By Bekki Antonelli -
On Saturday, the Minnesota Wild trimmed the roster again, narrowing the prospective team to 39 players. Unfortunately, Jack Peart did not make the cut and will start the year in Iowa.
Peart grew up in Grand Rapids and played college hockey at St. Cloud State. The Wild took him 54th overall draft pick in 2021, and he had 8 goals and 47 assists in three years with St. Cloud before joining the Iowa Wild for 9 games last year.
The Wild only played Peart in their preseason game on Friday against the Winnipeg Jets. Unfortunately, the Minnesota native immediately looked a little shaky. On his first shift into the game, he picked up the puck and started looking for a pass. However, he ended up losing control of the puck for a second.
Peart recovers momentarily, and the Wild break the puck out. A fumble isn’t anything out of the ordinary for an NHL player. Even the league’s best players, like P.K. Subban infamously, have weird moments that can lead to goals against. However, Peart is consistently a second too late in getting a pass or shot off throughout the game and fumbles the puck multiple times.
Considering he’s made it this far, I’m fully confident in Peart’s ability to stickhandle a puck or catch a pass. However, this is his first NHL game, and his reaction time is not quick enough. We can also attribute his fumbles to the nerves of playing in front of a hometown crowd or just having an off game.
Peart was not capitalizing on his opportunities. However, his multiple penalties are probably why Minnesota cut him from their final roster. With roughly 1 minute left in the first period, Peart took a shot on net that went wide after the Jets got a stick on it, and Winnipeg took advantage.
He saw what was happening and started backchecking hard to catch up with Jets forward Axel Jonsson-Fjallby. Old friend Mason Shaw carried the puck and had 4 Wild players in front of him, including Peart. Unfortunately for Minnesota, he made a very nice off-the-board pass for Jonsson-Fjallby to pick up.
To stop Jonsson-Fjallby from scoring, Peart wraps his arms around him, which results in a holding call. Peart probably expected Jonsson-Fjallby to beat him to the net. I understand Peart’s move because I’m fairly sure I couldn't beat Jonsson-Fjallby in a foot race, either.
However, Peart was pretty much stride for stride with Jonsson-Fjallby until he stopped moving his feet and went for the bear hug. Peart still stopped what could have been a goal. However, a more experienced player would not have ended up in the box because of it.
Unfortunately, Peart probably broke a record for back-to-back penalties. He steps onto the ice after his time in the sin bin is up. Literally 2 seconds later, Winnipeg’s Shaw was carrying the puck up the ice and tripped over Peart’s stick, who was standing in the way. The ref immediately called another penalty on Peart.
From the clip, it looks like Peart saw him coming. But again, he was not moving his feet with the play. While the timing was a bit of bad luck for Peart, I think this was also a pretty avoidable penalty. He could see the play developing before he was even out of the box and had two full seconds to start skating once he was on the ice. In a league full of players who can react instantly, 2 seconds is more than enough time to do something other than stand in the way.
While Winnipeg could not put a puck in the net during their extended power play, back-to-back penalties still make Peart a liability. Minnesota had the third-worst penalty-killing unit last season, with a 74.52% success rate. The Wild penalty kill could use some work, but in the meantime, they don’t need players who are constantly in the box.
The Jets had solid pressure during Peart’s time in the box, landing multiple dangerous shots on net. However, after one Jets scoring opportunity, Wild forward Marat Khusnutdinov sent a pass to Ben Jones, who netted a shorthanded goal. Still, Peart is culpable for his defensive shortcomings.
The rookie was also on the ice for two goals against and ended the game with -1 plus/minus. 4:32 into the second period, Jets defenseman Haydn Fleury brought the puck down the boards and curled around, passing to Mason Appleton, who scored.
Peart was right there trying to block that pass from Fleury but might have had better luck picking up Appleton, especially since Kyle Masters was already on Fleury. Though the goal wasn’t the direct result of Peart’s mistake, it likely also counted against him.
However, Peart got himself on the score sheet once again 12:29 into the second period, this time with an assist.
The Wild defense took a low shot from the point and got it on net, which resulted in a perfect rebound that Joel Eriksson Ek put into the net. Considering how many assists Peart had at St. Cloud, this gives me hope for the young player down the line. Good low shots from the point often make great rebounds, and Minnesota could certainly use help putting the puck in the net. Continuing this strategy in Iowa could gain him a spot back in Minnesota.
Later in the game, Peart makes another bizarre move. He catches the pass and then loses it behind him with absolutely zero pressure.
He cannot recover in time, and the Jets quickly capitalize and get multiple shots off. It also was a crucial missed opportunity. What should have been a quick breakout resulted in the Wild being stuck on defense. However, bringing back my earlier point, I don’t think Peart lacks the ability to make a pass. He just looks like he’s having a particularly off game.
17:24 into the 3rd period, Peart was on the ice for another goal against.
The puck bounced around the defensive zone for about a minute before Brayden Yager netted a goal for Winnipeg. While I don’t think Peart was at fault here either, he also wasn’t effective at getting the puck out of the zone.
Between bad luck and possibly nerves, the Minnesota native showed he’s still early in his development cycle. Peart made some sound passes and got shots off on net. However, his reaction times often seemed just a little too late.
Players fighting for the last roster spot against guys like Jones and Lauko have no room for error. I think he has good instincts, but he’s still a relatively young player at 21 years old. Peart could use some more time in Iowa to gain experience and confidence. Hopefully, we will see him back in Minnesota later this season or next year.
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