When Raphael Bussieres had his exit interview with the Iowa Wild before getting assigned to the Quad-City Mallards this preseason, the AHL club told him the key things he needed to work on.

“They asked me to work on my defensive game, wall work and o-zone, just go to the dirty area and go to the net,” he said.

Go to the dirty areas. It’s something Bussieres heard daily in practices from Mallards head coach Terry Ruskowski, but early in the season hadn’t seemed to be taken to heart as he had just three goals and two assists in his first eight games.

All of a sudden, Bussieres came to the realization that there was a reason he kept hearing the same thing over and over again. It worked.

“One game, I went to the net and scored,” he said. “Just then, I realized how easy it was to score goals when you’re in front of the net so I just kept going to the front of the net.”

Since then, Bussieres has been one of the most productive offensive players on the Mallards. He has scored four goals and has three assists in his last five games. Bussieres and linemate Matt Neal are tied for fourth in the league with seven goals this season. Not only has his play improved, but so has his demeanor in the locker room.

“I know that he was hurt being sent down but he has changed his ways in the last three weeks,” Ruskowski said. “He’s working hard, he’s one of the first guys on the ice and it seems like he’s having fun now. He’s successful when he works hard and we’ve been trying to drill that into his head.”

If it has indeed clicked for Bussieres, he could well be on his way to closing in on his NHL dream.

The Longueuil, Quebec, native was drafted in the second round, 46th overall by Minnesota in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, prior to his final year with Baie-Comeau Drakkar in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. In his four seasons in juniors, Bussieres scored 74 goals and added 94 assists in 226 games.

In 2013, his rookie year with Iowa, Bussieres scored five goals and had 14 assists in 61 games in the AHL. Any improvement he was hoping to have in his second year was stymied by injuries. Bussieres suffered a concussion in his first shift of the third game of the season, which kept him out for two months. Assigned to Alaska for conditioning, Bussieres played in 19 games, putting up 16 points for the Aces before getting recalled.

His second AHL stint of the season was cut short yet again as he suffered a concussion in his sixth game back with the Wild, ending his season. He didn’t put up a single AHL point last season.

“I got unlucky,” he said.

Bussieres has not heard much from Iowa since getting sent down, but isn’t concerning himself with any opportunities that might present themselves. Minnesota has recently called up players from Iowa and Ruskowski said there’s a possibility some of his players could go up to the AHL club before the weekend.

Despite the desire to be one of those players, right now Bussieres is focused on helping the Mallards. Tuesday, the team got to hear from three-time Paralympian Andy Yohe, who emphasized the point of ‘It’s not about you, it’s about your team.'”

Bussieres is trying to take that to heart.

“I’d like to get called up but I’m not thinking about it,” he said. “I’m here right now and thinking about playing good and winning games with this team. When (Iowa is) going to call me, if it’s tomorrow or in two months or at the end of the season, I’m not going to change my game.”