Minnesota Wild: What does Kyle Rau need to do to get called up?

With just one point in his last four games for the Iowa Wild, Kyle Rau isn’t exactly on fire right now, but as the second highest scorer in the side, he has to be wondering what he has to do to earn a promotion to the Minnesota Wild.

The Minnesota Wild, as previously noted, are running with a roster of just twenty-two players, one short of the allowed twenty-three. There are plenty of Iowa Wild players, Kyle Rau included, that are no doubt seeing that empty spot as something to make a grab at.

Through twenty games this season, Kyle Rau has 15 points for the Iowa Wild, 7 goals and 8 assists. He plays a key role on the power-play, with 5 points coming on the man-advantage and has even played some penalty-killing minutes, with a short-handed goal to his name.

A shooting percentage of 9.5% suggests that he isn’t doing anything unsustainable in the AHL and that he could likely translate his Iowa Wild form to the Minnesota Wild should the chance arise.

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The challenge there though is the fact that the Central Division isn’t exactly child’s play; the Wild’s feisty encounter with the Winnipeg Jets proves that.

At just 5’8″, Kyle Rau is a small customer, there’s no other way of swinging it. He isn’t the aggressive big-bodied player that a Matt Hendricks or a Eric Fehr is.

This in itself explains the reason that Kyle Rau hasn’t yet graduated to the Minnesota roster.

They have depth that can offer size, strength and a bit of grit. Skill players are secondary to that right now, especially in the bottom-six within their division.

Teams like the Winnipeg Jets are itching to take advantage of weaknesses and with big guys like Adam Lowry and Dustin Byfuglien laying the hits, you can ill afford to carry too many smaller-sized skill players.

It’d be a different story if the Minnesota Wild found themselves in the Atlantic Division, which Boston Bruins aside, seems to be setting a different standard for lower penalty counts.

In that division, there is no doubt that Kyle Rau may well have earned his promotion from the Iowa Wild and ousted a tough guy. For now though, he’ll have to continue biding his time.

Either the nature of the competition needs to change or the Minnesota Wild need to adapt to the challenge and throw their skill guys out there regardless. Kyle Rau will be hoping for the latter!