Minnesota Wild sign Riley Heidt to three-year, entry-level contract

Minnesota Wild President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Bill Guerin announced that the Wild has signed forward Riley Heidt to a three-year, entry-level contract starting with the 2024-25 season.

Heidt was selected No. 64 overall in the second round of the 2023 NHL Draft.

The 18-year-old has spent the 2023-24 campaign with the Prince George Cougars in the Western Hockey League (WHL) where he has amassed 34 goals and 80 assists for 114 points in 65 games. Leaguewide, Heidt is ranked 19th in goals, second in assists and third in points. Heidt became the third player in Cougars’ history to reach 100 points in a season and became the all-time assist leader in Prince George’s history this year.

Honours this season include being named WHL Player of the Month for December after recording seven goals and 14 assists for 24 points over 11 games. He was also named WHL Player of the Week on Feb. 26 after posting 11 points in four games.

The Saskatoon, Saskatchewan product has appeared in 220 games over the span of four seasons with the Cougars, registering 82 goals and 195 assists for 277 points, 18 powerplay goals, 91 powerplay assists and 143 penalty minutes in that frame. During the 2022-23 campaign, Heidt ranked first in the WHL in powerplay assists with 39 and tied for first in assists with 72 and fourth in points with 97.

You can watch the Cougars in action Saturday evening as they host the Kamloops Blazers in what will be their final regular season game for the 2023-24 campaign. Prince George is destined to go on a big run, they currently sit first in the WHL and first in the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) with 47 wins, setting a new franchise record for victories in a single season.