The Minnesota Wild made its biggest round of cuts yet from the training camp roster on Saturday. 48 hours later, we’re going to analyze what these cuts mean.
At this point of training camp, halfway through, any players being cut now were clearly not in the coach’s plans for the coming season. They will all need some more conditioning and to show improvement before getting another look at the Minnesota Wild roster.
Still, these players were all hopeful to get a further chance to continue their case in fighting for a roster spot and will likely be disappointed with getting told they would be travelling down the highway for the Iowa preseason to begin.
"“The team assigned goaltenders Kaapo Kahkonen and C.J. Motte, defensemen Louis Belpedio, Gustav Bouramman, Eric Martinsson and Brennan Menell and forwards Colton Beck, Gerry Fitzgerald, Pavel Jenys, Chase Lang, Gerald Mayhew, Dante Salituro, Mason Shaw and Dmitry Sokolov to the Iowa Wild of the American Hockey League (AHL).The Wild also placed forwards Landon Ferraro and Cal O’Reilly and defenseman Hunter Warner on waivers Saturday.” –Minnesota Wild on NHL.com"
Ferraro, O’Reilly, and Warner have since all cleared waivers and will be in Iowa to start the season. Let’s break this down by position.
Goalies
The assignment of C.J. Motte is not a surprising decision. Motte is a depth option buried in the depth chart right now. He may get to see a preseason game for the Iowa Wild, but should expect to be the starter in the ECHL this year for the Allen Americans.
I’m at least slightly surprised to see Kaapo Kahkonen sent down already. The Minnesota Wild know what they have in Devan Dubnyk, and are in the midst of a battle for backup, but I thought for sure we would see Kahkonen get a chance to taste some NHL quality competition in a preseason game.
Whatever Boudreau’s reasoning may be, Kaapo only spent one game on the bench before being sent to the AHL. He will be battling for playing time in the AHL, probably behind Andrew Hammond, and at best is hoping for a 50/50 starts split with the NHL veteran.
Defense
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Louis Belpedio is the most surprising member of this group, and probably deserved a better fate. He made his NHL debut last year and looked very strong in his prospect and training camp appearances. The defensive battle in Minnesota is deep this year, but I think Belpedio should still be among that group fighting for playing time.
Brennan Menell also had a very strong prospect camp, and looked reliable in his preseason appearance. He played on both sides of the defense and should be one to watch in Iowa. His skillset and capabilities make me think we haven’t seen the last of him yet.
Gustav Bouramman, Hunter Warner, and Eric Martinsson are not surprising cuts. None of them were anywhere near capable of fighting for roster spots, and should be battling on Iowa for a spot on the bottom D pairing or ending up in the ECHL this year.
Forwards
Dmitry Sokolov is an extremely highly valued prospect in the Minnesota Wild system, but his miserable performance at Bruce Boudreau’s training camp conditioning test on Day 1 put the writing on the wall. He’ll look to get in better shape and show up to camp next year with a better performance, I’d think he’s far down Bruce’s call-up list at this point.
None of the rest are big surprises; they were all depth pieces brought in to experience their first camp but always expected to report to Iowa to start the season.
Of that group, Mason Shaw looked like he was recovering well from his Torn ACL. He performed strong at the Prospect Camp in Traverse City and appeared to be getting more comfortable every time he got on the ice in a game.
Gerry Fitzgerald put on a great showing in the prospect tournament, and was one of the standout performers through that weekend. His only preseason game with the Minnesota Wild was lackluster, and it was hard to even notice when he was on the ice. Compared to those fighting for spots, he showed he’s still someone who needs some time in Iowa before being ready to battle for an NHL spot.
This entire group is relatively unsurprising, and with all 3 waivers eligible players clearing through unclaimed it looks like the Iowa roster will be very similar to this group of players when it opens preseason action on Friday.