NHL Prospect Roundup: Wild’s Charlie Stramel is thriving after switch to Michigan State

Credit: Steven Ellis/The Nation Network

The Charlie Stramel you can watch today at Michigan State University isn’t the one you saw at the University of Wisconsin the past two years.

His development has been quite fascinating to watch. At 6-foot-3 and more than 220 pounds, Stramel isn’t a small man. That size advantage allowed him to play up with the USA Hockey National Team Development Program’s U-18 team as a 16-year-old, and it helped put him on the radar as an underaged, draft-eligible prospect at the 2022 World Juniors. He went on to play in two tournaments and seemed like a solid bet to make it for an elusive third showing last December.

But USA Hockey left him off – a rarity for any returning player, let alone one with two years of experience while with the Program.

If you check out the numbers, it makes sense – he went on to have just three goals and eight points in 34 games after putting up 12 points as a freshman at Wisconsin. Suddenly, the Minnesota Wild first-rounder had fallen off in a big way. He originally joined Wisconsin under the leadership of coach Tony Granato, but he was replaced by Mike Hastings ahead of 2023-24. Any time there’s a coaching change at a school, it has a ripple effect because players often commit to a program because of a coach. It looked like Stramel quickly fell out of favor in Wisconsin and needed a change.

So, in an attempt to get his career back on track, he made the decision to head to Michigan State University for 2024-25. It was a big move – but he was reunited with a familiar face. He chose to link back up with his former USNTDP coach, Adam Nightingale, who has always shown great confidence in Stramel’s abilities.

“The big thing was having the initial trust with the coach,” Stramel said after MSU’s win over Canisius on Saturday. “Nighty, we were close at the Program. So having him as a coach, being trustworthy, is big for me… The honesty, the upfrontness and him wanting me to be the best every day of the week. He holds you to a certain standard that I think makes you an elite player at the end of the day.”

While skating on a line with former USTNDP teammate Isaac Howard, Stramel has five points in six games, including a two-goal effort against Boston College earlier in October.

“I think my confidence is back,” Stramel said. “I’m confident with my linemates as well. I’ve got some chemistry going. The team’s playing great, and it’s always easy to play when the team’s doing well.”

Stramel said it was difficult leaving his teammates at Wisconsin, but he still keeps a close eye on how they’re doing. But right now, Stramel is happy with where he is – MSU is a top-five team in the country right now with a legitimate shot of going the distance. Stramel appreciates being in an environment like that and playing with a group with some serious depth.

And the Wild must be happy, too. The team had representatives in Buffalo to watch Stramel play up close over the weekend, and Stramel just looked like a totally different player. Stramel still easily powered through forwards with his brute force, but he also generated some high-quality chances – including seven shots on Saturday.

Stramel is still a while away from being an NHLer, but all you can ask for from a once-struggling prospect is to see some progress. There’s been plenty of that in Lansing this year, that’s for sure.

NCAA

– The move to the University of Minnesota has had some seriously positive effects on Matthew Wood. The Nashville Predators draft pick had a three-point effort in his debut earlier this month and has multi-point efforts in all but one game so far. With 12 points in six games, Wood is nearly halfway to tying his 28-point effort as a sophomore with Connecticut last year. Wood is looking extremely confident, putting these numbers up alongside Tampa Bay Lightning prospect Connor Kurth. And to think – we haven’t seen much of Wood’s dangerous shot just yet. Wait until he gets back to sniping again. Regardless, Wood is playing well enough to secure a spot on Canada’s World Junior team for a second straight year.

AHL

– The Calgary Wranglers are a wagon right now – and Rory Kerins is one of the best. Drafted in the sixth round in 2020 by the Calgary Flames, the former Soo Greyhounds forward already has eight goals and 10 points through eight games. He already has half the goals he scored through 54 games as a rookie last year – which is noteworthy since 16 goals isn’t too shabby as a first-year AHLer. At 22, Kerins isn’t exactly young by prospect terms, but he’s doing enough to potentially force a call-up at some point.

– The Detroit Red Wings have had some questionable goaltending early on, but Sebastian Cossa looks great with Grand Rapids. He’s up to 4-1-0 with a shutout and a .954 save percentage through five games while sharing the net with veteran Ville Husso. In fact, Cossa has allowed more than one goal just once this season, coming in the lone loss against Rockford (and he wasn’t that bad that night, either). The 21-year-old appears to be Detroit’s goaltender of the future, and after putting up great numbers last year, he’s showing why he should challenge for the starting gig with the big club sooner rather than later.

KHL

– KHL goaltending stats can be difficult to get a good read on. A .913 save percentage, for example, is nothing special. But Sergei Ivanov has looked good with HK Sochi, even if his 2-7-0 record doesn’t look so great. A Columbus Blue Jackets prospect, Ivanov was loaned by SKA St. Petersburg to Sochi to get more playing time this year, just like they did when they sent him to Admiral Vladivostok in 2023-24. It hasn’t been an easy run for him, but Ivanov was good in the two shutout efforts and hasn’t allowed more than three goals in a game in more than a month. Overall, he’s looking good.

– It’s good to see Daniil But playing a leading role with Lokomotiv. The 19-year-old is fascinating because he was much more productive than your average 6-foot-6 winger as a junior player. Now, he’s on pace for just under 50 points in his second year of full-time KHL duty. The biggest thing I’ve noticed? He’s more creative than we’ve seen before, and I think that’s because he’s less afraid of making mistakes and getting sent back down to junior. I look forward to him pushing for NHL ice time once his Russian contract concludes this spring – Utah has a good one here.

OHL

– Beckett Sennecke started Anaheim Ducks‘ training camp on the sidelines, and he was dead quiet with just two points in his first five OHL games this year with Oshawa. But in five games since Oct. 18, Sennecke has 11 points, including a hat-trick against Peterborough on Sunday. Having Colorado’s Cal Ritchie back from the NHL doesn’t hurt, but Sennecke is still Oshawa’s primary play driver and his aggressive style looks a bit more refined than it did throughout most of 2023-24. It’s still too early to judge if he was the right pick by the Ducks at No. 3 a few months back, but I like what I’ve seen since then.

WHL

– I’m not sure Tyler Thorpe will ever play a game for the Montreal Canadiens. But as an overage pick in 2024, there’s a lot to like – and he’s coming off one of the best games of his junior career. Thorpe has 12 points in 13 games, but he had two goals and seven shots against Kamloops on Sunday as the best player in that game. Thorpe isn’t known for big, explosive scoring rushes, but the 6-foot-4 forward has figured out how to use his pure strength to win more battles and get pucks on net. At the very least, I think he can be a decent AHLer one day because his power-forward style should translate over to the pro game quite well.

QMHL

– Simon-Pier Brunet was drafted 123rd overall by the Buffalo Sabres to be a strong, physical, defensive defenseman. Nothing more, really. But with 12 points in 13 games, he’s already one point off his previous best of 14 from last year while being even more physical than he was back then. The Sabres have to be thrilled about his improved puck play, especially after riding a three-point weekend. Do I trust his offensive skills? I don’t think so – if he makes the NHL, it’ll be as more of a shutdown guy. But Brunet does look much better with the puck than we’ve seen in the past and is an overall more well-rounded threat with Drummondville each night because of it.

USHL

– Blake Montgomery was a nice, under-the-radar pickup by the Ottawa Senators in 2024, and he’s looking intriguing right now. For starters, he’s 6-foot-4 and he isn’t afraid to throw his body around. Mix in the fact he’s playing at a point-per-game pace with the Lincoln Stars, and there’s a lot to like right now. Montgomery is a lean, mean, play-driving machine. In fact, he’s already looking a full step ahead of his solid rookie season from a year ago. As an overage pickup, Montgomery showed value as a shooter – right now, he looks more dangerous at both ends of the ice.

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NHL Prospect Roundup: Wild’s Charlie Stramel is thriving after switch to Michigan State

NCAA

AHL

KHL

OHL

WHL

QMHL

USHL

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