‘Surreal feeling’: Klippenstein reflects on being drafted by Wild

By Lethbridge Herald on July 3, 2025.

Submitted photo Carter Klippenstein is seen here coming out on the ice during a game.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

Local forward Carter Klippenstein experienced a moment in his hockey career he will never forget last weekend.

Klippenstein was selected in the fourth round at 123rd overall by the Minnesota Wild on Saturday at the NHL draft in Los Angeles.

“It’s a surreal feeling,” said the 18-year-old Brandon Wheat Kings forward.

“You don’t really realize it’s real until you take a couple seconds to take it all in, but it was (an) extremely exciting moment for me and my family.”

He found out he got drafted by watching it on his phone.

Draft day was spent with family in Lethbridge.

“We had almost all my close family members over, probably close to 20 people, and then I had my trainer over too and my billet family from Brandon,” said Klippenstein.

“It was a really good day to be able to share with all of them.”

The Wild were not necessarily at the top of Klippenstein’s list going into the draft.

“I talked to them once in the middle of the year and then once (at) the combine, but I definitely talked to some other teams more,” said Klippenstein.

“I definitely knew I had a chance with them for sure.”

Klippenstein experienced his first Wild development camp this week.

“There’s only I think 14 or 15 guys there and we just did a bunch (of) off-ice presentations,” said Klippenstein.

“I really like how they did it because it’s just a smaller group and off the ice, you really got to learn a lot about the organization and the guys around you too.”

Klippenstein spoke about what is offseason will look like now that he has been drafted.

“Definitely add some weight and strength, it’s very big, and just take all the information and tools that Minnesota has for me and try and develop myself as much as I can going into the next season,” said Klippenstein.

He credits family, friends, coaches and trainers for getting him to this point in his career.

Klippenstein had 28 points (14 goals, 14 assists) in his second full season with the Wheat Kings last year.

Klippenstein played minor hockey in Lethbridge from peewee double-A’s to the Val Matteotti Golden Hawks U15AAA team and all the way up to   a year with the U18AAA team before going to the Edge School.

“You never really have to question his work ethic,” said Marty Murray, Wheat Kings head coach and general manager.

“I think that consistency with his work ethic and his ability to skate … really caught the eye of a lot of NHL teams. And I think he’s just scratching the surface of what he can be as a player.”