The Wild made a bunch of roster moves this morning.
Center Tyler Graovac was placed on waivers for the purposes of getting to Iowa, right wingers Alex Tuch and Zack Mitchell were recalled from Iowa and defenseman Jonas Brodin was placed on injured reserve retroactive to Jan. 18 just so the Wild could make the roster moves (he's practicing today and nothing has changed with his status, return is on the horizon).
We'll get Bruce Boudreau after practice, but he clearly wants Charlie Coyle playing center after yesterday's win over Detroit (one goal, five assists now in his center shifts the past four games) and Graovac, frankly, has been too inconsistent for everybody's liking in this fourth-line role. He has six goals in 45 games this season.
Does he get claimed? I don't know. I was certain he wouldn't in training camp, but lots of guys get claimed around the trade deadline and lots of teams are looking for third- and fourth-line centers because there are crummy ones for the most part available on the trade market right now.
Lines today:
Parise-Coyle-Pominville
Zucker-Koivu-Granlund
Niederreiter-Staal-Tuch
Stewart-Haula-Schroeder/Mitchell
Defenseman Matt Dumba (lower body) is not practicing.
Mitchell had no points in 10 games for the Wild earlier this season. He has been playing well for red-hot Iowa, scored a huge goal the other night to force overtime and even though he has been playing center there, I'd think he moves to his natural right wing position and plays for Schroeder tomorrow against a big opponent in Anaheim.
Also, Pominville was named the NHL's No. 1 Star of the Week today. He was so clutch all week, as good as I've seen him
From the NHL release:
Pominville paced the NHL with six assists and eight points in four games to power the Western Conference-leading Wild (37-12-6, 80 points) to a 3-0-1 week. He registered 2-2—4, his fourth career four-point performance and first since Jan. 1, 2011 (w/ BUF), in a 4-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets Feb. 7. He then collected one assist in both a 4-3 overtime loss to the Chicago Blackhawks Feb. 8 and a 2-1 shootout win against the Tampa Bay Lightning Feb. 10. Pominville capped the week with two more helpers, his sixth multi-point effort of 2016-17, in a 6-3 triumph over the Detroit Red Wings Feb. 12. The 34-year-old Repentigny, Que., native has 10-25—35 in 55 outings this season, including 2-7—9 during a five-game point streak.
