The first round of the 2023 NHL Entry Draft is complete and the Wild made their selection with the 21st pick. With that pick general manager Bill Guerin and their director of amateur scouting, Judd Brackett along with the rest of their staff surprised everyone when they chose Charlie Stramel. He wasn’t expected to be the Wild’s pick but Guerin isn’t one to follow anyone else’s plan but his own.
They added some size and more hometown flair by picking Stramel who’s 6-foot-3 and 222 pounds plus he’s another center. He won’t play immediately but hopefully, he can help their issues down the middle when he does join the lineup down the road.
Stramel Brings Size & Hopefully Offense
Stramel won’t see any time with the Wild in 2023-24, instead, he will spend the season as a sophomore with his NCAA team the University of Wisconsin Badgers. In fact last season, he faced his future Wild teammate Brock Faber during their college seasons, Faber with the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers, and Stramel with the Badgers.
Once he joins the NHL he’ll be able to provide a physical presence that the Wild never seem to have enough of despite having names like Marcus Foligno and Ryan Reaves on the roster. He’s not expected to be their number one center or carry the team but provide grit and a strong work ethic that’ll carry throughout the lineup.
The Athletic’s Michael Russo and Joe Smith interviewed Mark Osiecki who used to be an associate coach for the Badgers and he had great things to say about Stramel, “I think he’s going to be really, really solid. A coach is going to love him. He wants to be pushed so hard. His dad really demanded things out of him. And he responds to it. No one has to coach him and be an a** to him. You can tell him and he wants it and he takes it in. I’m old school, and I look at him like a Joel Otto-type player, but he skates better. He has the ability to be a super dependable center. The dependability part of it is incredible” (from ‘”He’s always with me”: How Wild pick Charlie Stramel’s late father shaped his path to the NHL Draft,’ The Athletic, Jun. 29, 2023).
With those words, it’s hard not to be excited about Stramel’s future even with the slight hiccup he had transitioning to the college level last season. He only had 12 points in 33 games but he’s proven in previous seasons to have a capable offensive game. In the 2021-22 season, he was on five different development-level teams of different age groups where he played 51 games and registered 44 points over that time. Hopefully, he can hone his skills during his second season in the NCAA and be more comfortable letting his true skills shine.
Stramel Fits Guerin’s Ideas
Guerin and Brackett have a plan for how they want to build their team and Stramel fits into their plan for the future. The Wild have almost always struggled when it comes to the center position, but that’s hopefully changing soon. They do have Joel Eriksson Ek and Frédérick Gaudreau locked up long-term and Marco Rossi is a roster hopeful but with several other centers’ contracts up this year or next, there will be room for Stramel in the future.
Aside from Stramel’s size, they really like the style of his game but also knew they needed center depth, so they pursued the best centers that also fit their style. In the same article mentioned above, Guerin stated, “There were a few other players we could have taken, but to fill the need was pretty important this year.”
While the Wild’s postseason motto of “grit first” didn’t work out the greatest this season, it’s still an essential part of the team’s identity. They have a lot of skill but a lot of grit as well and Stramel will fit right in when he joins the team in the future according to Brackett who was also quoted in the same article from The Athletic saying, “It’s so hard to find a center with his size, skating ability — the grit, the jam…He fits a lot of our identity.”
They have some time before they need to consider bringing him up to the NHL and hopefully, he’s able to use that to focus on certain areas of his game. He has the potential to be anywhere from a fourth to second-line center if he can find his offense again.
First Impressions of Stramel
Personally, I’m a fan of Stramel. While it’s great to go after the big names, it’s also great to go off the beaten path once in a while and find that gem of a player that everyone tends to overlook. Being drafted late in the first round or early in the second isn’t exactly overlooked, but they don’t get the same attention as the top five.
Related: 2023 NHL Draft Guide
I feel like Stramel is that gem, most aren’t quite sure of what he’ll do especially with his offense in question, but I love seeing the college kids get picked. I feel like there’s a lot of competition in the NCAA and it’s a strong place to grow a player’s game. I’m excited to see him improve his game and I’m always partial to the local kids making it big with their hometown team. Hopefully, he’s everything the Wild want and more when he joins the big leagues.
Stats courtesy of NHL.com and Elite Prospects