Jake Dowell

Tough cuts: Wild send Zucker and Dowell to Iowa

By Joe YerdonSep 29, 2013, 10:59 AM EDT

Competition to stick with the Minnesota Wild for opening night was fierce and one player the team is high on is now headed back to the AHL.

Jason Zucker and Jake Dowell were re-assigned to the Wild’s farm team in Iowa and as Michael Russo of The Star Tribune shares, it’s not meant to be a permanent move.

Again, as the Wild has said over and over this camp, in its mind, whoever didn’t make the opening-night roster simply won’t be in the lineup opening night vs. L.A. on Thursday. It’s not, “not making the team.”

Forwards Mikael Granlund, Nino Niederreiter, and Justin Fontaine all are sticking with the team for now. The curious name here is Fontaine as he doesn’t have the sort of offensive or overall upside Zucker does or the defensive abilities of Dowell.

What Fontaine does have going for him, however, is his career playing at Minnesota-Duluth during his college days. Can’t be bad for appearances to have a good local guy sticking around… right?

This won’t be the last we hear from Zucker, but Wild fans are likely not going to be too pleased at getting the season started like this.

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Minnesota signs Jake Dowell and yes, there’s a Suter connection

By Joe YerdonJul 4, 2012, 9:26 AM EDT

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Chances are you wouldn’t expect the news of the Minnesota Wild signing free agent forward Jake Dowell to a two-year deal to land on anyone’s radar. When you look a little deeper, there could be a bit more going on here.

Dowell is a former University of Wisconsin standout and was teammates for one season with none other than prized free agent Ryan Suter. Suter also came up through the hockey ranks with Dowell at the USNTDP, as Nathan Eide at Hockey Wilderness points out. The two players are also very good friends and share the same agent (Neil Sheehy).

Hmm…

To add to that, the Wild also already have former Badgers in Tom Gilbert and Dany Heatley. Shrewd signing by the Wild or just a total coincidence that they signed Ryan Suter’s best friend? With reports swirling that a decision from Suter (and Zach Parise) could be coming today, getting an edge any way you can never hurts.

Of course, if the Wild strike out on landing Suter they’ll be left hanging by signing a handful of third/fourth line players in Dowell, Torrey Mitchell, and Zenon Konopka.

NHL free agency Friday one-stop shop

By Joe YerdonJul 1, 2011, 8:12 PM EDT

Today’s free agency kickoff in the NHL will keep things busy all afternoon. While some names and players are going to be more than well worth the attention, some guys might not quite be worth a ton of attention. Since it’s free agent day and everyone deserves a little bit of ink, we’ll keep track of all of today’s signings here for you to keep score at home.

Like we said, they all won’t be big time winners, but they’ll all be here. Refresh the page as you wish to or just check back in throughout the day.

Minnesota re-signs goalie Josh Harding: One year, $750,000 (Source)

Detroit re-signs forward Patrick Eaves: Three years, $3.6 million (Source)

Columbus signs defenseman James Wisniewski to six-year, $33 million deal.

Vancouver re-signs defenseman Sami Salo to one year deal worth $2 million.

Vancouver re-signs forward Chris Higgins: Two years, $3.8 million (Source)

Detroit re-signs forward Drew Miller: Two years, $1.65 million (Source)

Pittsburgh re-signs forward Tyler Kennedy for two years, $4 million.

New Jersey re-signs defenseman Andy Greene to a four year deal.

Tampa Bay signs goalie Mathieu Garon: Two years, $2.6 million (Source)

Buffalo re-signs forward Cody McCormick: Three years, $3.6 million (Source)

Edmonton signs forward Ben Eager: Three years, $3.3 million (Source)

Chicago signs forward Jamal Mayers: One year, $550,000 (Source)

Florida signs goalie Jose Theodore: Two years, $3 million (Source)

Chicago signs forward Brett McLean: One year, two-way deal worth $525,000 (Source)

Dallas signs defenseman Adam Pardy: Two years, $4 million (Source)

Chicago signs defenseman Sean O’Donnell: One year, $850,000 (Source)

Florida signs forward Scottie Upshall: Four years, $14 million (Source)

Washington signs forward Jeff Halpern: One year, $825,000 (Source)

Phoenix signs forward Raffi Torres: Two years, $3.5 million (Source)

Phoenix signs goalie Mike Smith: Two years, $4 million (Source)

Philadelphia signs forward Jaromir Jagr to a one year deal worth $3.3 million.

Calgary signs defenseman Chris Butler (RFA): Two years, $2.5 million (Source)

Phoenix signs forward Boyd Gordon: Two years, $2.65 million (Source)

Vancouver signs forward Mark Mancari: One year, $525,000 (Source)

Dallas signs forward Radek Dvorak: One year, $1.5 million (Source)

Florida signs defenseman Ed Jovanovski: Four years, $16.5 million (Source)

Dallas signs forward Vernon Fiddler: Three years, $5.4 million (Source)

Philadelphia signs forward Jakub Voracek (RFA): One year, $2.25 million (Source)

Colorado signs defenseman Jan Hejda: Four years, $13 million (Source)

Chicago signs forward Andrew Brunette: One year, $2 million (Source)

St. Louis re-signs forward Matt D’Agostini: Two years, $3.3 million (Source)

Florida signs forward Marcel Goc: Three years, $5.1 million (Source)

Philadelphia signs defenseman Andreas Lilja (Source)

New Jersey re-signs goalie Johan Hedberg: One year deal (Source)

Phoenix re-signs Radim Vrbata: Three years, $9 million (Source)

Philadelphia signs forward Maxime Talbot: Five years, $9 million (Source)

Colorado acquires goalie Semyon Varlamov from Washington, signs him to two year, $5.5 million deal.

Winnipeg signs defenseman Derek Meech: One year, two-way deal worth $700,000 (Source)

Carolina signs goalie Brian Boucher: Two years, $1.9 million (Source)

Montreal signs goalie Peter Budaj: Two years, $2.3 million (Source)

New York Rangers sign Mike Rupp: Three years, $4.5 million (Source)

Detroit signs defenseman Mike Commodore: One year, $1 million (Source)

Pittsburgh signs forward Steve Sullivan: One year, $1.5 million (Source)

Washington signs forward Joel Ward: Four years, $12 million (Source)

New York Islanders sign forward Marty Reasoner: Two years, @2.7 million (Source)

Phoenix signs forward Alexandre Bolduc: One year, two-way deal $575,000 (Source)

Washington signs defenseman Roman Hamrlik: Two years, $7 million (Source)

Montreal signs forward Erik Cole: Four years, $18 million (Source)

Edmonton signs forward Darcy Hordichuk: One year, $825,000 (Source)

Edmonton signs defenseman Cam Barker: One year, $2.25 million (Source)

Ottawa signs goalie Alex Auld: One year, $1 million (Source)

Dallas signs forward Michael Ryder: Two years, $7 million (Source)

Dallas signs forward Jake Dowell: One year, $800,000 (Source)

Boston signs forward Benoit Pouliot: One year, $1.1 million (Source)

Buffalo signs forward Ville Leino: Six years, $27 million (Source)

Vancouver signs forward Marco Sturm: One year, $2.25 million (Source)

Carolina signs forward Alexei Ponikarovsky: One year, $1.5 million (Source)

Washington signs forward Ryan Potulny: Two years, $1.05 million (Source)

Dallas signs defenseman Sheldon Souray: One year, $1.65 million (Source)

San Jose signs defenseman Jim Vandermeer: One year, $1 million (Source, Source 2)

Florida signs forward Tomas Fleischmann: Four years, $18 million (Source)

Philadelphia trades Kris Versteeg to Florida for two draft picks.

Columbus signs goalie Curtis Sanford: One year, two-way deal; $600,000 (Source)

Edmonton signs forward Eric Belanger: Three years, $5.25 million (Source)

Anaheim trades defenseman Andy Sutton to Edmonton for defenseman Kurtis Foster

Columbus signs goalie Mark Dekanich: One year, $575,000 (Source)

Boston signs forward Trent Whitfield (Source)

Boston signs goalie Anton Khudobin (Source)

Columbus signs defenseman Aaron Johnson (Source)

Colorado signs forward Chuck Kobasew: Two years, $2.5 million (Source)

St. Louis signs goalie Brian Elliott: One year, two-way deal worth $600,00 (Source, Source 2)

Carolina signs forward Tim Brent: Two years, $1.5 million (Source)

Carolina signs forward Jiri Tlusty: One year, $525,000 (Source)

Colorado signs goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere: Two years, $2.5 million (Source)

Tampa Bay signs forward J.T. Wyman: One year, two-way contract (Source)

Edmonton signs defenseman Corey Potter: One year, two-way contract (Source)

Ottawa signs forward Francis Lessard: One year, two-way contract (Source)

Chicago signs forward Dan Carcillo: One year, $775,000 (Source, Source 2)

Winnipeg signs forward Tanner Glass: One year, $750,000 (Source)

Vancouver signs forward Andrew Ebbett: One year, $525,000 (Source)

San Jose signs forward Michal Handzus: Two years, $5 million (Source)

Florida signs forward Sean Bergenheim: Four years, $11 million (Source)

New York Rangers re-sign Ruslan Fedotenko: One year, $1.4 million (Source)

Chicago’s struggle to clinch a playoff spot magnified by Troy Brouwer’s shoulder injury

By Joe YerdonApr 6, 2011, 11:26 AM EDT

Chicago’s race for the playoffs is getting a bit more awkward lately. After losing in overtime to Montreal, sure they got a point in the standings for their effort, but Dallas earned two points behind them after shutting out Columbus. The Blackhawks (93 points) have just a two point lead on Dallas (91 points) and both teams have three games left to play. Calgary is right there as well tied with Dallas, but with just two games left things are a bit tougher for them as they have more shootout wins than both teams.

Chicago will now have to weather the storm tonight against St. Louis and possibly in their final two games against Detroit without forward Troy Brouwer. Brouwer left last night’s game against Montreal with an apparent right shoulder injury. While Brouwer doesn’t come with the abilities that guys like Marian Hossa, Jonathan Toews, or Patrick Kane do, adding another injury on top of losses to Patrick Sharp and Dave Bolland doesn’t do them any favors.

Guys like Jake Dowell and Bryan Bickell will need to step up and play a bigger game the rest of the way without Brouwer in the lineup. They’ve been the steady third line guys all season, but they’ll need them to play a little bigger now. Same goes for veteran Fernando Pisani as well. Pisani’s been through it before in 2006 with the Edmonton Oilers helping lead that team to the Stanley Cup final against Carolina. That kind of experience is invaluable at this time of year.

While you’d think the Blackhawks wouldn’t have too much of a hard time disposing of the Blues tonight and might be looking ahead to a pivotal two-game showdown with Detroit, never discount old Norris Division rivalries to flare up once again. The Blues season is finished but giving them a goal for a night to try and hurt a rival like Chicago’s playoff hopes and the scope of the game changes dramatically.

With both teams coming off of games last night, neither team comes in with a rest advantage. The Blues are buoyed by a win over Colorado and the confidence is high. If you’re the Chicago Blackhawks, you treat tonight’s game like a do-or-die.

Video: Daniel Carcillo bloodied in fight with Jake Dowell

By James O'BrienJan 23, 2011, 3:45 PM EDT

2 Comments

One of the go-to responses when a person asks you about a black eye is to say, “You should see the other guy.”

Yet judging battle wounds isn’t always the best way to determine a winner when it comes to an NHL fight. Philadelphia Flyers ultra-pest Dan Carcillo ended up bloody after a fight with the Chicago Blackhawks forward Jake Dowell, yet 92.3 percent of the Hockey Fights audience thought that Carcillo was the winner. (Note: that number will probably chance since the poll is ongoing.)

On first blush, it seemed like it might not be a fair match because of Carcillo’s experience. After all, Carcillo has been a regular penalty minute leader in the NHL, with seasons that included 22, 19 and 17 fighting majors. Yet Dowell isn’t a lightweight either, with an AHL campaign that included 14. Both players are also nearly the same size, so it’s not like Dowell was taking on a guy with a 20 lbs. weight advantage.

So take a look at this rugged and shaggy exchange of fisticuffs and decide for yourself if Carcillo really won the fight after all.

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