The Minnesota Wild are going a different route. With the believed final roster battle between forwards Nic Petan and Mason Shaw taking place, we all assumed that they would have used the extra space created by Jordan Greenway’s injury and go with 13 forwards and seven defensemen to start their 2022-23 season.
Well, that was wrong. Announced by the team on Sunday afternoon, the Wild have placed both Petan and Shaw on waivers. Both forwards will head to the AHL if they clear.
The #mnwild has placed forwards Nic Petan and Mason Shaw on waivers today for the purpose of assignment @IAWild.
— Minnesota Wild PR (@mnwildPR) October 9, 2022
Both forwards impressed during training camp and the preseason, but with four home games to start the regular season, we can assume that the Wild view having the extra bodies around as an unnecessary cost on the salary cap. We will find out if these players clear waivers at 1:00 pm on Monday, and with both of these guys being decent two-way depth forwards, it is certainly a risk and they could be good acquisitions for a team that has room.
One skater that they are keeping around as an extra is defenseman Andrej Sustr. The towering 6-foot-7 right-handed blueliner has had adequate performances when he has been on the ice during the preseason, and it can never hurt to have a giant ass defenseman, just in case some other team wants to play big in St. Paul.
The Wild start their season against the New York Rangers on Thursday.