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Wild notes: Roster trimmed to 24

September 30, 2017 at 4:35AM
ST. PAUL, MN - SEPTEMBER 17: Zach Parise #11 of the Minnesota Wild poses for his official headshot for the 2015-2016 season on September 17, 2015 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. (Andy King/NHLI via Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Zach Parise ORG XMIT: 570172171
Parise (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

The Wild trimmed its roster to 24 players, sending former Minnesota Duluth defenseman Carson Soucy to Iowa and releasing NHL veteran Ryan Malone from his professional tryout.

NHL teams can carry 23 players during the regular season, though it's doubtful the Wild would keep that many because of salary cap concerns. Only 20 players are active for each game. If Parise starts on injured reserve, that's one less cut for the Wild to make.

Players on the bubble include forwards Daniel Winnik, Joel Eriksson Ek and Luke Kunin, and defensemen Ryan Murphy, Gustav Olofsson and Mike Reilly.

The 6-4, 212-pound Soucy, coming directly from college, made a strong impression in training camp at age 23.

"He's a young guy and he needs to play," coach Bruce Boudreau said. "Hopefully when we do see him again — he's good, but hopefully he's a lot better."

Malone, 38, who last played in the NHL in 2015, came to training camp hoping to play for Iowa and then for Team USA in the Olympics.

"If you give him the puck around the front of the net, he could score," Boudreau said. "As the players became more ramped up, speed became a little bit of a hindrance to him. He'll be a great leader for that [Iowa] team, and who knows what can happen?"

Murphy's long look

Murphy remains in the mix after scoring zero goals with two assists in 27 games last year for the Carolina Hurricanes. He was Carolina's first-round pick (No. 12 overall) in 2011 and got passed up by rising young defensemen JaccobSlavin and Brett Pesce.

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"The last few years of my career, I kind of lost what got me into the league, and that's my offensive instincts," Murphy said. "I'm just trying to get it back. I've got to get my confidence back. And in this camp so far, I think I'm on my way to doing that."

In five preseason games, Murphy is minus-3 with no points, though he does have 10 shots on goal.

"He's played well," Fletcher said. "He has a lot of experience in this league. He can move the puck. In junior, he was a big point producer, and I think at the pro game, he's still trying to find his game to balance that offensive ability with defensive responsibility. Probably not too dissimilar to a Mike Reilly here."

ST. PAUL, MN - SEPTEMBER 22: Matt Dumba #24 of the Minnesota Wild poses for his official headshot for the 2016-2017 season on September 22, 2016 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. (Andy King/NHLI via Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Matt Dumba ORG XMIT: 670947917
Dumba (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
about the writer

about the writer

Joe Christensen

Sports team leader

Joe Christensen, a Minnesota Star Tribune sports team leader, graduated from the University of Minnesota and spent 15 years covering Major League Baseball, including stops at the Riverside Press-Enterprise and Baltimore Sun. He joined the Minnesota Star Tribune in 2005 and spent four years covering Gophers football.

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