Minnesota Wild General Manager Bill Guerin announced the National Hockey League (NHL) club has acquired defenseman Ian Cole from the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for defenseman Greg Pateryn.
Cole, 31 (2/21/89), owns two shots, four hits and two blocked shots in two games this season. The 6-foot-1, 225-pound native of Ann Arbor, Mich., collected 26 points (4-22=26), 83 hits and 122 blocked shots in 65 contests during the 2019-20 season with the Avalanche and set a career high in assists and tied his career best in points. The left-shot blueliner ranked second on the team in blocked shots and third in plus/minus rating (+21). He tallied his 100th career assist on Nov. 30, 2019 at Chicago and scored the game winning goal in his 500th career game on Dec. 7, 2019 at Boston. The defenseman tallied two assists, 21 shots, 27 hits and 29 blocked shots in 15 games during the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Cole owns 138 points (26-112=138), a plus-95 rating, 507 penalty minutes, 599 shots, 730 hits and 987 blocked shots in 543 career games in 11 NHL seasons with St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Columbus and Colorado (2010-21). He has 24 points (1-23=24), 72 PIM, 91 shots, 163 hits and 207 blocked shots in 89 career Stanley Cup Playoff contests with St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Columbus and Colorado and has won two Stanley Cups with the Penguins in 2016 and 2017. He was drafted by St. Louis in the first round (18th overall) of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft and made his NHL debut with the Blues on Nov. 6, 2010.
Pateryn collected 12 points (1-11=12), 47 PIM, 149 blocked shots and 172 hits in 103 games with the Wild in three seasons (2018-21) and owns 41 points (4-37=41) in 270 career NHL games in eight seasons with Montreal, Dallas and Minnesota (2012-21).
(info and photo courtesy of Minnesota Wild)