Fletcher on trade deadline; Wild places Chris Porter on waivers, reassigns Jordan Schroeder

Something could be cooking for the Wild with Monday's 2 p.m. trade deadline on the horizon.

The Wild potentially cleared two roster spots this morning by reassigning Jordan Schroeder to Iowa and placing Chris Porter on waivers.

Via email (I'm in the air), GM Chuck Fletcher wrote the Porter, who played on the second line the past three games, move was to give roster flexibility in case of a trade. He doesn't necessarily have to be assigned to Iowa if he clears Sunday, but Fletcher said he's not sure how this will play out right now.

We shall see.

The Wild practices at 2 p.m., so we'll see if Zach Parise is practicing and ready to return Sunday. Jason Zucker can't come off IR until at least Monday.

Remember, Schroeder and Porter both played the past two games with no extra forwards, so if Parise's not coming back, something has to be cooking.

Stay tuned.

Some snippets from an interview with Fletcher BEFORE the last two losses:

"When you compare this year to at least the past three or four seasons, in terms of rental market, it's not a particularly strong rental market," Fletcher said. "So there's also a lot of teams that are reportedly looking to add instead of subtract, so I wouldn't say there's a lot of solutions in the marketplace. I still maintain our team is talented team to make the playoffs whether we add a player or not. It's disappointing we sit where we sit, but we still have time to get back in. The focus I think remains on getting our players playing to their full potential and if we can achieve that, I think we're a playoff team. So that's the focus. Again, it's not a particularly strong rental market. As I've been saying for weeks, if we can improve our team, we will. But again, I don't know that there's a whole bunch of solutions in the marketplace. I don't think there's a whole bunch of players better than what we have right now."

Would you sell? "No, we're not looking to sell. We expect to make the playoffs. If we move anybody, it's because we think we're getting better."

Giving up so many assets the past few years make you hesitant? "Not necessarily. I just don't think it's a particularly strong rental market. It seems to be not a lot of teams looking to sell. There are some. But a lot of teams are still in it so that's more of a limiting factor than anything. But I don't want to make this all about the rental market. We think we have a pretty good hockey team, we just have to get back to the way we were playing earlier.

"Our focus right now is on what we have. If we can do something, we will but I don't want the message to be that we should be sitting around waiting for help. We've got enough talent and leadership in that room to get in. It's really incumbent on all of us to be better than where we are."

Also, remember, rosters expand after the trade deadline as long as teams stay cap compliant.