The Wild’s minor-league team is adding another top prospect.
Wild 2022 first round pick Liam Ohgren arrives, will play in Iowa
The forward has completed his season in Sweden and will skate for the Wild’s AHL team in Des Moines.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
April 2, 2024 at 8:22PM
Liam Ohgren is joining Iowa in the American Hockey League from Sweden after a productive season in the country’s best league.
Ohgren, who was drafted by the Wild in the first round (19th overall) in 2022, scored 12 goals and had seven assists in 26 games with Färjestad BK in the Swedish Elite League. The 20-year-old winger also captained Sweden at the 2024 World Junior Championship and won a silver medal after recovering from injury.
After this stint in Iowa, Ohgren will compete for a spot with the Wild at training camp in the fall.
He signed an entry-level contract in 2022.
Last season, Ohgren played for Djurgårdens as it vied to return to the SHL after being relegated.
Although Ohgren chipped in eight goals in 17 games during qualification action, Djurgarden didn’t advance. Ohgren, however, still moved up to the SHL by switching to Färjestad BK, which is the same team Jonas Brodin, Joel Eriksson Ek and Marcus Johansson played for while in Sweden.
Even before Ohgren’s arrival, Iowa had an influx of Wild prospects.
Jack Peart left St. Cloud State last week to turn pro and is with Iowa on an amateur tryout. The defenseman was drafted in the second round by the Wild in 2021 and suited up for his first game last Saturday.
Vladislav Firstov is also on Iowa’s roster after playing in the KHL.
Firstov was a second-round pick in 2019, and the winger has one assist in four games.
Iowa has eight games left on its schedule, beginning Friday vs. Hershey, and ranks sixth in the Central Division; the top five will make the playoffs.
Hartman sits
Ryan Hartman began serving a three-game suspension Tuesday for throwing a stick in the direction of officials at the end of the Wild’s 2-1 overtime loss to Vegas last Saturday, a decision Hartman said he respected and will learn from.
“There’s no place for something like that,” Hartman said. “Obviously, in the moment, frustrations kind of boiling over.”
The Wild received zero points because they gave up an empty-net goal after pulling their goalie in overtime. Hartman was frustrated by that outcome and the fact the Golden Knights weren’t penalized after Hartman was clipped with a high stick late in the third period.
“Calls are going to be missed,” the center said. “They don’t have an easy job, the refs. The game happens fast. But in the moment with the importance of the game and with 1:40 left, we have a chance to be on the power play to get two points. I was over-the-top frustrated. I care a lot about this team and a lot about winning.”
During his hearing with the NHL’s Department of Player Safety on Monday, Hartman said he wasn’t making an excuse for the stick throw but rather apologizing for it and owning up to it.
“It wasn’t directed toward an official or player,” Hartman explained.
This is Hartman’s second suspension this season and fourth in his NHL career, and he’s been fined seven times.
He said he doesn’t feel he’s been putting the Wild “behind the eight ball” by taking frustration penalties and believes his track record shouldn’t influence whether penalties are called.
“That’s part of the job, to be an unbiased official, and I think they do a pretty good job of that,” Hartman said. “So, if that is what’s going on, I don’t know. But I don’t feel that way.”
The Wild’s Black Friday matinée is against Chicago, a team that doesn’t win often, but when it does, it seems to be at the expense of some of the NHL’s best teams.
