SAINT PAUL, Minn. – Minnesota Wild General Manager Bill Guerin today announced the National Hockey League (NHL) club has signed forward Sam Hentges to a two-year, entry-level contract starting with the 2022-23 season.
Hentges, 22 (7/26/99), tallied 22 points (12-10=22), six power-play goals (PPG), three game-winning goals (GWG), 19 penalty minutes (PIM) and 61 shots in 20 games with St. Cloud State University this season. The 6-foot, 190-pound native of New Brighton, Minn., ranked T-1st on the Huskies in GWG, T-2nd in PPG and T-3rd in goals. He tallied a career-high eight shots at St. Thomas (10/3), a season-high three points (2-1=3), including a career-high two PPG vs. Colorado College (2/25), netted a PPG in back-to-back games for the second time in his collegiate career (2/25-2/26) and totaled nine multi-point games. He was named NCHC’s Forward of the Week for Feb. 21-27 after scoring five points (3-2=5) in three games. The right-shot forward represented the United States at the 2022 Winter Olympics and scored one goal in two games.
Hentges collected 83 points (37-46=83), nine PPG, seven GWG, 63 PIM and 181 shots in 114 contests with St. Cloud State University in four seasons (2018-22). He was named to the All-NCHC Academic Team from 2019-21 and named a 2019 NCHC Distinguished Scholar-Athlete. Prior to joining the Huskies, Hentges played junior hockey for the Des Moines Buccaneers and Tri-City Storm of the United States Hockey League (USHL) in 2017-18 and registered 18 points (8-10=18) in 23 games.
He was selected by Minnesota in the seventh round (210th overall) of the 2018 NHL Draft.
