Gerry Mayhew and his 39 goals was called up to join the Minnesota Wild and it sounds like the American Hockey League’s leading scorer will get a real chance to show what he’s got when the Wild take on the Columbus Blue Jackets Tuesday night in St. Paul.
Mayhew, 27, is a 5-foot-10 scoring machine for the Iowa Wild, where he has dominated the AHL this season to the tune of 39 goals and 61 points in 48 games, including 10 games with two goals and one game with a hat trick.
For a team that doesn’t boast an elite goal-scorer, Mayhew’s arrival will undoubtedly be must-see TV for many diehard fans who’ve been waiting for him to get a chance in the NHL.
Mayhew was up with the Wild for six games in October and one game in December, but was only give 10-12 minutes of ice time in five of those seven games, always skating on the fourth line. Even so, he scored a goal in two of those five decent opportunities as a fourth-line winger.
What he might be able to do as a first-line forward at the NHL level is an unknown, but we all might find out what that looks like.
Per the beat reporters covering Wild practice Monday morning, Mayhew was skating on the first line, a possible indication that he’ll be a top-line forward Tuesday night against Columbus.
#mnwild lines significantly altered:
Mayhew on first line, Galchenyuk at center, Zuccarello to 3rd lineMayhew-Staal-Fiala
Parise-Eriksson Ek-Greenway
Foligno-Galchenyuk-Zuccarello
Rask/Donato-Koivu-HartmanSuter-Spurgeon
Brodin-Dumba
Hunt-Pateryn
Belpedio— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) February 24, 2020
After Sunday’s 4-1 loss to the Blues, The Athletic reported that interim coach Dean Evason suggested that Mayhew would get a really good opportunity to fly around the ice with the first or second line.
“Sometimes you see guys get called up and they’re scoring and then they don’t get put in that position. We believe that they should be put in position to have the success and play in the spots that (they’re used to). We want to try to get them in their positions to have success not only for them individually but for our team.”
