The Minnesota Wild announced Friday night that they have re-signed restricted free agent defenseman Jonathon Blum to a one-year contract and have reached a deal on a two-year contract with former Gopher and Canucks forward Jordan Schroeder. Shortly after the announcement, the Star Tribune’s Michael Russo tweeted out that both contracts are two-way deals.



Blum played his first season with the Wild last year, appearing in 15 games and registering no goals, a single assist, a minus-1 rating, and no penalty minutes. He also played in 54 games for the Iowa Wild of the AHL where he put up seven goals, 22 assists, a minus-13 rating, and 23 penalty minutes.



The Blum signing provides some nice insurance for the team as they are getting set up to potentially rely on a rookie defenseman if Christian Folin or Mathew Dumba makes the team out of camp. Blum is a mobile d-man with offensive upside, though that upside hasn’t manifest for the Wild quite yet. He’s a great piece in what’s starting to become a very exciting, young defensive corps for the Wild. (Though outside of Jared Spurgeon, Marco Scandella, and Jonas Brodin, the exciting youth movement is a little theoretical.)



Jordan Schroeder was the 22nd overall pick in the 2009 entry draft. Many Minnesotans were upset when the Wild passed over the Golden Gopher (and WCHA Rookie of the Year) to pick Nick Leddy with the 16th overall pick. Schroeder, a Prior Lake, MN-native, has spent his entire career in the Vancouver system, playing in 56 career NHL games, all within the last two years. He has a career total of six goals and nine assists.



Schroeder is a good addition for Iowa, with the potential to climb the depth chart. At 23, he’s still young and has a lot of potential despite being a slightly diminutive 5-foot-8, 185 pounds. Hockey’s Future’s analysis on him says that he “is a highly intelligent player that thinks and understands the game exceedingly well. He possesses excellent vision, awareness, and knows where plays will end up. He is instinctive and creative.”



Follow Jordan Schroeder on Twitter here.

Update: The Wild made the signing official at 11:36pm on Friday.