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In the past day the Wild have made two major moves, trading defenseman Shawn Belle to the Montreal Canadians for center Corey Locke. Belle was acquired in a deal that sent Willie Mitchell and a second round draft pick to Dallas for defenseman Martin Skoula and Belle. Belle has spent his time under contract playing for the Houston Aeros, and has largely been a disappointing addition to the team, one that GM Doug Riseborough thought would be a development player who would step up to the Wild in a season or two.

Locke is a strong forward who has been a career minor leaguer. He scored 84 goals and 144 assists over the last four seasons playing for the Hamilton Bulldogs in the AHL. Prior to that he was a two time MVP in the OHL. He was also a former linemate of forward Matt Foy, who has recently signed on with St. Louis.

The wild have also acquired forward Krys Kolanos who spent last season in the AHL scoring 30 goals and 33 assists in 63 games. At 6′2″ 200 lbs. he’s a pretty big forward, with a good shot and a bit of speed. He is looking to secure a spot on the starting crew which is becoming increasingly saturated with young, capable forwards. He was only signed to a one year contract, which seems to indicate that Riseborough would like to see him playing for the Wild and not getting dropped down to the Aeros.

~ by minnesotawildtimes on July 12, 2008.