Minnesota Wild Bringing Top Prospect to NHL

The Minnesota Wild ended their season before they wanted to. Yet another first round exit from the Stanley Cup playoffs is hardly heartwarming. However, they got healthy at the end of the year and pushed the Vegas Golden Knights to the brink.

Next season brings plenty of intrigue and Bill Guerin has plenty on his plate this offseason. It’s possible that Kirill Kaprizov becomes the highest-paid player in the sport. The salary cap hit from Ryan Suter and Zach Parise’s contracts are over. Now they’ll also have a new top prospect join John Hynes’ rotation.

Danila Yurov signs with Minnesota Wild

This season the Minnesota Wild drafted defenseman Zeev Buium out of Denver and immediately got him on the ice for the playoffs. Danila Yurov was their first round pick in 2022 and they needed time find the right time to bring him stateside. That time is now.

The #mnwild have signed 21–year-old Danila Yurov to his three-year ELC

— Jessi Pierce (@jessi_pierce) May 16, 2025

The Russian is a 21-year-old center has been a dominant force in the KHL. This past season, across 46 games, Yurov scored 13 goals with 12 assists. Last year in 62 games he scored 21 goals with 28 assists for Metallurg.

The Athletic’s Michael Russo is reporting that Yurov’s three-year entry-level contract is for $2.855 million and includes a European out clause that would allow him to be loaned back to his KHL club. He was the 24th overall pick in 2022.

His 41 career KHL goals are the most ever scored by a player under 21 years old. The record was previously held by NHL star Vladimir Tarasenko.

“If you were to fill up two buckets with his tools (one for the strengths, one for the weaknesses) and place them on a scale, the bucket with his strengths in it would be overflowing and the one with his weaknesses would be near empty. He plays hard and fast. He pushes tempo. He’s a strong and balanced skater. He’s an excellent give-and-go player who excels at playing in and out of space without the puck. His shot comes off his blade hard in motion (and has added some versatility/different weapons after it was more of a stand-up wrister earlier in his development). He’s got pro size (6-foot-1 and about 180 pounds) and skill. He’s diligent in all three zones. And he’s almost always in the right position or reading the play to get back into it (on offense or defense).”

Scott Wheeler – The Athletic

The goal for John Hynes would be to plug Yurov in at center. He could immediately develop a rapport with countryman Kaprizov, and that connection may be electric. The Wild are looking for a stabilizing scoring presence, and that could help to take some pressure off the defense.

Yurov’s addition to the Wild makes things interesting for Marco Rossi. Despite being the team’s second-leading scorer this season, he was often cast aside and overlooked. Contract negotiations are ongoing there, and the sides probably need to mend some fences.

It remains to be seen how Guerin will handle the offseason, but the first domino has now fallen.