Minnesota Wild: Almost At A Final Roster, No Real Surprises

The Minnesota Wild cut down their training camp roster again, ahead of the start of the NHL season. There weren’t any real surprises in who got cut.

The players moved were as per the below announcement on the official Minnesota Wild website:

"Minnesota Wild General Manager Paul Fenton today announced the National Hockey League (NHL) club has reduced its training camp roster to 25 players.The team assigned forwards Mike Liambas, Kyle Rau and Matt Read, defensemen Matt Bartkowski and Josh Thrower and goaltender Andrew Hammond to the Iowa Wild of the American Hockey League (AHL). The team also placed defenseman Ryan Murphy on waivers today. Murphy will be assigned to Iowa tomorrow if he clears waivers. (NHL.com)"

There had been a lot of hope that Matt Read’s performances in pre-season had given him the heads-up on the final 23-man roster, but ultimately it seems money talked. J.T. Brown was cheaper to keep with the big club.

Andrew Hammond, although he put up a good fight, was always in a bit of an uphill battle for the Minnesota Wild backup goaltending spot. Alex Stalock would’ve had to have had a complete collapse in his pre-season form to surrender the reigns.

Kyle Rau and Matt Bartkowski, both quite simply found themselves having performed perfectly well, but in positions where there was strong enough depth ahead of them.

In those scenarios, you need to do more than perform well; it’s exceptional or nothing.

Finally, Mike Liambas; who we have openly questioned as to why he is still maintaining a place within the Minnesota Wild organisation. His being sent to Iowa is expected; there’s a hope that he’s a good pro for the young guys to learn from if nothing else. His skill-set has never exactly screamed elite-level player, even at the American Hockey League level.

It’s always an interesting time of year, what with the need to place players on waivers and the potential for the Minnesota Wild to make their own waiver claims. Typically, neither of the above will happen and a few conditional draft picks get thrown about, but either way, it’s entertaining to watch.

With two more players needing to be cut from the Minnesota Wild’s final roster, now is a period of a bit of uncertainty for the guys with the big club on the cusp of the roster.

Realistically, there’s a few options for the final two roster cuts, but it’s quite hard to pick who exactly Paul Fenton sends to Iowa.