Wild Send 7 To Iowa

The Minnesota Wild have moved seven players from training camp to the Iowa Wild. Included in that group are three players who been reassigned — Brett Bulmer, Tyler Graovac, and Guillaume Gelinas. Gustav Olofsson will also be a part of that group but is staying in Minnesota for the time being as he’s day-to-day with an upper body injury.

In addition to those four the team has placed three players on waivers: Joel Rechlicz, Justin Falk, and Jonathon Blum. All three will be reassigned to Iowa on Tuesday at 11am if they clear waivers.

With these seven players on the move we get a little more clarity on what the team plans to do on defense. Ryan Suter, Jared Spurgeon, Jonas Brodin, Marco Scandella, and Keith Ballard are locks. If Keith Ballard is healthy (he was injured in the first preseason game against the Penguins), that leaves two open spots on defense to be split between Christian Folin, Mathew Dumba, and Stu Bickel.

I’m not much of a believer in Bickel. I don’t know that the Wild is a better lineup with him in it opposed to, say, Blum. However, it looks like he’ll be one of the three when you start breaking down Flecther’s thinking on the blue line. If Dumba and Folin stay he wants them to play and that’s good. They’re too young to sit in the box watching the game and not be developing. Their best years are ahead of them and the Wild need to help them get there.

Dumba should really be developing in a way that allows him to continue working on his offensive skills, which includes getting some power play time. That may mean he’s Iowa bound simply so that he’s practicing in the kind of role that the team ultimately wants him to take at the NHL level.

The only way Folin and Dumba both stay is if they’re both playing, which would mean one of them beats out Ballard for a spot or that Ballard is injured. If you’ve been following the Wild’s blue line opera since July’s development camp, the libretto will be Thursday’s game in St. Louis. After that game it’s expected that the Wild will field their opening night roster for the final preseason game, also against St. Louis. We’ll have a pretty clear picture after that and should know if Bickel will be a part of the plan to start the season.

As far as the guys who were reassigned: Graovac impressed many during camp and the Traverse City Prospects Tournament. But reassignment isn’t all bad news for him, as general manager Chuck Fletcher said of Graovac today that he was “most improved player in the org.”

Gelinas shouldn’t come as a surprise since he has been injured since camp opened.

The Wild play tonight in St. Paul against the Penguins. Take a look at tonight’s roster here.