Almond Healthy, Officially Assigned To Houston

Because he suffered his back injury during the Wild’s training camp in September, Cody Almond was never officially assigned to the Houston Aeros. Technically, he was still on the Wild’s roster as an injured reserve player. Now healthy, Almond has been assigned to the Aeros after receiving a clean bill of health.

Ortmeyer Will Make Wild Debut Tonight

Despite having never spent a day in the Minnesota Wild locker room before this morning, Jed Ortmeyer will be playing alongside some familiar faces tonight in his Wild debut. Ortmeyer will play on the wing on a line centered by former Michigan Wolverine teammate Eric Nystrom. Ortmeyer’s teammate in San Jose last year, Brad Staubitz, will take the other wing.

Cody Almond will certainly get the chance to showcase himself tonight. He moves up to center the third line between Cal Clutterbuck and Chuck Kobasew.

It appears that the Wild will go with six defensemen with Nate Prosser sitting out. Niklas Backstrom will get the start in goal, with Jose Theodore most likely going tomorrow in Anaheim.

There have been a lot of requests from folks wondering when the camouflage jerseys that the Wild wore in pregame warmups on Tuesday night would be up for bid. Wait no longer.

You can bid on the jerseys worn by each player by clicking here. And if you haven’t seen the video of the guys pulling them on in the locker room and heading out to the ice, well, get on that. It’s pretty sweet.

Late 9:30 p.m. start tonight, so get your pregame snooze in as soon as possible. I’m sure if you tell your boss that you’ve got to rest up so you can watch tonight’s game in its entirety, I’m sure she’ll understand.

Almond Recalled From Houston

With the Wild down to 12 healthy forwards and the team about to embark on a nine-day, four-game road trip, Cody Almond was recalled from the Aeros this morning. Almond is scheduled to land in the Twin Cities just before 11:00 a.m. when the Wild hits the ice for practice at Xcel Energy Center.

This will be the third recall of the season for Almond, who has played four games for the Wild this season. In 43 games with the Aeros, the rugged center has posted 11 goals and 12 assists for 23 points. He leads Houston with seven power play goals and ranks second on the club in goals and penalty minutes (82).

Almond Gets The Call

Cody Almond was recalled by the Wild today and will join the team in Atlanta tonight. This is Almond’s second call up this season. He was promoted last week and played in the Wild’s last two games, both wins, on Friday and Saturday. He was reassigned to Houston on Sunday. He has two goals and four assists in 12 games with Houston this season. He has not recorded a point with the Wild and has averaged 5:22 of ice time.

Almond’s call up was necessary with the glut of injuries on the Wild front lines. Antti Miettinen appears ready to return from a concussion, but Chuck Kobasew and Guillaume Latendresse will not travel with the team this week due to lower body injuries. Marek Zidlicky remains a question mark for the trip, but he did skate on his own today.

Almond, Kassian Return To Houston

Cody Almond and Matt Kassian have been reassigned to the Houston Aeros of the American Hockey League today. Both appeared in the last two Wild games, and neither registered a point. Kassian had his first NHL fight last night in a first period tussle with Columbus’ Jared Boll.

With four days off before the Wild’s next game in Atlanta, the moves make sense. With no developments on the five Wild players currently injured, there’s a good possibility that these two, or another Aero join the team for Thursday’s game.

The Aeros are heating up, winning their fourth straight last night over Oklahoma City. Fridley’s Jared Palmer picked up a goal and two assists. And Robbie Earl scored a goal, giving him points in five of the last six games.