Parker Milner Signed to PTO by Iowa Wild
With goaltender John Curry up with the Minnesota Wild at the NHL level, the Iowa Wild have signed Quad City Mallards goaltender Parker Milner to a professional tryout (PTO).
This is the second time this season that Iowa has signed Milner to a PTO. The first was back on November 11, when Curry was out with an injury. Milner stayed with the team until November 17, but didn’t make his way into a game.
Iowa has suited up four goaltenders this season with Johan Gustafsson taking the majority of starts — largely due to John Curry getting injured, then being sent to the Quad City Mallards of the ECHL when Josh Harding was assigned to Iowa, and with Curry getting a couple call-ups to the NHL.
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Outside of those two, Harding played five periods and Dave DeSander made his AHL debut on Saturday, coming in for a period in relief of Gustafsson when Iowa lost to the Grand Rapids Griffins 9-2.
Milner has had the most starts this season of any Mallards goaltender this season, even with the AHL call-up in November, playing in 15 with a record of 8-5-1-1, a SV% of .922 and a goals against average of 2.31. Milner is in his second professional season following four season at Boston College. Last year he played in 25 games for the Stockton Thunder of the ECHL and eight games for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the AHL. The Mallards currently sit in second place of the Central Division of the ECHL.
Iowa plays against the Milwaukee Admirals on Monday night in Des Moines, when Milner will surely serve as an insurance policy behind Gustafsson. At the NHL level in the organization, Curry is required because Niklas Backstrom is still out with a stomach virus that is making its way around the team. Milner’s PTO will likely last as long as the Wild need Curry up with Backstrom out.
UPDATE:
The Quad City Mallards have added goaltender Larkin Saalfrank to the roster as the emergency back-up while Milner is playing with Iowa. According to Elite Prospects, Saalfrank’s last full season was in 2009-10 when he played for the Arizona Redhawks of the WSHL. He appears to have served as an emergency back-up for the Fort Wayne Komets over the last three seasons, suiting up for a single game and also served as an emergency back-up for the Kalamazoo Wings earlier this season.