Casey Wellman Signed by the Wild, Has Predator Ties

Last July, the Nashville Predators invited Casey Wellman to their Development Camp and he attended as an free agent. Jim Diamond had a good article about him at the Examiner.

If you fast forward to the 6:00 point in the following video, you can see a little clip of Wellman after one of the camp's practices.



Wellman just completed his second season at the University of Massachusetts, where he had 23 goals to finish in the top ten in the nation. For the year he had 45 points after having 33 points last season.

Welman was signed by the Wild on Tuesday and has been practicing with the team. Mike Russo reports that he will be with the team tonight, but is not expected to play. Here is a nice story about the signing from Masslive.com and another Russo piece about the signing.

According to CapGeek, Wellman signed a two year, two way contract that will pay him $67,500 at the AHL level and $900,000 when with the Wild. He has already picked up a little pocket change this week as he waits for his NHL debut.

The undrafted player to free agent signing route is one you don't see often, especially when the player goes straight to the NHL. When you do, it's always a feel-good type story.

Congrats to Casey Wellman. Too bad the Predators didn't act quicker.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass