The Minnesota Wild on Wednesday acquired forward Dan Fritsche, who had been waived earlier in the week by the New York Rangers.
In the exchange of American hockey players, the Wild sent defenceman Erik Reitz to New York.
“Dan is a versatile player who can play centre or wing, a determined player who makes the game harder on the opposition, and a winning player — he's won a Memorial Cup and a world junior championship for Team USA,” Minnesota general manager Doug Risebrough said in a statement.
Fritsche was unable to latch on with the Rangers after being acquired in the offseason from the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Fritsche had one goal and three assists in 16 games with New York. The Parma, Ohio, native has recorded 30 goals and 37 assists in 222 NHL games.
The 23-year-old was drafted by Columbus in 2003 but traded last summer to the Rangers along with Nikolai Zherdev for Christian Backman and Fedor Tyutin.
Reitz has played 37 games with the Wild over three seasons, with one goal, one assist and 45 penalty minutes. The Detroit native was selected by Minnesota in the sixth round of the 2000 NHL entry draft.
