The Minnesota Wild have placed 23-year-old center Tyler Graovac on waivers.
The club has also recalled forwards Zack Mitchell and Alex Tuch from AHL Iowa and placed defenseman Jonas Brodin on injured reserve with a fractured finger.
Graovac may not make it through waivers. The former seventh-round draft pick is signed through next season with an affordable cap hit of just $625,000. He has six goals and no assists in 45 games for the Wild this season.
But the Wild will risk it anyway. As noted by Michael Russo of the Star Tribune, head coach Bruce Boudreau “clearly wants Charlie Coyle playing center after yesterday’s win over Detroit (one goal, five assists now in his center shifts the past four games) and Graovac, frankly, has been too inconsistent for everybody’s liking in this fourth-line role.”
With Coyle at center, Erik Haula can take Graovac’s spot in the middle of the fourth line. Eric Staal and Mikko Koivu are the two other centers.