ST. PAUL, MINN. - The Wild played most of their non-NHL roster players with a mix of a few NHL hopefuls and ended up with a 3-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks.
In a game like this, it is important to see how your team lines up in terms of depth and Wild head coach Dean Evason states they really like their current depth chart.
"The depth of our team in Iowa, when and hopefully we don't have to have call-ups but if we do, we can now call Mac (Brett McLean) and Mike Murray and say this is a position we need," Evason said on the depth of the team. "Our depth is great."
Tonight these two depth players in particular stood out the most for the Wild.
Nic Petan
The Wild brought in Nic Petan before last season as a depth signing. He played ten games with the Wild and 53 games with the Iowa Wild in the AHL. In his ten games with Minnesota, he recorded one goal and three points but flourished in the AHL with 23 goals and 62 points.
The 5-foot-9 center is one of those in-betweeners who always plays great in the AHL but doesn't fully stick in the NHL. He's played 164 games across eight years and has notched seven goals and 33 points.
In 237 career AHL games, Petan has notched 80 goals and 241 points. He has played for the Winnipeg Jets, Toronto Maple Leafs, and the Vancouver Canucks before joining the Wild.
Tonight Petan showcased his speed and creativity and even racked up three shot assists which led the team.
"Petan had a great game tonight, he handled pucks well offensively," Evason said.
Adam Beckman
The 22-year-old forward scored the Wild's second goal of the game which held up, until the final minute of the third when Chicago scored to tie it at 2-2.
But Minnesota railed back with a quick overtime goal by Connor Dewar. Beckman though is a top-six type of player who has the skill to translate to the NHL. But with the salary cap being so tight, the Wild can't afford to start the season with Beckman on the roster.
Evason did note that they will evaluate call-ups this year a little differently in terms of who gets the call when a player gets hurt or need an extra player.
"It's not like, okay this is our best player down there so we have to call him up," Evason said. "We've talked about that before where we've called a guy up and you want to put him in a position where he's going to have the best success.
You don't want to call up an offensive guy and put him on the fourth line and let him check. So maybe we don't. Maybe we call up the guy that positionally fits."
Beckman can certainly be the guy the Wild call up from the AHL if they need a top-six scoring winger. Evason noted that even though these guys are getting sent down, they all still have a role in the organization and Beckman is a good example of that.
Final thoughts
The Wild are expected to make a boatload of cuts tomorrow before they head to Duluth. Like Evason said though, there is a lot of depth in Iowa and they feel they have the right person for each kind of callup. Nic Petan and Adam Beckman are prime examples of that.
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