The Minnesota Wild made roster moves Friday, sending prospect defenseman Carson Soucy to the American Hockey League’s Iowa Wild and releasing Ryan Malone from his PTO.
Now 37 years old, Malone hadn’t played an NHL regular season game since 2014-15, after off-ice issues in 2014 while a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Even his time with the New York Rangers in 2014-15 was limited to just six games.
Getting a tryout from the Wild was counted among the surprise developments of the summer offseason, with the announcement coming at the end of August.
Malone will now continue with an AHL tryout in Iowa.
If he’s able to sign an AHL contract, that would make him eligible to play for the U.S. Olympic team at the 2018 Games in South Korea. According to a Michael Russo report at the beginning of this month, the veteran forward has had discussions with Team USA officials.