Bulmer and Caron Heading To Houston

The Wild will assign both Brett Bulmer and Josh Caron to the Houston Aeros of the American Hockey League for the remainder of the season and playoffs. The move will likely come later today or over the weekend. Both will be eligible for the Calder Cup playoffs because they are signed junior players.

Both players will join the Aeros because their junior seasons have come to an end after being eliminated from playoffs.

After playing nine games with the Wild at the beginning of the season, Bulmer joined Kelowna in the Western Hockey League. The 2010 second-round pick scored 34 goals and 62 points in 53 games with the Rockets. The 6’3” forward, who plays with an edge, also racked up 93 penalty minutes.

Caron signed with the Wild as a free agent in 2010. The hard-nosed, 6’4” defenseman played with the Everett Silvertips of the WHL. He scored one goal and 13 points and racked up 159 penalty minutes in 63 regular-season games. He also added a goal during the WHL playoffs.

Training Camp Roster Finalized

It will be announced today that the Wild will bring an additional 18 players to Wild Training Camp presented by Andersen Windows, all of them coming off the Wild’s Traverse City prospects roster. That puts the total number of players at this year’s camp at 56.

Of the new 18, five – Kris Fredheim, Mike Kramer, Sam Lofquist, Taylor Peters and Carter Sandlak – will be Tryouts. Kramer is from St. Paul, a Princeton graduate and was a former star at Como Park High School, and Lofquist spent time with the Minnesota Gophers and contributed this jaw-dropping goal at the Wild’s Development Camp in July.

Keep in mind that the Wild signed three Tryout players – Josh Caron, Colton Jobke and Jared Spurgeon – to contracts during training camp last year.

The others added to the camp roster will be: Brett Bulmer,  Caron, Tyler Cuma, Justin Fontaine, Kris Foucault, Chay Genoway, Tyler Graovac, Matt Hackett, Jobke, Darcy Kuemper, David McIntyre, Kyle Medvec and Zack Phillips.

You can see these players as well as the rest of the Wild roster in person during scrimmages on Saturday and Sunday at Xcel Energy Center. Both scrimmages run from 10 to 11 a.m. with Gate 1 opening at 9:50 a.m.

Broda Scratched From Traverse City; Replaced By Joey Martin

The Wild made one change to its Traverse City Prospects Tournament roster over the Labor Day weekend. Forward Joel Broda was removed from the roster due to his recovery from offseason hernia surgery. He will be replaced in the lineup by tryout forward Joey Martin (not the former Gopher).

Martin just completed his fourth and final season with the Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks, helping them reach the NCAA tournament after posting 35 points (11-24=35) in 39 games. Martin finished his college career with 39 goals and 64 assists for 103 points.

The Wild prospects will begin defense of their undefeated run last year on Saturday when they face Buffalo at 2:30 p.m. More information can be found here.

Development Camp Scrimmages To Be Streamed Live

With scorching heat expected to grip our fair cities over the weekend, there won’t be a better place to be than an air-conditioned Xcel Energy Center with a big ice sheet covered with top prospects.

The Development Camp scrimmages will take place on Saturday and Sunday, both starting at 11:00 a.m. with gates opening at 10:30 a.m. Admission is free and the first 1,000 fans at Saturday’s scrimmage will receive a Devin Setoguchi T-shirt. The first 1,000 on Sunday will get a Dany Heatley T-shirt.

Fans will also have the opportunity to get autographs. On Saturday, members of Team White (includes Charlie Coyle, Justin Fontaine, Mario Lucia, Carson McMillan, Chad Rau, Jason Zucker, Jonas Brodin, Chay Genoway, Sam Lofquist and Darcy Kuemper) will sign autographs following the completion of the scrimmage for 45 minutes on the main concourse at Section 122-123. Members of Team Green (includes Cody Almond, J.T. Brown, Brett Bulmer, Jack Connolly, Mikael Granlund, Johan Larsson, Zack Phillips, Tyler Cuma, Kyle Medvec, Marco Scandella, Nick Seeler, Jared Spurgeon and Matt Hackett) will sign in the same spot following Sunday’s scrimmage.

If you can’t make it to Xcel Energy Center but want to see the Wild’s future in action, you’ll be able to watch both scrimmages via live streaming on Wild.com. Wild.com’s Glen Andresen (that’s me!) will hopefully be joined on air by some Wild dignitaries during the action.

Wild Signs Gillies to Two-Year Contract

The news keeps on coming from the Minnesota Wild Hockey Operations department, with the latest announcement made at lunchtime Wednesday: the Wild has signed restricted free agent Colton Gillies to a two-year contract.

The 22-year-old left wing was a major factor in the Houston Aeros’ run to the Calder Cup Finals this spring. He tied the team lead with seven playoff goals and ranked third on the club with 12 points (7-5=12) in 24 playoff games. The 6-4, 208-pound winger posted 26 points (11-15=26) and 82 penalty minutes in 64 regular season games with the Aeros in 2010-11.

Gillies also played seven games with the Wild, scoring one goal, a tally in the Wild’s 5-3 win over Dallas in the season finale. For the first time in his Wild career, he has not been asked to skate in this July’s Wild Development Camp for prospects. Gillies will come into this fall’s training camp looking to stay with the big club, having previously skated 45 games with the Wild in the 2008-09 season, recording seven points (2-5=7). The native of White Rock, B.C., was Minnesota’s first-round pick (No. 16 overall) in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft.