Ryan Hartman To Have Player Safety Hearing
Minnesota Wild forward Ryan Hartman will have a hearing with the NHL’s Department of Player Safety on Monday regarding a slew-foot against Detroit Red Wings winger Alex DeBrincat during today’s loss, per a league announcement.
The incident occurred about halfway through the third period, with the Wild already trailing by multiple goals. As DeBrincat attempted to shield teammate Michael Rasmussen by the Wild bench as he carried the puck up the ice, Hartman approached DeBrincat from behind. Hartman’s foot made contact with the back of DeBrincat’s skates and continued to follow through as DeBrincat fell backward to the ice.
NHL Player Safety will likely determine whether Hartman intended to injure DeBrincat on the play, the principal factor in the length of a potential suspension. Because this is not an in-person hearing, a suspension would be five games or less.
Hartman has been among the few Wild players performing up to expectations this season. His seven goals rank second on the team behind Joel Eriksson Ek, and the natural winger continues to take a heavy amount of faceoffs and is averaging nearly 17 minutes per game. Hartman’s possession numbers are some of the best on the team, boasting a 52.5% Corsi share at even strength through 17 games. His lone absence this season came in the Wild’s Global Series game against the Ottawa Senators last weekend in Stockholm due to illness.
The 29-year-old is in the final season of a three-year contract carrying a bargain-bin cap hit of $1.7MM. He signed a three-year, $12MM extension with the Wild in October and will avoid unrestricted free agency next summer.
Minnesota Wild Activate Alex Goligoski, Assign Mermis And Lettieri To AHL
After some recent indication that defenseman Alex Goligoski was healthy and ready to return to the Minnesota Wild lineup, the team has officially announced his activation of the LTIR. In order to make cap space to return Goligoski to the lineup, the team also assigned Vinni Lettieri (placed on waivers yesterday) and Dakota Mermis to their AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild.
According to CapFriendly, with these moves, Minnesota has a projected cap space of $617K, which translates to roughly $806K in actual salary cap space. With only 21 players on the active roster, two of those being goaltenders, the Wild really only have the capability to bring up one league-minimum salary unless other changes are made.
Goligoski will likely return to a bottom-pairing role, or even become an extra defenseman on the Minnesota blue line, given his level of play and injury history over last season and the current one. He has missed all but two games for the Wild this season, carrying a -3 rating with zero points.
Mermis, on the other hand, has done relatively well filling in the shoes of Goligoski. In 13 games played in his absence, Mermis has two goals and three assists and has shown a skill for blocking shots in his defensive zone. With a $775K salary for the 2023-24 season, it wouldn’t have been unreasonable for the Wild to keep Mermis rather than Goligoski down the stretch.
For Lettieri, it was not a major surprise to see his name on the waiver wire yesterday, as he has operated as a depth forward option in the NHL for the last several years. In 11 games for Minnesota this year, Lettieri chipped in two goals but regularly averaged less than 12 minutes of ice time per night, indicating the Wild were not giving him very important minutes.
Minnesota Wild Place Vinni Lettieri On Waivers
The Minnesota Wild have waived centerman Vinni Lettieri. Lettieri has played in 11 games with the club this season, scoring two goals and recording four penalty minutes. He’s managed these totals while averaging 11 minutes of ice time each night and operating as the Wild’s top faceoff option, with a 58 percent win-rate on draws.
Interestingly, Lettieri was presently serving as the team’s extra forward and was joined in the press box by extra defenseman Dakota Mermis. Mermis cleared waivers on November 18th. Despite that, Mermis remains with the NHL club. Whether Lettieri will also hold onto his NHL roster spot is yet to be seen, although the Wild do have forwards like Nic Petan, Jujhar Khaira, and Jake Lucchini performing well in the minor leagues.
Lettieri is in his first year with the Wild organization, after spending the 2022-23 season with the Boston Bruins’ AHL affiliate, the Providence Bruins. The Wild are the fourth franchise that Lettieri has been a part of, originally signing as an undrafted free agent with the New York Rangers following the end of the University of Minnesota’s 2017-18 season. Now 28 years old, Lettieri has totaled 94 career NHL games and scored 20 points. He’s also managed 271 career games and scored 232 points in the minor leagues.
The Wild have had a surprisingly slow start to the season, currently sitting with a 5-8-4 record. They rank second-to-last in the Central Division, largely on the back of an offense with the seventh-fewest goals this season. Lettieri’s waiving doesn’t offer a major change to the lineup, but it could take pressure off of centermen like Frédérick Gaudreau, who is slotting back into the lineup after recently returned from injury.
Alex Goligoski Ready To Return
Having already fulfilled the requirements of being on LTIR, defenseman for the Minnesota Wild, Alex Goligoski, has not yet made his return to the roster. However, Michael Russo of The Athletic reports that Goligoski has fully recovered from his lower-body injury, and is ready to get back to game action at any point.
Currently sitting at 31st in the league in GA/G with a 4.00 mark, the Wild could certainly use all the help they can get on the blue line. Much of the blame is associated with the poor play of the team’s netminders up to this point, but an improved defensive presence should shore up some of the issues.
Hunter Jones Returned To ECHL Iowa
- With Jesper Wallstedt returning to AHL Iowa earlier today, the Wild have reassigned goalie prospect Hunter Jones to ECHL Iowa, per the AHL’s transactions log. The 23-year-old is in the final year of his entry-level deal but has struggled considerably in a short sample size this season, posting a 4.98 GAA with a .845 SV% in four games with the Heartlanders.
Wild Send Nic Petan, Daemon Hunt, Jesper Wallstedt To AHL
The Minnesota Wild have announced a trio of roster moves, sending Nic Petan, Daemon Hunt, and Jesper Wallstedt to the Iowa Wild of the AHL. Wallstedt served as an emergency backup for the team during their trip to Sweden and wasn’t an official call-up, while Petan and Hunt were recalled prior to the trip. Dakota Mermis has also cleared waivers but remains assigned to the NHL club.
Petan was the only one of the group to slot into the lineup during his recall, appearing in the team’s Saturday loss against the Ottawa Senators. He failed to record a point, penalty, or change in his +/- in the matchup while playing just over eight-and-a-half minutes. He did record two shots and one faceoff win in the game, though.
While Hunt didn’t make an appearance on this recall, he has slotted into five NHL games earlier this season. The 21-year-old defenseman has gone without a point through those contests, a stat line that he’s matched in the AHL, going without a score in five games there as well. It’s Hunt’s second full season of professional hockey after he played in 59 AHL games last season, recording 11 points and 14 penalty minutes.
The duo return to Iowa alongside the AHL club’s starting goalie in Wallstedt. The top goalie prospect has played in eight AHL games so far this season, earning a .932 save percentage and a 6-2-0 record. Now 21 years old, Wallstedt was drafted in the first round of the 2021 NHL Draft and has yet to play in his first NHL game.
Dakota Mermis Clears Waivers
Saturday: No team put in a claim for Mermis, Friedman reports.
Friday: The Wild have waived defenseman Dakota Mermis for the purpose of assignment to the AHL’s Iowa Wild, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports Friday.
Mermis, 29, has been with the Wild since signing as a free agent in the 2020 offseason. His first season with the club was spent almost entirely on the infamous 2020-21 taxi squad, playing just three games all season, all in the NHL. Since then, he’s logged heavy minutes for the AHL’s Iowa Wild, serving as an alternate captain since his debut with the club in 2021-22. He was not on Minnesota’s opening night roster this season but was recalled just a few days into the campaign with multiple injuries affecting the Wild’s defense core.
20 of Mermis’ 40 NHL appearances have come in a Wild jersey over the past four seasons, including a career-high 13 this season. He’s notched two goals, three assists, five points, and an even plus-minus rating in 15:30 of average ice time with Minnesota, with all of his points coming in 2023-24. Most commonly paired with Jacob Middleton and Jonathon Merrill, he has a Corsi share of 47.8% at even strength, 4.7% worse than the Wild’s Corsi share when Mermis is not on the ice.
To put it succinctly, Mermis has done about as well as you can expect for a minor-league veteran plugged into a defense that’s dealt with structural issues this season. He’d managed to stay in the lineup over the past few games after the return of captain Jared Spurgeon to the lineup, but with veteran Zach Bogosian now in the fold after a trade for the Lightning, Mermis was losing his grip on a roster spot and saw his ice time slip.
Since he’s played more than ten games and his recall lasted more than 30 days, he again requires waivers to return to Iowa. As a pending unrestricted free agent on a two-way deal, there’s a decent chance the Wild lose Mermis on the wire if a team deems they need some short-term blueline depth on the cheap.
Wild Place Frédérick Gaudreau On LTIR, Recall Jesper Wallstedt
The Minnesota Wild moved forward Frédérick Gaudreau to long-term injured reserve on Monday, according to a team statement. Additionally, the team recalled top goalie prospect Jesper Wallstedt to accompany the team as their third goalie for upcoming games in Sweden for the NHL Global Series.
Teams are permitted to carry a third goalie for international games, meaning Wallstedt will not count against the salary cap nor the 23-man roster limit but is eligible to enter a game if both Marc-André Fleury and Filip Gustavsson become injured while the team is overseas. The 2021 20th-overall pick is off to a breakneck start with the AHL’s Iowa Wild, recording a 2.01 GAA, .932 SV%, two shutouts, and a 6-2-0 record through eight games.
Meanwhile, Gaudreau has been moved to LTIR to increase the Wild’s salary pool. The 30-year-old winger/center has missed the last nine games with an upper-body injury and has not played since October 14 against the Edmonton Oilers.
Gaudreau has missed the 28-day requirement for LTIR but not the ten-game requirement, meaning Gaudreau cannot be activated until after the first of Minnesota’s two games in Sweden against the Ottawa Senators. Given he will not travel with the team to Sweden, the earliest Gaudreau can conceivably return to the Wild lineup is November 24 against the Colorado Avalanche.
Before sustaining the injury, Gaudreau was off to a slow start, failing to record a point in six games and posting a -2 rating. It’s not the beginning he (or the Wild) envisioned after he inked a five-year, $10.5MM extension with trade protection to remain in the State of Hockey last April.
If Wallstedt is forced into action for the Wild while in his home country, it will be the 20-year-old’s NHL debut.
Afternoon Notes: Kaprizov, Kelemen, Timmins
Michael Russo of The Athletic tweeted this morning that Minnesota Wild winger Kirill Kaprizov was absent from practice and was replaced in the line rushes by Nic Petan. The Wild are calling it a maintenance day for the 26-year-old as he is banged up at the moment. Kaprizov had an assist in the Wild’s 8-3 drubbing at the hands of the Dallas Stars on Saturday night but played just 16:49, which is a dramatic decrease from the 21:21 in ice time he has been averaging this season.
Kaprizov does have five goals and 10 assists in 15 games this season, but his play has seemed off despite the offensive success. He is -11, and while that number can be misleading, his turnover numbers are not. Kaprizov has turned the puck over in almost every game this season, far outpacing his previous career numbers. He also appears to be struggling when he is deployed against other team’s top star players.
In other afternoon notes:
- The Arizona Coyotes have announced today that they’ve placed forward Jack McBain on injured reserve and in a corresponding move they’ve recalled forward Milos Kelemen from their AHL affiliate the Tucson Roadrunners. The 24-year-old is looking to get into the Coyotes lineup for the first time this season after dressing in 14 games last year. The native of Svolen, Slovakia registered a single goal in the NHL last season but was much more productive in his first AHL season posting 14 goals and 16 assists in 59 games with the Roadrunners. This year, Kelemen is posting offense at about the same pace with two goals and four assists through his first 11 games. Kelemen struggled under poor possession numbers and defensive zone starts in his first run with the Coyotes and will be looking to show he belongs in the NHL if he gets back into the Coyotes lineup.
- TSN’s Mark Masters is reporting that Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Conor Timmins practiced this morning in a normal jersey for the first time since September. The 25-year-old has yet to dress for the Maple Leafs this season after being sidelined with a lower-body injury during what was an impressive preseason as he collected six points in three preseason games and made a case for himself to be in Toronto’s top six. Last season the St. Catherines, Ontario native posted two goals and 12 assists in 27 NHL games.
Wild Activate Jared Spurgeon, Send Daemon Hunt To AHL
4:10 PM: Minnesota Wild head coach Dean Evason announced that Spurgeon will, indeed, play in the team’s Friday night outing.
4:00 PM: The Minnesota Wild have activated team captain Jared Spurgeon from long-term injured reserve and sent Daemon Hunt to the minor leagues. Spurgeon has been on injured reserve for the entirety of the early season, battling an upper-body injury.
Getting Spurgeon back is a tremendous boost to a Wild lineup that’s struggled to get on the right side of the win column. The team currently has a 5-6-2 record through 13 games, ranking them sixth in the Central Division. But now they get back a pillar of their lineup in Spurgeon, who has averaged over 21 minutes of ice time for the club in every season since 2011-12. He scored 11 goals and 34 points last season, taking a slight step down from the 40 points he managed in the 2021-22 campaign.
Daemon Hunt appeared in his first five NHL games while helping to fill in for Spurgeon. He wasn’t able to net his first NHL box stat though, going without a point, penalty, or change in his +/-. He’ll return to the AHL’s Iowa Wild, where he’s already played four games this season – failing to record a point in those games as well, although he did record seven penalty minutes and a -3.
With the news of his Friday return, Spurgeon will have missed 12 games to start the season. The 33-year-old defenseman will have the potential to play in, at most, 69 games this season. The team captain is chasing his 400th NHL point, currently sitting 21 points back from the milestone