The long list of absentees continues to grow for Minnesota as defenseman Mathew Dumba has been placed on injured reserve with a lower-body injury, notes Sarah McLellan of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. That means he will be out for at least the next four games including tonight’s matchup against Colorado. Head coach Dean Evason indicated that there’s no timetable for his return while acknowledging it doesn’t look good.
Dumba’s absence is a tough blow to the Wild’s back end as he has been a key part of their top four for several years now. After a quiet 2019-20 season offensively, he is off to a better start this year with three goals through his first nine games; the rest of Minnesota’s defenders have just one combined.
Meanwhile, Evason is hopeful that Marcus Johansson’s undisclosed injury won’t keep him out for long although he isn’t in the lineup tonight. Goaltender Alex Stalock and winger Mats Zuccarello are also injured with the latter being transferred to LTIR to accommodate today’s taxi squad recalls of wingers Gerald Mayhew and Kyle Rau plus defenseman Luke Johnson. Will Bitten and Mason Shaw were added to the taxi squad in corresponding moves, per CapFriendly.