Wild Claim Chris Porter Off Waivers

The Minnesota Wild have claimed Philadelphia Flyers forward Chris Porter off waivers, the team announced on Thursday.

Porter, who is a friend of Zach Parise’s from their time playing for the nameless University of North Dakota team, faced off against the Wild in the playoffs last year while playing with the St. Louis Blues.

He got into 24 regular season games wearing the note, scoring one goal and one assist. He played an additional three playoff games for the Blues, with the team getting eliminated by Minnesota in six.

Last season, Porter finished with the best dCorsi of his career with a 26.98 mark. The prior season he swung hard in the opposite direction, posting a dCorsi of -25.41. (Go here for a nice explanation of dCorsi, which ultimately places expected “possession” metrics based on the player’s usage against what actually happened.)

#mnwild claims forward Chris Porter off waivers from Philadelphia.

— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) October 1, 2015

In his career he’s played a total of 174 NHL games, all with the St. Louis Blues, split across six seasons. The Blues decided not to keep him on the roster this summer and he wound up signing a one-year, two-way contract with the Philadelphia Flyers in early August.

As Wild beat writer Michael Russo noted on Twitter, the Wild had interest in Porter over the summer as well, so the team had been thinking about how he would fit into the team even before Philly placed Porter on waivers.

Porter was on #mnwild's radar this summer as a free agent. Solid against Wild in playoffs for the Blues; one of Parise's best friends

— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) October 1, 2015