With the Wild skating 4-on-4 in a morning practice at TRIA Rink, the puck was dumped into the corner to the right of the goalie. Immediately defenders Jared Spurgeon and Zeev Buium converged, prepared to clear the zone. But they didn’t get the chance.
Hunter Haight crashed the party, wedging himself, at high speed, between the defensemen and refusing to quit the board battle before he’d not only won the puck, but flipped it to the hashmarks for a shot on goal by practice linemate Vladimir Tarasenko.
While some would call that a defensive failing, the play brought a smile to the face of at least one grizzled NHL veteran.
“It’s tough to do it against those guys, so it’s kind of nice when you see your veteran partner get beat by a young kid once in a while, as long as it’s not you,” Wild forward Marcus Foligno said, in praise of Haight. “He’s got that second effort that you want to see. He’s gonna be here sooner or later.”
At this point it’s unknown whether Haight – the Wild’s second round pick from the 2022 NHL draft – will head to Iowa for his second season in the AHL, or be instructed to find a place to live in St. Paul. But for now, the 21-year-old forward is making every effort to crack the opening night line chart in “the show.”
“I feel great. I think I can play with those guys, and we’re making plays out there, and I think we complement each other well,” said Haight, 21, after playing left wing in practice on a line with Tarasenko on the other wing and Joel Eriksson Ek at center. “So it’s an opportunity that I’m trying to take advantage of and make the most of it while I can.”
New opportunities have been coming around in September for the past few years. After four years of major junior hockey in his native Ontario and in Michigan, Haight made the step up to the AHL last season, spending 67 games in Iowa with the Wild’s top minor league affiliate. Haight finished second on the team in goals with 20, and after some adjustment found better competition, and better teammates, to his liking.
“They’re bigger, they’re stronger. It’s more of a structured game, compared to juniors. And it’s a good learning curve for me. I got a lot of new experiences, and I thought I handled a lot of things really well that year,” he said. “When you’re playing with better guys, I think a guy like me, I raised my level up to that, and I think my speed, my hockey sense, all that kind of just ties in really well with better players.”
At training camp, Haight is definitely in a group of “bubble” players whose next team — Minnesota or Iowa — will be determined by injuries and other factors in the coming weeks. But heading into the third preseason game, he has gotten noticed.
“I see a player that’s grown. I think of maturity, physically, competitive-wise, his details, his pace,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “You’re looking at a player now that he’s not like a wide-eyed young guy. I think he gets the gist of what’s going on and what’s going to be required of him to give himself a chance to play.”
He spent the summer working off the ice, in an effort to add size and strength to his frame, which is officially listed as 5-foot-11, 187 pounds. In the Wild’s preseason opener in Winnipeg, Haight showed a propensity to chase the puck with reckless abandon, when he crashed the crease and tied the game with less than three minutes left in regulation.
“I actually didn’t know it went in,” Haight admitted, with a smile. “I was kind of going into the end boards. But the guys came over to congratulate me and help me up, so that was nice.”
In games and in practice during his third Wild training camp, that propensity of going hard toward the puck may earn Haight a NHL roster spot next month.
Related Articles
Wild’s Yakov Trenin back with new body, and approach
All quiet at Camp Kaprizov as preseason rolls on for Wild
Veteran Jack Johnson looking to stick with Wild defenders
‘Thicker’ Marco Rossi happy to be back with Wild
Late Wild exec honored for service to American hockey
Leave a Reply