Wilde inspired by Werenski in development as 2018 NHL Draft prospect

Bode Wilde tries to pattern his game after a recent alum of USA Hockey's National Team Development Program.
Wilde (6-foot-2, 195 pounds), a right-shot defenseman, is No. 17 on NHL Central Scouting's final ranking of North American skaters eligible for the draft, which will be at American Airlines Arena in Dallas on June 22-23.

"I think I'm kind of an offensive defenseman but I still play defense first," he said. "I like to watch (Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman) Zach Werenski. He's a guy I really look up to and I love the way he plays. I try to pull things from his game and implement them into my own, so an offensive kind of two-way hybrid kind of player."
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Wilde led NTDP under-18 team defenseman with 41 points (12 goals, 29 assists) in 61 games, tied with J.D. Forrest in 1999-2000 for the 10th-highest point total by an NTDP defenseman; Adam Fox (Calgary Flames) is first 59 points in 2015-16.
Werenski had 31 points (seven goals, 24 assists) in 47 games for the NTDP U-17 team in 2013-14, and one goal in four games with the U-18 team.
Although Wilde tries to pattern his game after Werenski, scouts view his style of play a bit differently.
"I think Bode and Zach's game are a little bit different with the puck," Senior Manager of NHL Central Scouting David Gregory said. "I think Zach would hang on to it a little bit longer than Bode would and has that (ability to) slow the game down and let this develop to make a play, where I see Bode transitioning with speed and making a play more on the fly. I'm glad he's saying that (he looks up to Werenski) because there's a lot more cerebral [work] to the game than people might think in Zach than Bode so it's good to know that's who he's trying to emulate."
That Wilde climbed from No. 22 in Central Scouting's midterm ranking of North American skaters to No. 17 in the final ranking is a sign of his growth throughout the season.
"I think he improved his overall game play as the year went on, which is always a good sign because you don't want to see someone plateau," Gregory said. "Regardless of great skills, we want to see them still improve different parts of their game. For me, when I look at a guy from an underage year to an early viewing to a time when we're trying to put him in a final spot in our final rank, you want to see that progression. For me, I saw some of it. There's still room and I think that's where teams are going to say, 'OK can we still get him going more to be a more complete player?' But he's the kind of player someone may just jump up higher than they expect to take."

Wilde is committed to play at the University of Michigan in 2018-19, and while it wasn't because Werenski spent two seasons there prior to signing with the Blue Jackets during the 2015-16 season, he plans to be a sponge to learn more about the game of hockey.
"I just want to go into Michigan next year and soak up as much as I can from (coach) Mel Pearson and learn as much as I can about the defensive side of the game and round out my game as much as I can that way as well as proving my offensive ability as well," he said.
He might get to play at Michigan with another 2018 draft prospect, Quintin Hughes, No. 6 on Central Scouting's final ranking of North American skaters. While they are considered strong offensive players, Wilde views his style of play a bit different in that he's not a puck-rushing defenseman like Hughes.
"My strengths are my shot, my skating, and also just being able to stickhandle for a bigger guy," Wilde said. "There's a time when to (carry the puck) and when not to, same as Quinn Hughes. It's something you learn if you're a puck-rushing defenseman before you get to college."
That ability to know when to handle the puck and when not to is something seen as a positive in Wilde's game.
"He is a transition guy; he'll find the open man and he'll come up and join the play as opposed to being the guy that's going to carry it up and rush the puck and hang onto it until something happens," Gregory said. "That's more Quinn Hughes' game; he loves to have the puck on his stick and recognition of when to dish it, that's when he'll have to do his thing, where I see Bode more one, two, three steps out of the zone. He's got so much speed people give him respect, then he'll snap a pass to someone open on the far blue line that's a hard, accurate kind of pass."