Wild assigns Granlund to Aeros

The kid was probably told to go down, work on his game and he'll be back in the NHL soon enough. Let's hope Mikael Granlund does just that.

On Tuesday, the Wild assigned Granlund to the Aeros, who will play two games this week; Thursday against the Abbotsford Heat and then again on Saturday at San Antonio.

Fans in St. Paul have been debating what the Wild should do with the kid, who has struggled in his first season in the NHL. Some want him down in Houston to get top-line minutes, while others wanted to see him playing those same minutes with the big club.

Right now, the Wild are just doing too well without Granlund, so it looks like Plan "A" is in order.

It'll be nice to see where the kid's head's at down here against the Heat on Thursday.

Here is the full release from the Wild:

MINNESOTA WILD REASSIGNS MIKAEL GRANLUND TO HOUSTON

    SAINT PAUL, Minn. – Minnesota Wild General Manager Chuck Fletcher today announced the National Hockey League (NHL) club has reassigned forward Mikael Granlund to the Houston Aeros of the American Hockey League (AHL).

    Granlund, 21 (2/26/92), collected six points (1-5=6) in 19 games with Minnesota this season and registered a goal in his NHL debut vs. Colorado on Jan. 19. The 5-foot-10, 186-pound native of Oulu, Finland recorded 21 points (8-13=21) in 21 games with the Aeros this season. He was named the AHL Rookie of the Month for October scoring 10 points (3-7=10) and a +5 rating in seven games. Granlund was Minnesota’s first round pick (ninth overall) in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.

    2012-13 Season Tickets are now available for select lower level and RBC Wealth Management Club Level seats. Single-game tickets are also on sale now and available for most home games. More information on season tickets and single-game tickets is available at www.wild.com, or by contacting a Wild Ticket Sales Representative at 651-222-WILD.

    Visit www.wild.com/pressbox for the latest news and information from the team including press releases, game notes, postgame notes, multimedia content and daily statistics.

-- WILD --

Strong third period nets 30th win of the season in Charlotte

The Aeros joined the 30-win club with a 5-2 win over the Charlotte Checkers Sunday at Time Warner Cable Arena. After blowing a 2-0 lead in the second period, the Aeros had the stronger legs, Charlotte lost a few bodies due to injury, and Jake Dowell took over to lead the Aeros past the Checkers.

Charlotte Checkers Photo

Some guy you never heard of played goalie for the Aeros, and some guy you never heard of backed him up because the Aeros third string goalie - John Curry - got hurt in the shootout Saturday night.

Mike Russo of the Star-Tribune had the scoop on the situation, so this is plucked right from his blog to help catch you up to speed:

"I mentioned this in the notebook, but after scrambling to get a half-dozen goalies into Houston’s lineup last season, Aeros General Manager Jim Mill is once again scouring the depth charts.

Both of Houston’s goalies are in Minnesota: Matt Hackett and now-injured Darcy Kuemper. So naturally, on the first day of Hackett’s recall, Shorewood native John Curry was injured in a shootout at Charlotte.

In Sunday’s rematch, Cody Reichard, picked up from ECHL Stockton, backstopped the Aeros to a 5-2 victory, while Mill signed ECHL South Carolina’s Jeff Jakaitis, a former Rochester Mayo standout, to a professional tryout to back up. He is the Aeros’ fifth goalie of the year. The Aeros are fifth in the AHL West.

'Just when you think you have the depth and have it figured out, a goalie goes down in a shootout?” Mill said. “So you get the list out, start making calls to get a goalie into to Charlotte for a 3:00 pm game and oh yea we lose an hour - Daylight savings time!'"

Incredible, isn't it?

Well, if you have been a Aeros fan for more than five minutes, you're not surprised. It happened last year, and the team still managed to sneak into the playoffs as the No. 8 seed.

Speaking of which, the standings are getting a lot tighter because a lot of the lower seeds have gone on some nice little runs lately. Here is a link to the AHL's playoff primer, which, I think, is a wonderful tool for AHL fans and media.

While the Aeros are currently fifth in the standings and have a nice, 10-game homestand coming up, they only play two games for the third week in a row. This is the week that a lot of teams will catch up in games played, so unless the Aeros win both of their games this week, they could drop a few spots.

That's all I got for now; See you at the rink on Thursday.

Aeros get a point in shootout loss to Checkers

The Minnesota Wild does not own the Aeros, the Charlottle Checkers do. And they are co-owners with the Lake Erie Monsters this year. When these teams get together, Charlotte and Lake Erie get wins. The Aeros get maybe a point here or there, but they lose just about every time.

Charlotte Checkers Photo

Hey, at least against Charlotte they won ONE overtime game and actually got the lead, something they had been unable to do against Lake Erie.

But I digress ... Considering their goaltending situation - and it remains unclear if Hackett will get his first start of the season today against Vancouver - I thought it was a big road point.

Matt Kassian scored his first goal of the season in the second period, but the Checkers tied it up later in the period, and that is how the game would finish until the penalty-shot tiebreaker.

Charlotte won the shootout 2-0, and finished with a 2-1 win in front of more than 12,000 fans. Just an incredible showing in North Carolina.

The playoff picture is just an incredible mess right now, which is a great thing if you like dram and entire seasons coming down to the very last weekend. This is going to be a fun ride, and it all starts again today when the Aeros finish their two-game set at Charlotte.

Have a great Sunday, everyone.

Wild recalls Matt Hackett

I knew it was coming the second Mike Russo brought up Kuemper's groin injury in the blog the other day ... the Wild backup is hurt, which means the Wild have sent for and received Matt Hackett from the Aeros.

The Wild needs two goalies, and now the Aeros are down to two ECHL goalies for their upcoming series against the Charlotte Checkers. They will probably be running the show for at least the next two weeks of games.

Here is a link to the story on Hockey Wilderness about the Hackett recall.

It will be interesting to see how the Aeros fare while Kuemper is hurt.

Charlotte is in the same boat, ironically, due to injuries with the Hurricanes. Could see a lot of goals scores this weekend.

Aeros Split at Abbotsford, travel to Charlotte this weekend

The Aeros played like the better team for five of their six periods against the Abbotsford Heat last weekend, but they only got two points to show for it.

With a lead going into the third period Friday night, the Aeros lost their heads, took too many penalties and handed the Heat a "W" on a silver platter in the first of the two-game set. In Saturday's rematch, the Aeros dominated from start to finish and beat Barry Brust and the Heat, 5-1.

Their current standing has them in fifth in the conference, but they still have played more games that just about everyone else. The other teams will catch up, though, in the next two weeks, so Aeros fans will have a better idea of where the team stands for the final month of play.

Genoway fires one toward the net - Abbotsford Heat photo

Their next opponent, the Charlotte Checkers, will play two more games before they host the Aeros this weekend at Time Warner Cable Arena. They'll host OKC tonight and then travel to Norfolk Wednesday. The Checkers will be without No. 1 goalie Justin Peters for at least a month, because Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward will miss some time with a sprained knee.

Personally, I think the Checkers will just just fine with John Muse tending the pipes, but we'll see. His numbers are not that great in limited action ... but he did beat the Aeros at Toyota Center earlier this year.

The big picture

Like I said before, the Aeros are currently the 5th best team in the West, points-wise, and would have to suffer a terrible collapse not to make the playoffs. With 19 games left on the regular season slate, the Aeros probably need about 21 more points to make the playoffs. The could accomplish this by just winning nine of those 21 games with a couple of OT points scattered in there.

Obviously a lot could change, but the Aeros are playing quite well over the last month or so, and they have a 10-game homestand coming up in the not-so-distant future. Their schedule is home-heavy, but not easy by any stretch.

While most of their remaining opponents are better at home, they play some of the best road teams in the conference at Toyota Center down the stretch. Just counting Wins and Losses (not OT points), Charlotte and Texas are plus-11 on the road. Grand Rapids is plus-6, and Rochester and Chicago both have winning records on the road.

Of their remaining seven road games, Charlotte is "just" plus-four and is the only team left on their slate with double-digit regulation losses at home.

It's going to be a real fun ride through Mid April!

Hackett, Kampfer lead Aeros to 2-1 win over the OKC Barons

With more than 12,000 fans in their seats, the Aeros won for the 10th time in their last 15 games with a 2-1 win over the OKC Barons Saturday night at Toyota Center.

Goals by newly acquired Dan DaSilva and Steven Kampfer led the way offensively, and that proved to be enough for Matt Hackett, who continued his strong play since Darcy Kuemper got the call up to the Minnesota Wild.

Hackett made double-digit saves in every period, and needed every one of them in the third period, as the Aeros were out-shot 13-6. For his efforts, Hackett was named the No. 3 star of the game.

Kampfer got the first star with a goal and an assist, and his first of the season was good for the game winner. I know I have said it quite a few times on this blog during the last month or so, but Kampfer's turnaround this season has been impressive.

In Nov, Dec, and his first four games in 2013, he was minus-22 with just two assists. In the 16 games since then, he's plus-8 with a goal and seven assists. Hackett, too, had a great February. Saturday, he finished the month with a 5-3 record and his goals against was 2.22 with a .928 saves percentage.

Aeros hold on for 2-1 win - Photo by Morris Molina

Big picture wise, I don't know how they keep doing it. This roster shouldn't be 10-5 in their last 15 games and the seventh best team - point-wise - in the entire AHL. John Torchetti is getting the most out of Chad Rau and David McIntyre and Jim Mill has found suitable plugs to keep the ship more than just afloat.

The Aeros will get some much-needed practice time this week before making trips to Abbotsford and Charlotte for their next four games.

Their comeback in OKC fell just short Friday night, and the Aeros were able to get two points out of the weekend with the win on Saturday. With 21 games left in the season, it is believed that the Aeros will need 23 more points to hit the imaginary mark of 86 to make the playoffs.

Let's hope there is enough left in the tank for 12-14 more wins.

Aeros play a home and home series against OKC this weekend

Everyone thought that the OKC Barons would disappear off the face of the earth when the Oilers recalled all of their best players to the NHL after the lockout was lifted.

They sulked for a few weeks, but they are back to playing decent hockey again under Todd Nelson. They have points in four of their last five with three wins, and they are in the middle of a stretch where they will play eight straight two-game series against various teams.

Six games into that stretch, they've split two of those series and swept the Grand Rapids Griffins at home. If I were a bettin' man, I'd put my money on another split this weekend against the Aeros.

The Barons can score enough goals to win usually; their problems usually stem from the blueline and their rock solid goalie from last season, Yann Danis, has been a human being this year.

The Aeros are still missing several key players due to injury and callup, so they likely won't hit four goals unless the Barons really don't come to play this weekend.

Houston is currently fifth in the conference and currently on a mathematical pace to land the No. 7 seed in the playoffs. Most AHL experts think and agree that 86 points will get you into the playoffs, and the Aeros are still 25 points away from that.

Still a long way to go, but they are in better shape than some other teams below them in the standings.

Also, the crowd Saturday night is going to be massive - the lower bowl is sold out, and they are busy selling seats upstairs. The Aeros have played pretty good in front of large crowds the last two years, but it is autograph night and that usually spells doom for our boys.

Here are some notes on the Aeros and Barons from the Aeros PR office:


Houston Aeros (27-19-4-3, 61 points) at Oklahoma City Barons (23-19-2-5, 53 points)

The Houston Aeros and the Oklahoma City Barons meet for the eighth of 12 games this season. The Aeros took the last meeting on Jan. 1, a 4-2 win for Houston at the Toyota Center – the team’s fifth straight win over Oklahoma City. The first three meetings of the season were at the Cox Convention Center in downtown OKC. The Barons visited the Toyota Center for the first time this season with a pair of games in late November. Houston swept the two-game set with a 2-1 shootout win on Nov. 29 and a 4-3 regulation win on Nov. 30. Houston has taken six of the seven previous meetings this year (6-1-0-0), including three shootout wins.

Houston plays the final of eight straight on the road. The longest road trip of the season has included stops in Grand Rapids, Milwaukee, Rockford, Texas, Rochester, Hamilton, Toronto and Oklahoma City. The team will travel 6,496 miles over 17 days prior to returning to home ice on Saturday, Feb. 27 to host the OKC Barons. The Aeros claimed a 2-1 shootout decision on Monday night at Toronto, moving to 5-2-0-0 on the road trip. The win moved Houston to 14-11-2-1 on the road and 6-4-0-0 over the last ten games.

Oklahoma City enters Friday’s game coming off a 4-0 loss at Texas on Feb. 16. The team is 15-8-2-1 at home this season and 5-3-0-2 over the last ten games. The Barons have three straight wins at home, where they outscore their opponents 91-83.

Over the last three years, Houston and Oklahoma City have met 25 times. The Aeros are 16-6-0-3 all-time, including a 9-2-0-2 record on home ice. Oklahoma City is 9-9-1-6 all-time against Houston, including a 5-6-1-4 record at Toyota Center. Oklahoma City claimed three of four in the 2012 Calder Cup Playoffs and posted a 7-0-0-1 record during the 2011-12 regular season against Houston. The Barons outscored the Aeros 26-12 last season, posting a perfect 4-0-0-0 mark at home and a 3-0-0-1 record at the Toyota Center. Houston took nine out of 10 games in 10-11.

Houston has outscored Oklahoma City 27-20 in the seven previous meetings this season. The Aeros are 8-for-31 (25.8%) on the power play against the Barons this year, while Oklahoma City is 7-for-28 (25%) in the series. Six of the top seven scorers for Oklahoma City against Houston are now in the NHL. Defenseman Justin Schultz (2g,7a), forward Jordan Eberle (2g,7a), forward Taylor Hall (4g,3a), Teemu Hartikainen (1g,3a), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (1g,2a) and Magnus Paajarvi (1g,2a) are all with the Edmonton Oilers. Center Mark Arcobello is the series’ active leading scorer with four goals and six assists for ten points in seven games against the Aeros. The Aeros are missing two of their top three scorers against OKC this season. Jason Zucker (5g,3a) is currently in Minnesota with the Wild. Defenseman Brian Connelly (8a) has been out with an injury. Forwards Justin Fontaine and Charlie Coyle are also among the team leaders. Fontaine has three goals and seven points in six games against the Barons, while Coyle has three goals and six points in seven games. 

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What's it's all about through the eyes of an 8-year old

On Monday morning, my 8-year old son woke me up at 6:45 in the morning.

"Dad! You have GOT to see this ... "

"CJ" is not your normal 8-year old, and that is my fault. This child does very well in school and listens to his mom (mostly), but he lives and breathes baseball and hockey. I have no idea where get gets that from.

Zucker after his first NHL goal in St. Paul

He is a baseball player, one of the best in the Houston metro area for his age, and yes I am biased. But he loves watching hockey too, and can tell you the names of all the NHL teams and who their AHL affiliates are.

So when I heard him scream that I have GOT to come see this, I was not surprised to see him watching Channel 681, the NHL network.

He'd already hit the "pause" button after re-winding the DVR to the point where Wild forward Jason Zucker got the puck in his own end. When I sat down, CJ played the highlight for me and I almost teared up when he was more impressed with how Zucker basically undressed Valtteri Filppula and sped in on Peter Mrazek than the actual goal itself.

And then he made the comment I will never forget.

"Dad, it looks like he doesn't need us any more."

I knew what he meant. Us is the Aeros. And because one goal against his favorite team, my 8-year old doesn't think Jason Zucker belongs in the AHL any more.

I know Jason Zucker hopes he's right, although I still think the Aeros will have his services again at some point, but I could be wrong. But Zucker and Coyle and Brodin and Granlund and Larsson and Kuemper and Hackett weren't with won't be with the Aeros forever.

CJ, about four "seasons" ago. Yes, he scored two-hole..

And CJ didn't care that he may not ever get to see Zucker again in Houston. He was thrilled beyond belief that he could see one of his favorite players in the NHL making highlights.

To be perfectly honest, I used to hate it when Aeros got called up. Call me selfish because that is exactly what it was. I was more concerned about how that affected the Aeros that I was about a guy going up to live out his life long dream.

How narrow-minded! But that is a true confession from someone that has followed this organization since its inception.

Here is a link to the story about the john that John Torchetti has done with the Wild prospects during their time down in Houston. It's a great reminder of why the Aeros exist and the true roles and responsibilities of their coaches.

Now when the Aeros get called up, I want to be more like my son.

As we sat down for cereal Monday morning, my 8-year old didn't ask when Zucker might come back to the Aeros and when he could see him at Toyota Center. Caden wanted to know the next time the Wild are in Dallas.

Man, I love that boy.

Hackett/PK lead Aeros to fifth win in six games

Let's be frank. The Aeros had no business skating out of Toronto with two points, but they did thanks to a strong penalty kill (5-for-5) and Matt Hackett's goaltending.

Chad Rau converted one of the Aeros two shots in the third period, and somehow the boys in green survived OT (Hackett). After that, Hack stopped four of the five shots he saw in the shootout, and Dave McIntyre and Nick Petersen scored to clinch the extra standings point.

Hackett with his best save - photo by Graig Abel

The Aeros have won five of the first seven games of the road trip, and that is certainly nice ahead of Friday's trap game in OKC. Several coaches I have worked with over the years lament the last game of a long road trip, especially one that has been successful.

The Aeros will play a home and home series this weekend with the Barons and a chance to keep things rolling, even without several key players in the lineup.

Rau has played well lately, and even though Marco Scandella is injured (again) the defense continues to roll along. And we can't say enough about Hackett, especially since Kuemper got the call to the Wild. In his last five games, Hackett is 4-1 with a .929 saves percentage, and he is allowing just 1.56 goals per 60 minutes.

The Aeros were out-shot 11-2 in the last 25 minutes, and Hackett, named the game's first star, stopped 10 of them to give the Aeros a chance to win in the shootout.

During the last homestand, Torchetti said the team would have to start winning games 2-1. Well, since January 23, the Aeros are 9-4 and have score more than three goals just twice. In the other seven wins, the Aeros have won four times with two goals or fewer.

Checking mentality, indeed.