The Wild made a roster move on their off day, announcing that center Hunter Haight has been sent back to AHL Iowa. He was on a regular recall – Minnesota’s first – meaning that they have four non-emergency promotions remaining this season.
The 21-year-old has been shuffled back and forth quite frequently this season, six times, in fact. For all those promotions, Haight hasn’t seen a lot of NHL action. He got into two games with Minnesota on this most recent stint where he picked up his first assist and point of the season against Chicago. Overall, he has suited up in seven games with the big club and is averaging just under 10 minutes a night of playing time.
Haight has been considerably more productive with Iowa, however. Through 43 games with them, he has 12 goals and 11 assists, good for sixth on the team in scoring. He has one season remaining on his entry-level contract after this one.
When Haight was brought up a week and a half ago, Minnesota was dealing with some injuries. However, Bobby Brink and Joel Eriksson Ek (injured at the time) have since returned to the lineup, giving them 15 healthy forwards at the moment. With that in mind, it makes much more sense to have Haight playing back in Iowa over sitting in the press box in Minnesota.