The Minnesota Wild left the 2026 NHL Draft with just three picks, the smallest draft class in franchise history, and all three additions fit the kind of profile this front office clearly targeted: size, utility, and upside.
Minnesota came into Buffalo holding five selections, but the board quickly shrank. Per Michael Russo of The Athletic, the Wild ended up with two forwards and a goaltender, and for the first time in franchise history, they have now gone back-to-back drafts without a first-round pick.
That was baked into the setup before the weekend even began. Minnesota had already sent its first-rounder to the Vancouver Canucks in the Quinn Hughes deal and moved its second-round pick to the Nashville Predators for Gustav Nyquist.
General manager Bill Guerin made it clear before the draft that Minnesota wasn’t chasing picks just to chase them. “We don't feel a necessity to get into those rounds. Hey, look, if something comes up and it benefits the organization, then you do it.”
Once the draft started, Guerin still found ways to move around. The Wild traded Pick 89 and Pick 153 to the Los Angeles Kings for Pick 83, then later sent their fourth-rounder at Pick 121 and sixth-rounder at Pick 185 to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Pick 112.
That set up Minnesota’s first selection: Adam Andersson at Pick 83.
Andersson is a 17-year-old center from Leksand Jr in Sweden, and the first thing that jumps out is the frame. He stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 218 pounds, and he already plays like a forward who knows how to use every inch of it.
He works the puck hard, leans into a two-way role, and scouts view him more as a playmaker than a pure finisher. Last season with Leksands IF’s under-20 team, he put up 17 points, including three goals and 14 assists, in 30 games.
He also delivered on the international stage. Andersson had four points, one goal and three assists, in seven games as Sweden won gold at the 2026 IIHF Under-18 World Championship. He finished second among all skaters in the tournament with 61 faceoff wins.
The upside comes with some work still ahead. DobberProspects described him as a strong, aggressive two-way player with good vision and spatial awareness, while noting that his shot and skating need refinement. Upside Hockey projected him as a bottom-six center.
Minnesota’s next pick was Kayden Lemire at Pick 112, a 6-foot-4 winger from Edmonton who spent the season with the Prince George Cougars of the WHL.
Lemire plays a heavy style and knows how to use his size in traffic. What separates him from a typical depth option is that he can handle the puck cleanly and bring a strong wrist shot.
He posted 29 points in 68 games last season, and the Wild believe the skating can come along with work. He has already started that process by working with a power-skating coach in the offseason to improve his stride.
Wild scout Patrick Baum said, “He moves well and provides a good net front presence. Operates well below the dots and behind the net.”
The external rankings lined up with that general view. The Hockey News had him 89th on its board, while Daily Faceoff ranked him 105th. The overall read is familiar: a checking-line winger with physical depth, dependable defense, and net-front value, with a shot at a middle-six role if the skating keeps improving.
The final pick came at No. 137, and it was a big one in every sense: Filip Ruzicka, a 6-foot-8, 229-pound goaltender from Brandon.
Ruzicka, a Czech netminder, was taken 104th overall by the Brandon Wheat Kings in the 2025 CHL Import Draft. He took the job from veteran Jayden Kraus by December and went 7-0-0-0 that month, which earned him WHL Goaltender of the month honors.
He closed his rookie WHL season with a Del Wilson Memorial Trophy nomination for WHL Goaltender of the Year after going 26-14-1-0 with a 3.19 GAA, a .906 save percentage, and two shutouts in 42 games. One of his best nights came in February, when he stopped 47 shots against Penticton.
His size is the obvious calling card, but the rest of his game has already started to catch up. Ruzicka covers the net well, uses his reach to seal the short side, controls the posts, and handles second-chance chaos around the crease. NHL Central Scouting ranked him fourth among North American goalies and projected him as a player who could become a reliable No. 1 goalie down the road.
The three-pick outcome fits the broader direction Guerin has taken with this roster. The Hughes trade is the clearest example: it cost Minnesota major draft capital, but it also helped push the club to a 46-win season and a first-round win over Dallas.
After the draft, Guerin kept the focus on the team as it stands now. “We're still a pretty good team," he said, “and we've got some holes to fill.
We'll fill them. We just don't know in which way we'll do that right now.”
Director of European scouting Ricard Persson, who ran the draft this year, put it plainly: "We were aggressive, and we went after the guys we really like."
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