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Minnesota Wild Take Jesper Wallstedt, Carson Lambos In NHL Draft's First Round

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- In the midst of a transformative offseason in which the Minnesota Wild bought out two faces of the franchise, the team is adding fresh faces through the NHL draft.

The Wild traded its 22nd and 90th picks with the Edmonton Oilers for pick number 20 on Friday night, selecting Swedish goalie Jesper Wallstedt.

Then, with its second pick from the first round, the team selected defenseman Carson Lambos from Canada.

On Saturday during the second round, the team chose Minnesotan Jack Peart, who won the 37th Annual Mr. Hockey Award.

With the 89th pick, the Wild chose centerman Caedan Bankier.

Saturday afternoon with the 118th pick, the team chose defenseman Kyle Masters. Following that, they took Josh Pillar.

Earlier this month, the Wild announced a buyout of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, who each had four years left on identical 13-year contracts. Parise and Suter rank third and fourth, respectively, on a list of the team's all-time points leaders.

With Parise and Suter gone, it's time for the young players to take the team's reins. Last season, Kirill Kaprizov became the first player in Wild history to win the Calder Trophy, awarded to the league's best rookie. The 24-year-old led all first-year players in goals. The left wing was the Wild's 135th overall pick in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, before he officially signed a two-year deal with the team in the summer of 2020.

The Wild also lost defenseman Carson Soucy to the Seattle Kraken in the expansion draft.

Last season, the Wild lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Vegas Golden Knights. Since the 2012 season, the team has only missed the playoffs once.

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