The Minnesota Wild announced on Friday that they have reassigned defenseman Christian Folin to the Iowa Wild of the AHL. In a corresponding move the team has recalled Justin Falk, a veteran of 131 NHL games.
.@TOTALLUXURYLIMO I-35 Report: #mnwild has assigned Folin to @iawild and Falk has been recalled.
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) November 14, 2014
Folin is the first rookie defenseman for the Wild to get sent down, with Mathew Dumba staying up with the team for now. The Wild have been in a rough position as regards the development of their young defenders. You want guys like Dumba and Folin getting lots of ice time, playing on the power play, and getting used in the ideal situation for them — especially Dumba. They’re young players and shouldn’t spend time on the bench when what they need are minutes.
However, it’s been tough to make such decisions based on performance and development as the sole variables with the cascade of injuries and illness the Wild have been enduring on defense.
Jared Spurgeon missed five games with a shoulder injury and just returned Thursday night. Keith Ballard reportedly had the mumps for a stretch when both he and Folin were out sick. Prior to that Ballard missed a few games with injury as well. Jonas Brodin took a big hit into the boards against the Rangers and missed a game after that. And now both Marco Scandella and Brodin are out sick with what sounds like mumps-like symptoms.
It’s hard to place young players for optimum development when you’re constantly without guys from the top two pairings. Also, a lack of depth on D makes it tough to say that the best decision for the club is to send someone like Dumba to the AHL to develop and bring up a Stu Bickel or Falk to the NHL. It’s maybe not best for Dumba’s development, but it’s hard to argue that Bickel is a step up from Dumba and should be on the NHL roster.
Without Brodin and Scandella, Dumba's ability on the power play was a factor in why he's still with the #mnwild and Folin isn't, Yeo said.
— Chad Graff (@ChadGraff) November 14, 2014
Nonetheless, Folin is headed to the AHL and Falk the NHL.
Folin logged only 11:36 in Thursday’s 6-3 win over Buffalo and had been a healthy scratch in the game before that against New Jersey. The writing was on the wall for Folin, who has suited up for eight games and is without a point and has only taken nine shots. His Fenwick For% is a healthy looking 56.25% at 5-on-5, but that’s -6.48% Relative. Of the ten Wild defensemen who have suited up this year, only Ballard, Falk, and Nate Prosser have a lower Fenwick For Relative at 5-on-5. Of those three, only Prosser has played as many games as Folin.
Falk has played only two games with the Wild this season and logged under ten minutes of ice time in both, registering a Fenwick For% at 5-on-5 of 51.61% and -14.47% Relative, the worst mark on the team, though it’s worth noting that it’s an extremely limited sample size.