ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Minnesota Wild are expected to be an active team before the Feb. 27 trade deadline, and they made their first move Friday.
Minnesota acquired forward Erik Christensen and a conditional seventh-round pick in the 2013 draft from the New York Rangers in exchange for forward Casey Wellman.
Christensen, 28, has a goal and four assists in 20 games for New York this season. The Wild also announced Chad Rau was reassigned to the Houston Aeros of the American Hockey League to make room for Christensen on the roster.
With Thursday night's 1-0 win in Colorado, Minnesota (25-19-7) has won three of its past four games and is in eighth place in the Western Conference with 57 points. While he's leaving the Eastern Conference-leading Rangers, Christensen appreciates the opportunity he has with his new team.
"I'm excited to come here," Christensen told the Wild's website. "I'm still a little dazed. I haven't played much this year. It will be nice fresh start for me."
After shuttling players back and forth from their minor-league affiliate in Houston the past few weeks due to injuries, the Wild are looking for some stability and consistent scoring on their forward lines.
Minnesota general manager Chuck Fletcher and coach Mike Yeo know what they are getting with Christensen. His best season in the NHL came in 2006-07 as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins when Fletcher was an assistant general manager and Yeo was an assistant coach for Pittsburgh.
"It's nice to go somewhere where you know someone who feels like they know you as well," Christensen said. "It was always a good relationship I had with those guys, so it's something I'm excited about."
Christensen, 6-foot-1, 200 pounds, scored 18 goals and had 15 assists in 61 games for the Penguins during the 2006-07 season, but is well-traveled. He has played with six NHL teams and has been traded midseason in four of the past five years.
Christensen, who will join the Wild in Dallas on Friday, scored 11 goals and had 16 assists last season, his second in New York, but has struggled this season. He recently finished a five-game conditioning assignment with the Rangers minor-league team in Connecticut. His last game in an NHL uniform was Dec. 17.
"I'm just excited to play again," Christensen said. "I haven't really played a lot, even going back to last year. I've been scratched for well over 20 games straight and I just got back from Hartford on two-week conditioning stint. So I really haven't played at all this year. It's been a difficult year."
One area Christensen can certainly help is in shootouts. He's ninth in NHL history with 24 shootout goals and has a 52.2 percent career scoring rate in shootouts.
Wellman, 24, never was able to keep his spot on the Wild, shuttling between Minnesota and Houston the past three seasons after signing as a college free agent on March 16, 2010, out of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Wellman had seemed to be a building block for the future after making his way into the Wild's lineup shortly after signing.
He played 41 games for Minnesota, scoring four goals and passing out five assists but was a minus-7. This season he had seven points (two goals, five assists) in 14 games.
