Minnesota Wild: Matt Read returned to the Iowa Wild
Minnesota Wild forward Matt Read has found himself returned to the team’s minor-league affiliate, the Iowa Wild.
For Matt Read, his short spell with the Minnesota Wild was really a case of circumstance; the injury to Matt Hendricks allowing him to be promoted from the Iowa Wild.
The announcement on the Minnesota Wild official website simply states the facts, that Matt Read didn’t exactly produce on his short time with the big team and that the Iowa Wild was his destination.
As a 32-year-old player, he’ll likely be wise to the fact that he can’t remain at the NHL level forever and spells in the minor league are inevitable at this stage in his career.
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The hope will be that he can return to the Iowa Wild with the right attitude and help the next generation of Minnesota Wild prospects develop into the players the top team needs.
During his time with the Minnesota Wild, Matt Read put an acceptable six shots on goal across five games, averaging 11:12 minutes per game as a clear fourth line player.
He also contributed on the penalty-kill, tallying time short-handed in all but two of those games.
He epitomised the role of a depth player; plugging the hole that Matt Hendricks’ injury forced General Manager, Paul Fenton to fill.
Dependable, efficient and reliable are probably the words fairest in describing what Matt Read brought to the team. Beyond that, he didn’t exactly show any prowess in front of net and didn’t lay down any big hits or checks that I can recall.
As a fourth liner, it’s those additional elements to the game that you expect. Goals are seldom coming from fourth liners, but hits and physicality should be realistically.
Perhaps the one confusing part of his time with Minnesota is that he rocked a Corsi For of 53.1%, demonstrating elite ability to control the play and limit opposition Shot Attempts.
This one might be worth marking down to a small sample size or the even more confusing fact that, despite being earmarked as a fourth liner, he spent 45.1% of his time at even-strength partnered by Jason Zucker and Eric Staal.
Next. Unfair to always scapegoat Charlie Coyle?. dark
Either way, it’s fair to say that having Matt Read down with the Iowa Wild and raring to go anytime he is called up to the Minnesota Wild team isn’t a bad thing!