On Saturday night the Minnesota Wild reassigned defenseman Christian Folin to the Iowa Wild of the AHL.
#mnwild reassigns Folin to @iawild in the @TOTALLUXURYLIMO I-35 Report: http://t.co/RrsUJelQ2w
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) March 29, 2015
Despite a spate of injuries on the blue line in March — including the absence of Jared Spurgeon, Marco Scandella, and Nate Prosser — Folin only found his way into five of 14 Wild games in March and five of 14 games in February. In those five games in March he only played more than 16:23 one time, scoring a single goal, with no assists, a score-adjusted CF% of 38.97%, while taking -12.37% offensive zone start rate relative (ZSO%Rel).
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Folin has found himself on the outside of roster decisions looking in since the team acquired Jordan Leopold in a trade deadline move. Handedness is playing a big part in his inability to get back in the lineup, with Mike Yeo not interested in putting Folin in the lineup on his off-hand, while Prosser has thrived there and Leopold was acquired in part his ability to grab the left side on the third defensive pairing.
However, with some strong offensive play this season, I imagine the NHL Wild will want him close at hand in case of injury. He has been effective this year, especially considering his -3.44% ZSO%Rel for the season and that he’s been in and out of the lineup so much that many players could struggle with the inconsistent ice time and frustration of watching most games from the press box. Folin currently leads all Wild defensemen in P/60 for the season with 0.97. Spurgeon is second at 0.90 and then there’s a bit of a drop-off with Ryan Suter coming in third at 0.74.
After being reassigned, Folin got to Chicago quickly and managed to get into the lineup for Iowa’s Sunday afternoon game against the Chicago Wolves. Folin finished Sunday’s 3-2 loss to the Wolves with a plus-1 rating and a single shot.
Iowa has eight games left in the season, starting with a home game against the Rochester Americans on Friday.
Next: Minnesota Wild Sign Grayson Downing
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