The Minnesota Wild announced today that they have called up forward Jordan Schroeder and defenseman (probably) Stu Bickel from the Iowa Wild. In a corresponding move the team has returned defenseman Jonathon Blum and forward Stephane Veilleux to Iowa.
#mnwild recalls Jordan Schroeder and Stu Bickel. If either plays tomorrow, it'll be Wild debuts. #twoofus
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) November 12, 2014
Blum made his season debut with the Wild in Tuesday’s loss to New Jersey and performed alright. He posted decent possession numbers and wasn’t a liability — which is unfortunately worth noting.
Veilleux is the captain of Iowa and will be returning to a different coach than when he left. John Torchetti has been brought in and replaces the departing Kurt Kleinendorst, who was fired earlier this week. Torchetti is making his debut behind the bench tonight in Milwaukee.
Schroeder leads Iowa in points with 11 (4-7-11) in 12 games. He’s been one of the few bright spots for the league worst 2-10 team. I like that Schroeder might be getting to make his Wild debut on Thursday against Buffalo. While the team is dominating possession and has yet to be outshot, they’ve lacked a finishing touch in front of the net on the current four-game losing streak. On this slump they’ve scored just three goals, two of which were shorthanded tallies. (Side note: The sky isn’t falling.)
Schroeder getting a shot over Veilleux means that the team is focusing on scoring and it should light a fire under some of the young guys who aren’t scoring as much as the team hoped they would early on. Schroeder could pose a threat to guys like Erik Haula (though Schroeder isn’t as good of a two-way player and is unlikely to steal a center spot), Nino Niederreiter, Charlie Coyle, and Justin Fontaine. I can’t imagine Schroeder taking any of their spots long-term, but he’s an scorer and the team is going to give ice time to anyone who is scoring right now.
Bickel is presumably being brought up to play D — though you’ll remember that the team has toyed with playing him on wing earlier in the season. One can hope that the team doesn’t think that the solution to the current problems is “grit.” But it’s not outlandish to think that Bickel will be given a shot with Mathew Dumba and Christian Folin on the outside looking in at the moment.
Bickel currently has three assists and 30 penalty minutes through nine games for Iowa. An appearance against Buffalo on Thursday would be a Wild debut for him as well.