Minnesota Wild: Graovac’s Demotion Not About His Play
Tyler Graovac may be headed back to Iowa for the time being, but make no mistake about it the send down is not about his play. In his recent stint up he showed stronger offensive stats and if it wasn’t for the Wild’s recent acquisitions he’d still be here now.
Minnesota Wild
The Minnesota Wild made the announcement today that with the team healthy they will be sending center Tyler Graovac back down to Iowa after his latest four game stint with up in Minnesota. This is largely a predictable move as the Wild are healthy across the board forward wise and are looking to ensure the best lineup takes the ice with the NHL squad.
The additions of Martin Hanzal and Ryan White, have left no lineup room for the 23 year-old Graovac. Sure the Wild are operating under post trade deadline roster rules that allow for more than 23 players to be on the roster (provided those 23 players all fit in the salary cap limits). But the need to continue to get Graovac consistent playing time and the need to clear just a bit more cap space for maneuvering in the wake of the Christian Folin injury led the Wild to deciding that sending Graovac down was the best option.
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To think that this demotion was purely performance driven would be a bit of a mistake. In this last four game stint with Minnesota, Graovac scored a goal and an assist and was a plus 2 in plus/minus. That’s a pretty big improvement for Graovac considering that’s an average of 0.5 points per game, whereas before in the 45 games he played he only averaged 0.13 points per game at the NHL level.
It seemed like this was a more focused and involved Graovac this time. He was involved in the play and was showing more of a two-way effort rather than being unable to get things going offensively. He really should have tallied another goal in the Wild’s 5-3 loss to Chicago, but he was beaten by Corey Crawford’s toe after a great move close in.
In his last stint down with Iowa Graovac got some confidence that he seemed to carry back into his next NHL contests. As he told Dane Mizutani of the Pioneer Press “I think with any professional athlete, no one is really that good without their confidence. That was a big thing going down to Iowa, to get some confidence back and try and build moving forward.”
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Ultimately this will be a good move for both the player and the organization. Graovac will need to stay sharp as he will more than likely be the one recalled if anything happens to the current forward lineup. Furthermore Iowa is pushing for the AHL playoffs right now and having Graovac back in their lineup will be a tremendous help as he has 8 points in 10 games with Iowa this season.
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So the big take away here is that you should not be thinking Graovac’s demotion means the organization is giving up on him, or that he’s not very close to being an everyday NHL talent. He’s a victim of a tight salary cap mixed with recent acquisitions that have changed the game plan. He’s still valued by this team, and he’ll certainly be one of the first names called if something changes the plans of the Wild personnel wise from here on out.