The Wild positioned winger Mats Zuccarello on injured reserve with a lower-body challenge, Michael Russo of The Athletic experiences Friday. He left Thursday’s win over the Canadiens within the first interval and didn’t return after taking a Brock Faber shot to the groin. Consequently, Russo added, he’s anticipated to overlook three to 4 weeks. The damage required minor surgical procedure, which Zuccarello underwent efficiently after Thursday evening’s recreation.
Minnesota may even challenge an replace on heart Joel Eriksson Ek’s standing in a while Friday, Russo stated. He additionally left Thursday’s win within the first interval with an undisclosed damage only one shift after Zuccarello departed the sport.
Now in his age-37 season, Zuccarello has once more been an especially priceless secondary scoring piece for the Wild. Age hasn’t slowed the diminutive Norwegian down one bit, and he ranks third on the group in scoring with 14 factors (6 G, 8 A) in 16 video games whereas averaging 17:26 of ice time. His line with Kirill Kaprizov and Marco Rossi has been one of many NHL’s greatest en path to an 11-2-3 begin to the season for Minnesota, which is at the moment on tempo for its greatest document in franchise historical past by a substantial margin.
Zuccarello’s IR placement leaves the Wild with 12 forwards on the energetic roster, a quantity that may drop to 11 wholesome ones if Eriksson Ek misses any time. Count on a recall forward of Saturday’s recreation in opposition to the Stars, which all the pieces signifies will likely be Michael Milne’s NHL debut after the 22-year-old left-winger was initially recalled from AHL Iowa earlier this month. Choices for one more recall embrace Liam Ohgren, who has 4 objectives in 4 video games since being reassigned on the finish of October, or veteran Travis Boyd, who leads Iowa in scoring with 11 factors in 11 video games.
Zuccarello is within the first season of the two-year, $8.25M extension he inked in September 2023.
