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"I think we accomplished what we set out to do with this year's crop," said general manager, Blake Wendt. A crop that by many expert's accounts, was not overwhelmingly laden with a wealth of depth.
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"With our first pick, we waited for the third round and took the best available player," said Wendt regarding the 47th overall selection, defenseman Ryan Collins. "He just happened to a local kid who will be heading to the 'U' (University of Minnesota) in the fall. We like his game. He's a big, 6'5", sturdy stay-at-home defenseman that needs some seasoning and added strength to play to his full potential. He should get that under Don Lucia at Minnesota and we will be patient with his development. But we love the potential that is there."
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The Norsemen next pick came in the fourth round with the selection of forward, Ryan Dzingel from THE Ohio State University. The Weaton, Illinois-native finished his collegiate season with 46 points in 37 games.
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In the fifth round, Wendt and his staff reached all the way across the Twin Cities and picked up arguably the best NCAA goalie from the past two seasons, Adam Wilcox from the University of Minnesota. The South St. Paul-native was someone that the Norsemen had coveted for the past couple seasons. "We were quite aware of what Wilcox has been doing in his first two seasons of college hockey," said Wendt. "We almost took him last season, but our list was pretty extensive. This year we knew we wanted him, and when other similar goaltenders were being picked, we made the move then before he was gone."
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In the sixth round, Minnesota used their own pick to take another goalie in 28 year old, UMass-Lowell alum, Carter Hutton. The Thunder Bay, Ontario-native is expected to fight Jonas Gustavsson in Training Camp for the back-up role behind Semyon Varlamov.
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Using one of two picks bought from the Georgetown Millers, the Norsemen again stayed in-state and chose St. Cloud State scoring machine, Jonny Brodzinski. The Ham Lake, Minnesota-native finished his sophomore season with 41 points in 38 games.
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Round 7, and the Minnesota Norsemen finally reached across the pond to take Axel Holmstrom from the Swedish Hockey League's Skelleftea AIK.
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With their final pick from the Millers, it was back to the local flare and Caleb Herbert from the University of Minnesota-Duluth.
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"This is a small class compared to years past for us," said Wendt. "We're in a different stage in the development of a competitive overall hockey club. These players here will all play a role in that transition. Some are older and more seasoned. The curve isn't as drastic as maybe a class of all eighteen year olds. We know a bunch of them can and have transitioned to a higher level of competition and been able to make an impact. That's why I think this Draft class for us is very special."
