Wild Officially Sign Phillips

The Minnesota Wild officially announced the signing of Saint John Sea Dogs forward Zack Phillips today. Phillips, who tweeted that he had signed earlier this weekend, inked a three-year entry level deal with the National Hockey League club. He will remain with the Sea Dogs. 

"I've been trying to move forward ever since the Draft and work hard to keep the Wild happy with me," said Phillips in a Wild release. "This is a step in the right direction."

The Fredericton native leads Saint John in scoring with 19 goals and 35 assists for 54 points in 32 games. Phillips has the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s second best plus/minus rating at +30 and is fourth in assists with 35.

According to the Wild website, “he is on pace to surpass his eye-popping totals last year when he registered 38 goals and 57 assists in 67 games as Saint John took the prestigious Memorial Cup title. In 17 postseason games, he notched nine goals and 15 assists.”

The Wild selected Phillips in the first round, 28^th overall in the 2011 QMJHL Entry Draft.

The 19-year old announced on Twitter on Saturday that he had signed with the Wild but the tweet was deleted a short time after.

From the Minnesota Star Tribune:

Wild prospect Zack Phillips got his hand slapped and a lesson in social media from the Wild minutes after signing his first NHL contract Saturday. 

From his Twitter account, "zachphillips7," the 2011 first-round pick tweeted, "just signed my first NHL contract! #minnesotawild." 

He deleted the tweet in 20 minutes -- long after word spread quickly. Problem was the Wild hadn't received the signed contract back yet, filed it with the league or announced it.

Hockey Wilderness has more on the signing. 

Photo Credit: Marc Henwood/Station Nation