Dennis Endras To Join Mikael Granlund In Finland

According to Iltalethi.fi, HIFK is signing Houston Aeros goalie (and Minnseota Wild contracted player) Dennis Endras. Endras, who played Germany's national team in last year's World Championships, is in his first season over in North America and has played six games for the Aeros as Matt Hackett has had the majority of starts between the pipes.

One Wild player scoring on another... (Photo from AFP)

While no one in the Minnesota organization or Twin Cities media has confirmed Endras' move, it would make sense. Wild prospect and 2009 sixth-round pick Darcy Kuemper, who currently in the ECHL playing goalie for the Ontario Reign, posted this on Twitter earlier today:

Called up to Houston, doing some last minute packing

This new is interesting on multiple levels as HIFK is the Finnish team which top Wild prospect Mikael Granlund currently plays. In addition, Minnesota goaltender Niklas Backstrom owns a part of HIFK which would mean that the top Wild goalie's team signed away a player currently under contract to the Wild.

Either way, I'm not torn up about the news as Minnesota is stacked with goalie prospects and Endras' stock has dropped since being signed in 2010. With Hackett, Kuemper, Johan Gustafsson and Stephen Michalek all playing well behind Backstrom and Josh Harding in St. Paul, there's not enough room for every goalie.