Wild Recall Ben Jones, Nicolas Aube-Kubel
After recalling a pair of depth players yesterday, the Minnesota Wild are again adding more reinforcements for their final two games of the regular season. The Wild announced that they’ve recalled forwards Ben Jones and Nicolas Aube-Kubel from the AHL’s Iowa Wild. Michael Russo of The Athletic indicated they would do so in a report earlier this morning.
As Russo alluded to, today’s transaction caps Minnesota at four post-trade deadline recalls, meaning they’ll have to wait until AHL Iowa finishes its season to recall any more Black Aces for the playoffs. Still, since AHL Iowa has already been eliminated from Calder Cup playoff contention, the Wild will have access to whomever they’d like.
Jones, 27, has been an oft-recalled player for the Wild this season. The Waterloo, ON native has been playing professionally for the past seven years with various organizations, although much of his NHL playing time has been spent with Minnesota.
Understandably, he’s performed much better at the AHL level. In 35 games for AHL Iowa this season, Jones has registered 12 goals and 30 points with a +2 rating. In Minnesota, he’s scored one goal and one assist in 26 contests with a -10 rating, averaging 8:36 of ice time per game.
Meanwhile, despite Aube-Kubel having more years of NHL experience than Jones, he has played almost exclusively for AHL Iowa this season. Throughout his first year with the organization, Aube-Kubel has scored 15 goals and 37 points in 60 AHL games, and one assist in four NHL contests.
Wild Recall Hunter Haight, Matt Kiersted
The Minnesota Wild recalled Hunter Haight and Matt Kiersted from AHL Iowa, announced today. With their first round playoff opponent set (Dallas) the club has summoned reinforcements for their final two regular season games; tomorrow at St. Louis and Tuesday against Anaheim.
Both Haight and Kiersted have contributed as depth already this season, and despite being key players for the farm club, Iowa is ranked 29th in the AHL and therefore doesn’t have the highest stakes after what has been another forgettable season.
Haight, 22, is a noteworthy prospect of Minnesota. Selected 47th overall in 2022, the center jumped into the AHL last season as an immediate contributor, posting 34 points in 67 games. He followed that up with more progression, nearly matching the same output in 16 fewer contests. The efforts got him his NHL debut in October, followed by brief stints both in the winter, and the spring, as recently as last month.
The rookie recorded his first NHL point in March, an assist. His usage remains limited, just one tick below 10:00 across the seven total games. An AHL All Star this season, the Ontario native has high puck skill for a projected top nine forward at the NHL level. As expected, he’s often been sheltered starting nearly 60% of his shifts in the offensive zone, but such will change should he develop into a trustworthy two-way center.
On the other hand, Kiersted is an AHL veteran at age 27. In his first season with the Wild organization, the Minnesota native spent most of the year in Iowa, outside of four games with the big club. Usually more offensively capable, with a 29-point campaign last year with the Charlotte Checkers, Kiersted had just 12 points in 49 games with Iowa.
Having 43 NHL games under his belt, 39 of which come from his time in Florida, the lefty is a dependable call-up to fill in on the blue line. In his last NHL contest, January 5 at Los Angeles, Kiersted played just 8:31 but he’ll figure to see more action in the coming days.
With the likes of Joel Eriksson Ek, Mats Zuccarello, and Jared Spurgeon all day-to-day, and the chance to rest more stars such as Kirill Kaprizov and Quinn Hughes, the duo will have plenty of opportunity tomorrow night.
Wild Sign Viking Gustafsson Nyberg To Entry-Level Deal
April 9: The Wild announced a two-year, entry-level deal for Gustafsson Nyberg that begins immediately. He’ll be on the NHL roster for the rest of the season and will be a restricted free agent in 2027. He is now ineligible to be returned to Iowa until next year, nor can he log playoff action for Minnesota, but he will be a regular-season option for the final few games. He had an assist and a +1 rating in two outings for the AHL club this week. Per PuckPedia, his contract carries a $975K cap hit that breaks down into an $877.5K salary, $97.5K signing bonus, and a $85K minors salary in both seasons (prorated for 2025-26).
April 6: The Wild are on the verge of signing UConn defenseman Viking Gustafsson Nyberg to an entry-level contract that begins this season, Michael Russo of The Athletic reports Monday. In the interim, the team announced they’ve signed him to an amateur tryout that will allow him to make his pro debut this week for AHL Iowa.
Having Gustafsson Nyberg sign a tryout first will allow him to get minor-league action in while still allowing him to be an NHL option for at least one game in the regular season, while burning a year off his contract. Since he’s not a Wild draft pick and wasn’t on their reserve list at the trade deadline, he would not be eligible to play in the AHL this year once he signs an NHL contract.
The 22-year-old Swede will check into the pro ranks after a three-year collegiate career. The hulking 6’6″ lefty committed to Northern Michigan as a freshman but entered the transfer portal the following year, landing in Connecticut for his sophomore season.
Gustafsson Nyberg has been a shutdown standout for the Huskies. His offensive utility is limited; he’s scored just three goals with 22 assists for 25 points in 110 career NCAA games. However, his +18 rating this year led UConn while serving as an alternate captain.
He’ll turn 23 during training camp next year, but he’ll still be 22 on Sep 15, so that’s his signing age for the purposes of his entry-level contract. That means it’ll be a two-year deal when he puts pen to paper, so even if the contract starts now, he’ll have to wait until 2027 to test restricted free agency. It seems unlikely he’ll be in serious contention for an NHL roster spot in the fall but should be a welcome defensive presence for Iowa as the Wild look to replenish their cupboards after dealing away a significant amount of prospect capital this season.
Minnesota Wild Sign Charlie Stramel
According to Michael Russo of The Athletic, the Minnesota Wild have signed collegiate prospect Charlie Stramel to his entry-level contract. The Wild later confirmed the news.
In Russo’s report, he indicated that it would be a three-year, $3.225MM ($1.075MM AAV) deal for Stramel, including schedule ‘A’ bonuses. Expectedly, Stramel’s deal won’t start until the 2026-27 season, and he’s not expected to play for the rest of this season.
The reason he isn’t expected to play is that Stramel broke his ankle in Michigan State University’s last game of the season against the University of Wisconsin. He blocked a shot early in the postseason contest and was removed from the game entirely before Wisconsin made its magical run at the end of the contest.
Still, it was clear that the Wild would want to sign him regardless. Stramel was scheduled to become a collegiate free agent this summer if he hadn’t signed his entry-level contract with Minnesota. Given his emergence as a legitimate top-six forward this season, it became highly unlikely that Minnesota was going to let him go for nothing.
Few would have expected this breakout just a few years ago. Throughout Stramel’s first two seasons in the NCAA, then with Wisconsin, he amassed eight goals and 20 points in 67 contests. Since transferring to Michigan State ahead of his junior season, Stramel has registered 28 goals and 71 points in 74 games.
It became clear quickly that Stramel responded well to Adam Nightingale‘s system, and the two-time Big Ten Coach of the Year was able to extract the most out of him. Given that the Wild are expecting several forwards to leave this summer via free agency, it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see Stramel crack the opening night roster next season.
Outside of his raw production, Stramel plays a very mature game. He excels in tight quarters with a knack for winning battles in the small areas. He’s a very efficient give-and-go player, which should only help him excel next to some of Minnesota’s other top forwards.
Zach Bogosian Questionable To Play Sunday
Minnesota Wild defenseman Zach Bogosian left the team’s game yesterday with an undisclosed injury, and will miss today’s game against the Detroit Red Wings, per a team announcement. Bogosian played just over 14 minutes in the Wild’s win over the Ottawa Senators yesterday. He’s been the Wild’s No. 7 defenseman in terms of average time on ice per game this season, registering 14:02 per game, including about 45 seconds per game on the penalty kill.
The Wild have two options on their roster who could replace Bogosian in the lineup: veteran Jeff Petry and 23-year-old Daemon Hunt. Since Petry is a right-shot defenseman, he seems to be the more likely candidate to claim Bogosian’s spot on the right side of Minnesota’s third pairing. Petry was acquired from the Florida Panthers earlier in the season, and has played in three games for the Wild so far. He’s averaged just over 12 minutes per game in Minnesota so far. The stakes for the Wild remain high in their upcoming games, as they still possess a slim chance at overtaking the Dallas Stars and earning home-ice advantage for the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Evening Notes: Musa, Stramel, Spurgeon
The scoring leader for the University of Massachusetts has spurned multiple NHL teams to return to Amherst for his senior season. According to Mark Divver of the New England Hockey Journal, forward Jack Musa has turned down interest from several NHL teams, including the Boston Bruins, to return to the Minutemen for the 2026-27 NCAA season.
It’s a fairly surprising update given Musa’s production throughout his collegiate career. Undrafted, Musa, 22, has scored 46 goals and 100 points in 111 games with a +40 rating since debuting in the 2023-24 season. This season, leading the team in scoring, Musa finished with 16 goals and 36 points in 34 games.
If Musa continues his scoring pace for his senior campaign, he has a good chance of breaking school records. At the time of writing, forward Bobby Trivigno ranks fourth all-time in program scoring with 131 points, and Musa will have a good opportunity to break it. Unfortunately, unless he finds a completely different level, he’s unlikely to surpass Warren Norris, who scored 155 points from 1993-1997.
More evening updates:
- Not only did Minnesota Wild prospect Charlie Stramel lose the last game of his collegiate career, but he also left the game with a broken ankle. According to Dylan Loucks of The Hockey News, Stramel, 21, left the first period against his former club, the University of Wisconsin, after taking a shot off his ankle. The Michigan State University Spartan finished his senior campaign with 19 goals and 44 points in 37 games.
- The Minnesota Wild were without their captain tonight in their loss against the Boston Bruins. In an update from head coach John Hynes, defenseman Jared Spurgeon wasn’t available today due to a lower-body injury, and he is expected to miss the next few games. Fortunately, the Wild have a few days until their upcoming matchup against the Vancouver Canucks, so Spurgeon will likely return then.
Wild Assign Hunter Haight To AHL
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.
Wild To Activate Marcus Foligno From Injured Reserve
Wild left-winger Marcus Foligno will play in tonight’s game against the Panthers, Joe Smith of The Athletic reports. He will need to be activated off injured reserve before then, which will bring Minnesota’s active roster up to 26 – including 16 forwards, all of which are now healthy, so they have no shortage of depth options available heading into the final ten games of the regular season.
Foligno, 34, has been out with a lower-body injury since the beginning of the month. After missing 12 games, he’ll dress alongside his older brother Nick Foligno, acquired from the Blackhawks at the trade deadline for future considerations, for the first time at any level.
Widely regarded as one of the league’s better defensive wingers, Foligno had some tough sledding this year before landing on the shelf. He previously missed nine games with another lower-body issue in November and December and hasn’t been all that effective when he’s dressed. In 48 games, he has a 6-5–11 scoring line with a -11 rating, the latter figure being the second-worst of his 15-year career.
Foligno began the season on a 14-game pointless streak and a 30-game goalless streak, and things haven’t gotten much better from there on the offensive side of the puck. Half of his total goal production on the year came in one game, recording a hat trick against the Maple Leafs on Jan. 19.
He will return in a fourth-line role, suiting up alongside his brother and Yakov Trenin to form a heavy checking unit that averages 6’2″ and 212 lbs. The elder Foligno brother, who’s a natural left-winger like Marcus but has played a good bit down the middle, will center that line after starting his Wild tenure 18-for-33 (54.5%) on faceoffs, per Smith.
Evidently, rookie Danila Yurov is exiting the lineup to make way for Foligno. That’s surprising at first glance – his 10-15–25 scoring line in 65 games is 10th on the team. However, he’s gone without a point in his last five outings and has seen his ice time slip amid Ryan Hartman being elevated back to a top-six center role. Foligno and McCarron have both been staking their claim for regular spots in the lineup with some strong defensive play since their acquisitions as well.
Latest On Chase Wutzke
Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Charlie Elick will join the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters this week and embark on his professional career, according to Aaron Portzline of The Athletic.
A second-round selection in 2024 by the Jackets, Elick inked his entry-level contract last March. Since then, he wrapped up his final WHL chapter with 63 games for the Tri-City Americans, recording 20 points and 46 penalty minutes.
Standing at 6’3” and a right-handed shot, Elick came in at 10th in the Blue Jackets system last summer according to Steven Ellis of The Daily Faceoff. The Calgary native has solid mobility for a physical shutdown defender, and his ranking is more indicative of a well stocked Columbus system, as he’d come in higher in many other team’s pools. It won’t be immediate considering their wide age gap, but he naturally lines up as a long term replacement for veteran Erik Gudbranson‘s on-ice role, whose contract expires this summer.
Even if his ceiling is limited to a middle-pairing role, Elick’s reliable game has the chance to pan out nicely at the highest level, with physical tools sought after by general managers everywhere in today’s game. He’ll join the 12th-ranked Monsters who have had a nice season thanks to a strong defensive core well split between prospects and veterans.
Elsewhere across the league:
- Minnesota Wild goaltending prospect Chase Wutzke has been assigned to the Iowa Wild, per the team. The 19-year-old enters the professional circuit having concluded play with the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors, where he posted a .906 save percentage and a 3.47 goals-against-average on the struggling junior club this year. Wutzke signed his ELC last September. Iowa ranks second-to-last in the AHL, so there’s good reason for him to get an audition, slotting into a goalie group led by former NHL standout Cal Petersen. With a Minnesota goaltending pipeline full, the 6’2” Saskatoon native is a long term project for any sustainable NHL role, but he could become a contributor for Iowa in the coming seasons.
- Former NHL defenseman Philip Larsen has retired at age 36, he announced in an interview shared by DirekteSport on Instagram. Larsen was drafted in the fifth round by Dallas in 2008, debuting in 2009-10, and eventually being dealt to Edmonton in exchange for Shawn Horcoff in the 2013 offseason. After not panning out in Edmonton at age 24, he left for the KHL, with rights being traded to Vancouver. It became a notable trade tree, as the pick the Oilers acquired for Larsen was eventually involved in another trade which allowed them to select Stuart Skinner in 2017. Larsen’s strong play in Russia brought him to the Canucks in 2016-17, his 26 games proving to be the last in the NHL. From there, the 5’11” righty spent the next several years with Ufa Salavat Yulayev of the KHL as a star blueliner. In 2022 he returned to his native Denmark with Esbjerg EfB Ishockey, where he spent the last four years of his career. With a strong two-way acumen, Larsen hangs it up after 151 NHL games, 361 in the KHL, and 136 representing his home country.
Wild Interested In NCAA Free Agent
- The Minnesota Wild have interest in signing NCAA free agent center Nathan Pilling of the University of St. Thomas, Michael Russo and Joe Smith of The Athletic reported today. Pilling, who turns 22 in June, ended his first campaign of college hockey with 15 goals and 29 points in 38 games. The Calgary native, who was a point-per-game pivot in his final campaign in the WHL, has previously been tied to two NHL teams. He attended the development camp of the San Jose Sharks in 2024, and the Ottawa Senators in 2025. Pilling was ranked as the No. 5 NCAA free agent by the team at Elite Prospects, with the outlet projecting him as a “potential bottom-6 checker” with “versatile upside.”