Bill Guerin's plan takes shape in just a few hours...

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