Iowa Wild Sign Joe Perry, Release Greg Wolfe

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On Wednesday the Iowa Wild signed rookie forward Joe Perry, formerly of the Quad City Mallards, to a standard player contract (SPC). Iowa originally signed him to a professional tryout contract (PTO) on February 6.

Since joining the team Perry played in six games collecting a single assist, 11 penalty minutes, a minus-1 rating, and four shots. He has been a standout in the ECHL this season for the Mallards, scoring 20 goals and 15 assists through 40 games. At 25-years old, he’s in his first professional year after completing a four-year stint at St. Norbert’s College in NCAA Division III.

At the same time the Wild signed Perry to a SPC, they’ve released rookie forward Greg Wolfe from his PTO. He’s expected to rejoin the Alaska Aces of the ECHL immediately.

Wolfe played nine games with Iowa, posting an assist, a minus-2 rating, two penalty minutes, and 15 shots. He’s also been an incredible standout in his rookie season in the ECHL, posting 14 goals and 24 assists through 40 games with the Aces. Like Perry, he comes into his rookie season following four years in the NCAA. For Wolfe it was four years with Michigan State University, where he captained the team in his junior and senior seasons.

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He rejoins an Aces team that sits outside the playoff picture, but is making a hard run at gaining a playoff berth. They reside in fifth place in the Pacific Division with a record of 27-23-3-3 for 60 standings points. They’re just two points back of the Utah Grizzlies and eight back of the Ontario Reign. They’ve gone 5-4-0-1 in their last ten games, which included a rough road trip, and that’s better than two of the four teams ahead of them, including the Reign. The other is the Colorado Eagles who sit 15 points ahead of the Aces and look like they’ll be tough to catch despite beating them in a shootout last Thursday and playing against them for their next three games.

For the Iowa Wild, it’s a bit of an atypical slow period for the team. They play just two games over a 14-day stretch, which couldn’t come at a better time as they nurse their way through an onslaught of injuries. In recent weeks they’ve been without Gustav Olofsson, Josh Harding, Guillaume Gelinas, Brett Bulmer, Alex Gudbranson, Ruslan Fedotenko (who is healthy now), Jason Gregoire, Joel Rechlicz, Benjamin Dieude-Fauvel, and Brad Richard.

They’re back in action against the Texas Stars on Friday and the San Antonio Rampage on Saturday. It’s expect that newcomer Jared Knight will make his debut on Friday. The team sent Zack Phillips to the Boston Bruins organization in exchange for Knight in a trade deadline deal.

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