The Minnesota Wild are considered to have one of the better prospect pools in the NHL. Leading up to the opening of training camp in mid-September, we will look at the club’s top 30 prospects. Every player on the list will be 25 years old or younger, whose rights are currently held by the Wild or are on AHL or NHL deals and have played less than 40 NHL games.
#25 William Rousseau, G
Age: 21
Catches: Left
Height: 6'1''
Weight: 185
Contract: 24/25
Draft: Undrafted
Last Year's Rankings: Not Ranked
Projection: Depth starting goaltender who could receive NHL games
The Wild invited the QMJHL Goalie of The Year Award Winner to development camp at the start of July. By the end of camp, the Iowa Heartlanders (Wild's ECHL team) signed William Rousseau to a contract for the 2024-25 season.
Rousseau, 21, played in 50 games last year for the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. He went 34-10-1 with a 2.24 goals-against-average (GAA), a .924 save percentage (SV%), and had eight shutouts.
He led the league in GAA the last two seasons and finished second in SV%. He ranked first in GAA, wins, and shutouts last year. In his four years in the QMJHL, Rousseau went 95-26-3 with a 2.35 GAA, a .910 SV%, and 15 shutouts in 137 games played.
The Heartlanders have one goaltender currently on their pre-season roster and that is Rousseau. They let go of Drew DeRidder earlier this offseason and Peyton Jones remains without a contract.
The 6-foot-1 goaltender should receive a lot of games this year with the Heartlanders. Kyle McClellan could join him in Iowa as well. As of now the Wild's goaltending depth chart looks like this.
By the looks of it, the Wild will likely go with three goalies on the NHL roster. Fleury, Gustavsson, and Wallstedt. This leaves Grosenick and Hlavaj in the AHL with the Iowa Wild and McClallan and Rousseau in the ECHL with the Iowa Heartlanders.
Assuming they will split time in the ECHL, both Rousseau and McClellan are two prospects Wild fans should keep an eye on.
