Wild draftee, ex-Eden Prairie standout Seeler joins Gophers

We won't see him for a while but defenseman Nick Seeler, a former all-state defenseman from Eden Prairie, has signed to play for Minnesota beginning in the 2015-16 season. He must sit out the coming campaign due to NCAA transfer rules. He'll have two seasons of eligibility.

The Wild chose Seeler in the 5th round (131st overall) in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.

Seeler has been a solid blueliner with the Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks the last two seasons. He spent the 2011-12 season in the USHL, splitting the year between Muskegon and Des Moines and earning all-rookie honors.

The defenseman was a member of two recent Eden Prairie state championship teams in 2009 and 2011. He was a teammate of several current and former Gophers, including captain Kyle Rau, Mitch Rogge and alum Nick Leddy. As a senior, he made the All-Tournament team as the top-scoring defenseman (six points in three games).

Seeler is just the latest member of his family to wear Minnesota colors. Both of his older sisters were Gophers – Kelly, who was part of the 2012 national championship women's hockey team, and Ashley, who played soccer for Minnesota.

Calendar roaring toward start of new season: The 2014-15 regular season opens against Minnesota-Duluth at Notre Dame on Oct. 10 in the Ice Breaker Tournament. A week earlier, the only full-blast exhibition game will take place at Mariucci Arena as those pesky Ooks (apparently some kind of owl) blow in from Northern Alberta Institute of Technology in Edmonton, Canada.

Doug McLeod is the TV play-by-play voice of Gopher hockey on Fox Sports North.