Wild recall two players, send David Spacek to AHL

With the Minnesota Wild placing center Marco Rossi on injured reserve Friday due to a lower-body injury, they had an open roster spot.  They’ve made a trio of moves to ultimately fill that spot, announcing the recalls of wingers Liam Ohgren and Tyler Pitlick while assigning defenseman David Spacek to AHL Iowa.

The 21-year-old made Minnesota’s roster out of training camp, but playing time was hard to come by.  In five games, the 2022 first-round pick played more than 10 minutes just once as he was a fixture on the fourth line.  Ohgren didn’t have any points in those outings while picking up four shots on goal.  Including last year’s action, he has three goals and four assists in 33 career NHL contests.

In an effort to get him more playing time, the Wild sent Ohgren down to Iowa in mid-October.  He has suited in nine games with them, picking up three goals and two assists.  While that’s decent production, it’s worth noting that he was much more productive in the minors last season, coming up just shy of a point per game with 19 goals and 18 assists in 41 appearances.

Pitlick is in his first season with Minnesota after signing a two-year, two-way deal with them in free agency over the summer.  While he cleared waivers last month after not making the opening roster, he has spent the bulk of this season in the NHL following a recall two weeks into the season.  He has played in nine games so far and hasn’t recorded a point but has 24 hits and 22 penalty minutes.  Notably, if he plays in one more NHL contest, he will need to pass through waivers again before he can be assigned to Iowa.

The 34-year-old has three goals and an assist in five games so far in the minors.  Over his career, Pitlick has played in 429 career NHL contests over parts of 10 seasons for nine different franchises.

As for Spacek, he was recalled back on Monday with fellow blueliner Jake Middleton dealing with an illness but is still waiting to make his NHL debut.  The 22-year-old is in his second professional campaign and has six assists in a dozen games so far with Iowa.