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In the Wild鈥檚 Blue Line Academy in Des Moines, Daemon Hunt is considered something of an upperclassman.

鈥淗unt鈥檚 been there for a couple of years, so we felt, obviously, that he鈥檚 the next guy to come up and play,鈥� Minnesota head coach Dean Evason said.

Hunt, the first of what the Wild believe is a talented young group of defensemen to be called up from Iowa, is all of 21 years old, but he has 69 AHL games under his belt in parts of three seasons with the Wild鈥檚 top affiliate.

It wasn鈥檛 unexpected.

鈥淚 have high expectations for myself and I did believe I could be the next guy to get up here,鈥� Hunt said Tuesday before the Wild鈥檚 8 p.m. puck drop against the Edmonton Oilers at Xcel Energy Center.

Hunt was having a strong camp before suffering a concussion, on a hit from Colorado minor leaguer Tanner Kero, in the team鈥檚 first preseason game but said he has recovered fully and back on his A game.

He was called up as insurance with Jon Merrill banged up and the team ready to leave Wednesday for a three-game East Coast road trip. Merrill said after the morning skate he felt ready to go, but Evason said Hunt would go through warmups just in case.

With veteran Dakota Mermis, 29, getting an early callup to Minnesota, the Iowa Wild鈥檚 blue line is composed primarily of young draft picks Hunt, Ryan O鈥橰ourke, Simon Johnsson, Carson Lambos, David Spacek and Kyle Masters. Average age, 21.

鈥淲e definitely are a bit young back there,鈥� Hunt said. 鈥淚t was nice having our captain Dakota down there, but that鈥檚 awesome he鈥檚 here. But I told him he鈥檚 like a baby sitter down there with us a bit.鈥�

鈥淚 think everyone鈥檚 there for a reason, right? They鈥檙e all really good hockey players and they can all take care of themselves. They鈥檝e all had really good starts. We haven鈥檛 been winning too many games, but I鈥檓 sure they鈥檒l find the path soon.鈥�

Iowa (3-3-0) is giving up an average of 4.3 goals 鈥� and lost to the Manitoba Moose, 8-3, on Saturday in Winnipeg 鈥� but the Wild have seen those young defensemen in at least one training camp, and liked what they鈥檝e seen.

鈥淲e鈥檙e excited about our blue line down there,鈥� Evason said. 鈥淎re they going to give some goals up like they did the other night in Winnipeg? Sure. That鈥檚 gonna happen. But they鈥檙e going to become pros because of it, and the teaching that (Brett McLean) and his staff will do down there will do great things for them.鈥�

Evason confirmed Tuesday that Matt Boldy (upper body) will travel with the team when it leaves for Philadelphia on Wednesday. 鈥淗e won鈥檛 be ready for the start (of the trip),鈥� the coach said, 鈥渂ut maybe at the end.鈥�