Wild Recall Ben Jones, Nicolas Aube-Kubel

After recalling a pair of depth players yesterday, the Minnesota Wild are again adding more reinforcements for their final two games of the regular season. The Wild announced that they’ve recalled forwards Ben Jones and Nicolas Aube-Kubel from the AHL’s Iowa Wild. Michael Russo of The Athletic indicated they would do so in a report earlier this morning.

As Russo alluded to, today’s transaction caps Minnesota at four post-trade deadline recalls, meaning they’ll have to wait until AHL Iowa finishes its season to recall any more Black Aces for the playoffs. Still, since AHL Iowa has already been eliminated from Calder Cup playoff contention, the Wild will have access to whomever they’d like.

Jones, 27, has been an oft-recalled player for the Wild this season. The Waterloo, ON native has been playing professionally for the past seven years with various organizations, although much of his NHL playing time has been spent with Minnesota.

Understandably, he’s performed much better at the AHL level. In 35 games for AHL Iowa this season, Jones has registered 12 goals and 30 points with a +2 rating. In Minnesota, he’s scored one goal and one assist in 26 contests with a -10 rating, averaging 8:36 of ice time per game.

Meanwhile, despite Aube-Kubel having more years of NHL experience than Jones, he has played almost exclusively for AHL Iowa this season. Throughout his first year with the organization, Aube-Kubel has scored 15 goals and 37 points in 60 AHL games, and one assist in four NHL contests.