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Wild Activate Mats Zuccarello

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The Wild announced they’ve activated winger Mats Zuccarello from injured reserve. The top-six fixture will make his season debut in a couple of hours against the Islanders. They’ve been operating with an open roster spot for quite some time, so no corresponding move is required.

Minnesota didn’t hold a morning skate before today’s game. That’s to be expected on the second half of a back-to-back with travel – they lost to the Hurricanes 4-3 in Carolina last night. As such, it’s unclear where Zuccarello will slot into the lineup, but it’s assumed he’ll reprise his familiar role on the top line with Kirill Kaprizov and Marco Rossi.

Zuccarello had a lower-body issue pop up in the closing weeks of the offseason and wasn’t cleared to participate at the beginning of training camp. The initial expectation was that he’d miss the start of the regular season, and that was confirmed when the Wild said in late September that he’d be out for a minimum of seven to eight weeks. That makes his recent progress and today’s activation around a week and a half ahead of schedule.

His return is of special note for a Wild club that’s been looking to add an impact scoring winger on the trade market. They’re off to a sluggish 5-7-3 start, due mostly to uncharacteristically poor defensive play. They’re bottom-five in the league or close to it in most metrics – 29th in goals against per game (3.67), 29th in penalty killing (68.8%), 26th in shots against per game (30.1), and 29th in expected goals against per game at 5-on-5 (2.47).

Zuccarello won’t have much of an impact there, but the Wild are hoping he can at least help them outscore their problems. Fellow aging veteran Marcus Johansson stepped into Zuccarello’s top-line home to start the year and performed admirably, rattling off six goals and seven assists for 13 points in 15 games. The Wild hope he can keep some semblance of that momentum up as he shifts down into a second-line job with Matt Boldy and Joel Eriksson Ek – the former of whom is clicking at a point per game – to boost the depth output from their middle-six.

Now in his age-38 season, expectations for Zuccarello should start to be tempered. He’s still been a minutes-muncher for the Wild as he ages, averaging 19:39 per game last year, but he can’t keep that workload up forever. His 0.78 points per game last season were his lowest since 2019-20 and a 14% dropoff from the year prior. If that decline ends up being linear and Zuccarello only operates at around a 55-point pace this year, Minnesota’s search for another top-nine piece will only intensify.

West Notes: Gaudette, Leskovar, Akey

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The Sharks have activated forward Adam Gaudette off injured reserve, relays Curtis Pashelka of the Mercury News (Twitter link).  The 29-year-old has missed a little more than a week due to an upper-body injury.  Signed to a two-year, $4MM contract this past summer, Gaudette has been reasonably productive in limited playing time, picking up three goals and an assist in nine games despite playing less than 11 minutes a night.  That usage is similar to last season when he averaged just 10:25 per game but still managed to notch 19 goals in 81 games with Ottawa.  With Patrick Giles being sent back down on Monday, they had the open roster spot available to activate Gaudette so no further moves were needed.

Elsewhere out West:

  • The Wild announced (Twitter link) that they have activated defenseman Stevie Leskovar off season-opening injured reserve and assigned him to ECHL Iowa. The 21-year-old is in the first season of his entry-level contract but he was dealing with a wrist injury that had kept him out of the lineup.  Leskovar had six points in 35 games last season with OHL Brampton and also got into one professional game with AHL Iowa.  But for now, he’ll go to the Heartlanders and look to get some playing time in at that level with the hopes of an AHL promotion later on.
  • The Oilers have assigned defenseman Beau Akey to ECHL Fort Wayne, per an announcement from AHL Bakersfield (Twitter link). The 20-year-old was a second-round pick back in 2023 and is in his first professional season but hasn’t been able to play yet due to injury.  Now cleared to return, he’ll get a chance to get in some game action with the Komets and will likely rejoin the Condors soon after with this assignment being more of a conditioning assignment than a long-term one.  Akey had 32 points in 52 games with OHL Barrie last season.

Central Injury Notes: Hintz, Duchene, Thomas, Zuccarello

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The Dallas Stars will be without some significant talent ahead of the Western Conference Final rematch tomorrow night. According to team reporter Brien Rea, the Stars won’t have forwards Roope Hintz or Matt Duchene against the Edmonton Oilers tomorrow night. Additionally, Jake Oettinger is also doubtful, given that he and his wife just had a child.

It’s more of the same for Duchene. The 17-year veteran will have missed Dallas’ last eight games due to an upper-body injury after tomorrow night’s contest. He’s only appeared in four games this year, scoring one goal and two assists with a 52.2% success rate in the faceoff dot.

Meanwhile, Hintz will miss his fifth straight game due to an undisclosed injury. He’s been a much bigger void to fill, given that he’s been a point-per-game player to start the campaign. Since Duchene left the lineup, the Stars have averaged two goals per game.

Other injury notes from the Central Division:

  • In some positive news, the St. Louis Blues will return Robert Thomas to the lineup tonight. According to Lou Korac of the NHL, Thomas returned to practice this morning and was included in all line rushes. He’s missed the team’s last four games with an upper-body injury. Unfortunately, Thomas’s absence was notably evident, as the Blues lost all four contests.
  • The positive news isn’t only isolated to St. Louis. According to Joe Smith of The Athletic, Minnesota Wild veteran Mats Zuccarello looks very close to returning. Zuccarello suffered a lower-body injury before the start of the regular season. Like Thomas, his absence has been noticeable. Despite leading the league in power-play goals, the Wild are only averaging 1.61 even-strength goals through their first 13 games.

Late Night Notes: Tanev, Makar, Wutzke

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Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Chris Tanev was taken out of Saturday night’s game on a stretcher, following a collision with Philadelphia Flyers winger Matvei Michkov halfway through the third period. It wasn’t clear exactly where Tanev took the bump, though he was fitted with a head immobilizer.

It is a terrible outcome in what was meant to be Tanev’s first full game back from a previous injury. He was activated off of injured reserve earlier on Saturday, after missing 11 days and four games with a concussion sustained on October 21st.

Tanev remained a core part of Toronto’s blue-line prior to his October 21st injury. His plus-three through seven games is the second-highest among Toronto defenders. He also leads the blue-line with four takeaways on the year.

Toronto could be pushed to recall Dakota Mermis, who was assigned to the AHL to make room for Tanev’s return. Mermis has no scoring through one appearance in the NHL, and two in the AHL, this season. He could continue to fit outside the lineup, should Toronto continue leaning on Philippe Myers and Simon Benoit in a nightly role.

Other notes from around the NHL:

  • The Colorado Avalanche have assigned forward Taylor Makar to the AHL. Makar made his NHL debut on Saturday. He posted one hit and no shots in just six minutes of action. The night was also Taylor’s first chance to play alongside brother Cale Makar at the NHL rank. Despite playing for the same junior and college programs, the two hadn’t formally played together, largely thanks to Cale being three years Taylor’s senior. With this move, the younger Makar will now return to the AHL ranks, where he’s already accrued four points and 14 penalty minutes in nine games. He’s playing through his rookie AHL season, after earning a five-game sample in the league following the end of his senior year last season.
  • Minnesota Wild goalie prospect Chase Wutzke has been traded in the WHL. He moved from the Red Deer Rebels to the Moose Jaw Warriors in a lofty trade – with one first-round, two second-round, one third-round, and two fourth-round draft picks headed back to Red Deer. Wutzke will bring starting upside to the Warriors. He’s posted a .889 save percentage in nine games so far this season, a that mark sits above both of Moose Jaw’s goaltenders. That should earn Wutzke the starter’s crease sooner rather than later, and give Moose Jaw one more piece to help push towards a long season.

Zuccarello About A Week From Returning

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The Wild could soon be getting a needed boost up front.   On Friday, head coach John Hynes indicated (Twitter link) that winger Mats Zuccarello is within a week or so of returning to the lineup.  The 38-year-old has yet to suit up this season due to a back injury that also caused him to miss training camp.  While Zuccarello isn’t a major scoring threat, he’s one of Minnesota’s better playmakers and is coming off a solid showing in 2024-25 that saw him record 19 goals and 35 assists in 69 games.  His eventual return would go a long way to giving them a second scoring line, an area that has been an issue in the early going this season.

Wild Believed To Be Looking To Add A Middle-Six Forward

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Heading into last offseason, there was an expectation that the Wild would be busy with much more salary cap space at their disposal.  Instead, their spending was relatively tempered, headlined by the additions of winger Vladimir Tarasenko and center Nico Sturm.  They also re-signed center Marco Rossi to a bridge deal after a prolonged period of trade speculation.  The end result was them entering the season with much more cap space than they’ve been accustomed to.

At the moment, Minnesota has over $4.2MM in cap space, per PuckPedia.  That amount is lowered a bit by the fact that they have 15 forwards counting against their cap thanks to injuries to Sturm and winger Mats Zuccarello, neither of whom have played this season.

It appears they’re looking to put that cap flexibility to use sooner than later.  Anthony DiMarco of The Fourth Period reports that Minnesota is believed to be looking to add a middle-six forward.  While they’ve been known to be coveting center help for several years now, they’re not limiting their search to just that position; they’re open to adding on the wing as well.

Entering play tonight, the Wild sit 21st in the NHL in goals scored despite having three forwards (Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy, and Rossi) all averaging at least a point per game.  While that line is producing, they’re not getting a ton of help elsewhere.  Tarasenko has only scored once, Joel Eriksson Ek has just two goals, and Marcus Foligno is still looking for his first point of the season.

With that in mind, it makes sense that GM Bill Guerin appears to be looking at what might be out there on the trade front.  On top of having some struggling veterans, top prospects Danila Yurov and Liam Ohgren have seen very limited playing time; it might be more beneficial for their development to play a bigger role with AHL Iowa over fourth-line ice time in Minnesota.  Adding a middle-six forward could push one of them off the active roster, allowing for that extra playing time to happen while ideally giving their offense a bit of a boost as well.

Having said that, this is still a little early in the season for teams to start parting with proven talent.  While there has been plenty of speculation around players like Nicholas Robertson (Toronto) or Yegor Chinakhov (Columbus), there’s no guarantee that adding one of them – or someone like that – would come in and give their attack the shot in the arm that they’re seeking.  But if they’re looking for someone with more of a track record, they may have to wait a while yet before the market really starts to open up.

Wild Activate, Reassign Cameron Butler

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The Wild announced yesterday that they’ve activated forward Cameron Butler from season-opening injured reserve and assigned him to the AHL’s Iowa Wild. They did that in conjunction with demoting Michael Milne after he cleared waivers. Only defense prospect Stevie Leskovar remains on the non-roster list that Minnesota submitted at the beginning of the month.

Butler will now begin his first season in the Wild organization. They acquired the 6’4″, 209-lb winger from the Blue Jackets in June in exchange for depth forward Brendan Gaunce. The checking-oriented Butler signed with Columbus as an undrafted free agent in 2023 and is in the final season of his entry-level contract, so he may be one-and-done in Minnesota and Iowa if they opt not to issue him a qualifying offer at the end of the season.

Things haven’t gone well for Butler on the offensive side of the puck since turning pro. The 23-year-old has just four goals and seven assists for 11 points in 91 career AHL games, all of which came with the Blue Jackets’ affiliate, the Cleveland Monsters. He wasn’t a regular in their lineup last season, limited to 37 appearances. He’s racked up plenty of hits and penalty minutes, but his lack of offensive acumen and contribution has led to a -18 rating for his career. In fact, Butler has never been a plus player in a single season on record in his junior or minor league career.

He was still a semi-capable scorer in juniors, though, and Minnesota hopes he can regain some of that confidence in a new environment this season. Butler does have one NHL game to his name, coming in March 2024 with Columbus. He skated just one shift in a shootout win over the Penguins before being returned to the AHL the next day.

It’s not clear what injury was keeping Butler out of the lineup, but he’s now been cleared to return. Whatever it was, it kept him out of entering a preseason game for the Wild as well.

Wild Activate, Reassign Michael Milne

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Oct. 30: Milne cleared waivers and will be on his way to Iowa, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.

Oct. 29: The Wild have activated forward Michael Milne from season-opening injured reserve and subsequently placed him on waivers with intent to assign him to the AHL’s Iowa Wild, according to a team announcement.

Assuming he clears, the 23-year-old Milne will be kicked off his fourth professional season, all in the Minnesota organization. He was a third-round pick in 2022 as an overager out of WHL Winnipeg and immediately turned pro. Last year marked his NHL debut, although it was a brief one. The 5’11” winger only got into one game, an early-season loss to the Stars, and posted three hits in 6:34 of ice time before heading back to Iowa.

The British Columbia native has been out since the beginning of the month with an undisclosed injury, but today’s news indicates he’s been medically cleared to resume practicing and will do so in the minors. He may still have some upside down the line, but he’s yet to have an offensive breakthrough with Iowa. He made 60 appearances for the club last season, scoring 15 goals and 11 assists for a career-high 26 points.

Milne was a restricted free agent this past offseason but received a qualifying offer from the Wild, who promptly inked him to a two-way deal worth $775,000 in the NHL and $100,000 in the AHL in July. He’ll be arbitration-eligible next summer, which could dissuade Minnesota from giving him a qualifying offer this time around if they’re not sold on his future.

Injury Notes: Wood, Bogosian, Nylander

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Blue Jackets winger Miles Wood will be in the lineup versus the Sabres on Tuesday, head coach Dean Evason said. It’s Wood’s first outing in over two weeks after leaving an Oct. 13 game against the Devils because of a stick to the eye. He never landed on injured reserve, in part due to Columbus carrying a bare-bones roster to start the year, but was ruled out for at least a week by the team anyway at the time of the injury. It was a significant injury that caused Wood to experience remarkably inhibited vision for multiple days due to blood in his eye. However, he underwent testing last week after it cleared, which indicated he avoided any permanent damage.

The 30-year-old had a goal and two hits in his first three games as a Blue Jacket after he was acquired from the Avalanche over the summer. Zach Aston-Reese will be scratched to accommodate Wood re-entering the lineup alongside Isac Lundeström and Yegor Chinakhov, Evason said. It will be Aston-Reese’s first scratch of the young season; Chinakhov started the season as the extra forward before Wood’s injury created an opening for him in the lineup.

There are more injury notes from around the league:

  • Wild defenseman Zach Bogosian’s status has been downgraded from day-to-day to week-to-week, head coach John Hynes said Tuesday (via Joe Smith of The Athletic). Minnesota already placed Bogosian on injured reserve last week, so he’s eligible to return at any time, but it doesn’t appear they’re going to need to worry about activating him soon. After a decent start to the season in bottom-pairing duties, the 15-year veteran sustained a lower-body injury against the Capitals on Oct. 17 and has now missed five games. Bogosian posted a plus-three rating with nine blocks and six hits in five games before landing on IR, controlling 48.2% of shot attempts at even strength in the process.
  • Maple Leafs star William Nylander remains a game-time decision ahead of tonight’s game against the Flames, per head coach Craig Berube (via Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun). Nylander was banged up with a lower-body issue last Friday against the Sabres and was a late scratch for the second half of their back-to-back with Buffalo after taking warmups. The 29-year-old, now in his 11th season, still leads the team with 11 assists, 14 points, and five takeaways through eight games.

Upper-Body Injury For Foligno

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  • Wild winger Marcus Foligno is dealing with an upper-body injury that caused him to miss tonight’s game against San Jose, relays Michael Russo of The Athletic (Twitter link). The veteran has already had X-rays but the results are not yet known.  Foligno is off to a tough start to his season offensively as he has been held off the scoresheet in his first nine appearances although he’s averaging a little over three hits per game.

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