The Minnesota Wild have announced that forward Ryan Hartman will miss tonight’s game with an upper-body injury. Hartman’s injury is a microcosm of the kind of season it has been for the Wild this year. The 29-year-old spent roughly two weeks toiling on the Wild’s fourth line, only to get moved up in the lineup where he scored goals in back-to-back games before falling to this latest injury.
The Wild are dealing with injuries to key players at the moment as defensemen Jonas Brodin, Jared Spurgeon are out, as is forward Mats Zuccarello. Despite the injury troubles, the Wild have been playing solid hockey under new head coach John Hynes as the team is 8-3 since he took over being the bench after a shaky 5-10-4 start to the season under former head coach Dean Evason.
In other evening notes:
- Aaron Portzline of The Athletic is reporting that Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Nick Blankenburg isn’t playing tonight due to an upper-body injury. The Washington, Michigan native has dressed in six games this season for Columbus and has yet to register a point. He was recalled earlier this month after spending the first two months of the season with the Blue Jackets AHL affiliate and dressed in 36 games last season for Columbus, tallying four goals and ten assists.
- The Colorado Avalanche have announced that defenseman Cale Makar will return to the lineup after missing the last three games with a lower-body injury. The former Norris Trophy winner was considered a game-time decision but after taking warmup with the team it appears the decision was made for the 25-year-old to play against the Ottawa Senators. Makar has eight goals and 29 assists this season in just 27 games and will give a much-needed boost to the Avalanche team that has lost seven of their last 11 games.