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Wild Place Marcus Foligno On IR, Re-Assign Andrej Sustr

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Dec 28: Sustr has been returned to the AHL, after Jacob Middleton was back at practice for the Wild today.

Dec 27: After recalling a pair of forwards yesterday, the Wild have made two more roster moves today.  They announced the recall of defenseman Andrej Sustr from AHL Iowa with winger Marcus Foligno being placed on injured reserve to create roster room for Sustr’s promotion.

Sustr is in his first season with Minnesota after signing a two-way deal with them at the beginning of free agency.  This is the 32-year-old’s second recall of the month although he didn’t see any NHL action in the week and a half that he was up earlier.  Sustr has six points in 20 AHL contests this season and will likely be a reserve defender on this recall as well as the Wild now have eight rearguards on their active roster.

As for Foligno, the veteran has had a bit of a tough year.  He missed time with an upper-body injury earlier this season while it’s a lower-body issue that will keep him out this time around.  The 31-year-old had 23 goals in 2021-22 but has managed just three so far this season in 27 games although he does lead the team with 90 hits.  Michael Russo of The Athletic notes (Twitter link) that Foligno’s placement is back-dated to December 21st so he could be activated for Thursday’s game against Dallas if he’s ready to return.

Jacob Middleton Out With Non-COVID Illness

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  • Wild defenseman Jacob Middleton did not accompany the team on their trip to Winnipeg due to a non-COVID illness, the team announced (Twitter link). The 26-year-old is in his first full season with Minnesota and has shored up their third pairing nicely.  Middleton has six points, 57 blocks, and 48 hits in 33 games this season.  His absence is why the team recalled Andrej Sustr from AHL Iowa earlier today.

Minnesota Wild To Recall Sammy Walker, Adam Beckman

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5:39 pm: The Wild made the recall official on Monday night. Walker and Beckman join the team ahead of their game against Winnipeg tomorrow.

3:56 pm: According to The Athletic’s Michael Russo, the Minnesota Wild are expected to recall a pair of forwards in that of Sammy Walker and Adam Beckman from the Iowa Wild, their AHL affiliate. Russo adds that forward Marcus Foligno, who is suffering from a lower-body injury, is not expected to travel with the team tomorrow morning to take on the Winnipeg Jets later that night. In addition to Foligno, the Wild are also going to be without forward Mason Shaw, who is serving a two-game suspension.

Foligno, who was injured in Wednesday’s game in Anaheim against the Ducks, missed Thursday’s game against the San Jose Sharks with the injury and now it appears he’ll be missing tomorrow’s game too. There doesn’t appear to be a timetable for Foligno, however after Thursday’s game, Wild head coach Dean Evason told Russo he expected the forward to be okay after the four-day holiday break. Though the veteran clearly isn’t good-to-go just yet, Evason’s comments show this injury likely isn’t to be anything long-term.

Walker, 23, made his professional debut this season after a four-year stint at the University of Minnesota. The former Tampa Bay Lightning draft pick has been a standout thus far with Iowa, registering 24 points in 23 games, and made his NHL debut back on December 10th, skating in four NHL contests to date.

The 21-year-old Beckman has also skated in just four NHL games this season after making his debut last season. The forward turned pro back in 2020-21 after a stellar WHL career with the Spokane Chiefs. A 2019 third-round selection of the Wild, Beckman is off to a solid start with Iowa this season tallying 15 points in his first 25 AHL games.

Mason Shaw Suspended Two Games

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3:05 PM: The NHL Department of Player Safety has announced that Shaw will serve a two-game suspension for kneeing Svechnikov. He will be eligible to return to the Wild’s lineup in St. Louis, when his team takes on the Blues on December 31st.

12:11 PM: After being ejected from last night’s game for kneeing San Jose Sharks forward Evgeny Svechnikov, Mason Shaw of the Minnesota Wild will have a hearing today with the Department of Player Safety.

The incident happened partway through the second period, and resulted in a five-minute major and game misconduct for the Minnesota forward. Shaw finished the game with fewer than eight minutes of ice time and will now likely have to sit at least one more game for his actions.

Shaw now has 49 penalty minutes this season, which is his first as a regular in the Minnesota lineup. The 24-year-old already flirted with the supplementary discipline line earlier this season when he hit Radim Simek up high, causing an injury. Since the league did not punish that hit with a fine or suspension, it should not be taken into account in this decision.

It is rather surprising that Shaw would be involved in an incident like the one last night, given his own history of knee injuries. Still, whether he meant to complete the hit legally or not, the on-ice referees conducted a video review and still gave him the major penalty. The league will likely see it the same way, meaning Shaw is expected to miss at least one game.

Minnesota Wild Recall Steven Fogarty

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Dec 23: Because he was recalled so recently, Fogarty is allowed to be sent back to the minor leagues. The Wild have done just that, saving themselves a little money in the process thanks to the two-way deal that the minor league veteran is signed to.

Dec 20: The NHL roster freeze is now in effect, stopping most transactions over the next week so that players and their families can enjoy the holidays without moving across the country. The Minnesota Wild snuck in one last move before the deadline though, recalling Steven Fogarty last night.

As Michael Russo of The Athletic points out, Fogarty’s recall is just so that the team has an extra forward for their back-to-back games starting tomorrow in Anaheim. The team will then have several days off, before restarting their road trip in Winnipeg on December 27.

For Fogarty, it means a nice little holiday bonus, as he’ll earn the NHL portion of his two-way contract for the next little while. The 29-year-old has just two games with Minnesota this season but has been excellent for the Iowa Wild, recording 21 points in 25 games.

Ryan Hartman Activated Off IR, Sammy Walker Sent To AHL

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The Wild will get a key part of their attack back in their lineup tomorrow against Ottawa as the team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve activated forward Ryan Hartman off injured reserve.  In a corresponding move, Sammy Walker has been sent back to AHL Iowa.

Hartman has missed the last seven weeks with a shoulder injury sustained in a fight in late October.  The 28-year-old had a career year last season with 34 goals and 31 assists (for context, his previous career high in points was 31) and had a goal and four assists in nine contests before the injury.  He’ll be a big boost to a Minnesota lineup that finds itself in the middle of the pack offensively but he won’t jump back onto the top line as instead, he’ll skate on the second trio with Frederick Gaudreau and Matt Boldy when they take on Ottawa on Sunday.

As for Walker, he received his first recall last Saturday and got into four games with Minnesota, getting held off the scoresheet while averaging a little over nine minutes per night.  He was off to a strong start in Iowa before the recall as Walker had 11 goals and 11 assists in 21 games to start his first professional campaign.

Minnesota has ample roster space that they could have afforded to activate Hartman and keep Walker up with the big club.  However, they’ve instead opted to continue to carry a roster that’s close to the minimum, allowing them to bank as much cap space as possible.  That cap space will be a weapon by the trade deadline with so many teams currently using LTIR which should give GM Bill Guerin a boost as he looks to add to their roster in the second half of the season.

Minnesota Wild Re-Assign Nic Petan

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After a few more scoreless appearances, Nic Petan’s latest stint in the NHL has come to an end. The Minnesota Wild have assigned the depth forward to the AHL, clearing some room for Ryan Hartman and Brandon Duhaime, who are both getting closer to a return from injury.

Petan, 27, was unable to score a goal in his eight games with the Wild, meaning his streak continues. His last goal in the NHL came in the 2018-19 season, despite another 53 games since then. There is serious skill in the 5’9″ forward, but his game has never translated to the highest level, at least not on a consistent basis. He’ll return to the minor leagues where he has been outstanding, scoring 187 points in 189 career AHL games.

Since he only came up on November 19, Petan is still exempt from waivers and can be assigned without issue.

Hartman and Duhaime have not yet re-joined practice but both are expected to at some point this week. The pair will give Minnesota a nice boost while they continue to climb up the Central Division standings. After an inconsistent start, the team is now 7-3 in their last ten and just five points behind the Dallas Stars and Winnipeg Jets.

Minnesota Wild Re-Assign Andrej Sustr

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On December 1st, the Minnesota Wild recalled veteran defenseman Andrej Sustr to their NHL roster. Today, the Wild announced that they’ve re-assigned Sustr to their AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild, meaning he’ll head back to the minors without skating in an NHL game.

Sustr, 32, is as mentioned a veteran defenseman who has significant NHL experience on his resume. He broke into the league as an undrafted college free agent on the Tampa Bay Lightning and played a regular role on their 2014-15 team that made a run to the Stanley Cup Final.

Sustr would continue in his regular role in Tampa until 2017-18, when he got into just 44 games, leading to him leaving the organization altogether in the offseason. Sustr signed with the Anaheim Ducks, spending most of 2018-19 in the AHL.

That run in the AHL motivated him to look elsewhere to continue his career, leading him to sign with the KHL’s Chinese franchise, the Kunlun Red Star.

After two years in China, Sustr returned to the Lightning organization and split time between Tampa and their AHL affiliate in Syracuse before being claimed off of waivers by, you guessed it, the Ducks.

This offseason, Sustr signed with the Wild and has spent most of the year in the AHL, save for this call-up. Having not played in a single NHL game for the Wild despite spending over a week on their roster, Sustr will head back to Iowa to resume playing an important role on their blueline.

Ryan Hartman, Brandon Duhaime To Return To Practice Next Week

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  • The Minnesota Wild have been without forwards Ryan Hartman and Brandon Duhaime as they each work back from upper-body injuries. Per The Athletic’s Michael Russo, both skaters are expected to return to practice with the Wild next week, when the team returns from its road trip. (subscription link) Hartman’s return is important for the Wild, whose thin crop of centers has forced them into using Sam Steel as their first-line center. Hartman, who scored 34 goals and 65 points last season, should be a better fit for that role, while Duhaime’s return should add some snarl to the team’s bottom-six.

Minnesota Wild Recall Sammy Walker

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The Minnesota Wild have announced that forward Sammy Walker has been recalled from the team’s AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild. In a corresponding move, forward Joseph Cramarossa has been sent down.

Walker, 23, has been in the midst of an extremely impressive professional debut this season. After a four-year collegiate career at the University of Minnesota, Walker signed an entry-level contract with the Wild in August.

A 2017 seventh-round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Walker leads AHL Iowa in scoring with 22 points in 21 games, seven points clear of the next-highest scorer, defenseman Joe Hicketts. Walker’s recall puts him in a position to make his NHL debut after just over 20 games of professional action.

It’s a recall that indicates that coach Dean Evason wants to inject some more offensive flair into his team than what Cramarossa is able to provide.

The 30-year-old veteran depth player has scored a goal in four games so far this season but has just 13 points in 68 career NHL games. He’ll head back to Iowa where he has seven points in 15 games.

As the Wild look to increase their separation in the standings from the Colorado Avalanche, Nashville Predators, and St. Louis Blues, they’ll hope that Walker can add to an offense that has been on fire in recent games.

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