MINNESOTA WILD RE-SIGNS DEFENSEMAN LOUIE BELPEDIO TO ONE-YEAR, TWO-WAY CONTRACT
Oct 23, 2020Minnesota Wild General Manager Bill Guerin today announced the National Hockey League (NHL) club has re-signed defenseman Louie Belpedio (pronounced Bel-PEE-dee-oh) to a one-year, two-way contract ($700,000/$135,000) for the 2020-21 season.
Belpedio, 24 (5/4/96), registered 20 points (5-15=20), 149 shots and 102 penalty minutes (PIM) in 62 games with the Iowa Wild of the American Hockey League (AHL) in 2019-20. He led team defensemen in shots and PIM, ranked T-1st in goals, and second in scoring. He also ranked third amongst AHL blueliners in PIM and sixth in shots on goal. The 5-foot-11, 196-pound native of Skokie, Ill., recorded a career-high four-game point streak (1-3=4) from Dec. 14-20. He set career highs in PIM and shots and tied his career-best in assists last season.
The right-shot defender owns 43 points (11-32=43), four power-play goals (PPG), two game-winning goals (GWG), 152 PIM and 307 shots in 142 AHL contests with Iowa in three seasons (2017-20). He led team defensemen in goals (6), PPG (3), and shots (147) and ranked T-3rd in assists (15) and third in scoring (21) during his rookie season (2018-19). He has three points (1-2=3) in 11 Calder Cup Playoff games with Iowa (2019). Belpedio also has two assists in three career NHL games with Minnesota (2017-19). He recorded two assists in his NHL debut at San Jose on April 7, 2018, to become the first rookie in franchise history to record two points in his debut.
Belpedio recorded 30 points (9-21=30) and appeared in all 37 games for Miami University (NCHC) during his senior season setting career highs in goals, assists and points and was named to the All-NCHC Second Team (2017-18). He served as captain for the second consecutive season and led the team in shots on goal (126), power-play points (17) and power-play assists (12), ranked T-1st in assists, second in plus/minus rating (plus-4), T-2nd in scoring and PPG (5) and third in blocked shots (46).
Minnesota selected Belpedio in the third round (80th overall) of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.
Iowa Wild hockey is presented by MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center. For more information, please visit www.iowawild.com.