Injury Notes: Eller, Lucic, Zuccarello, Sturm
Lars Eller told reporters today, including Bruce Garrioch of TSN, that he had abdominal surgery last July, from an ailment that had been lingering since last November. Despite the injury, the veteran center managed to skate in 80 regular season games between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals, notching 22 points, subsequently earning a one-year, $1.25MM contract with the Ottawa Senators, his fifth NHL club.
As per Garrioch, there is yet to be a decision on when Eller will debut for the Sens, soon to add to his Danish-leading 1,116 career NHL regular season games, but it appears he is on the right track.
Other injury updates from across the NHL:
- St. Louis Blues Head Coach Jim Montgomery told reporters, including Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic, that Milan Lucic is day-to-day with a groin injury. The former star is vying to extend his career, having missed the 2024-25 season before being signed to a professional tryout from the Blues on August 19, the latest of several past notable players to sign such tryouts with the organization. Lucic was unable to skate today, and as mentioned by Montgomery, the ailment is unfortunate timing as he fights to earn a spot.
- Michael Russo of The Athletic noted a pair of back injuries affecting the Minnesota Wild. 38-year-old star Mats Zuccarello remains sidelined, and per Russo, there is no further update at this time. Previously, it has been raised that surgery is a possibility. Meanwhile, Nico Sturm, who signed a two-year deal to return to the Wild, will be held out for 4-5 days preemptively, due to a back injury sustained in a team scrimmage.
Stevie Leskovar Out With Wrist Injury
With so many headlines devoted to the looming unrestricted free agency of Minnesota Wild superstar Kirill Kaprizov, it can be easy to forget that another one of the game’s most lethal scoring wingers is also set to hit free agency next summer: Kyle Connor. Connor’s $7.14MM AAV deal expires at the end of the season, and Winnipeg Jets owner Mark Chipman commented on the player’s contract status in an interview with RG Media’s James Murphy. While he acknowledged that he’s not directly involved in the negotiations, Chipman said that he does not envision Connor leaving Winnipeg. He added that he expects a contract to be agreed upon “sooner rather than later.”
- The Athletic’s Michael Russo and Joe Smith reported today that Minnesota Wild defenseman Stevie Leskovar injured his wrist during a training camp scrimmage, and as a result the start to his season with the team’s AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild, will be delayed as he recovers. The 21-year-old 2024 sixth-round pick signed an entry-level contract in March of this year and is set to begin his first professional campaign whenever he’s healthy once again. The 6’3, 216-pound blueliner was an alternate captain for the OHL’s Brampton Steelheads last season and got a taste of pro action late in the year, playing in Iowa’s April 19th loss to the Grand Rapids Griffins.
Zeev Buium Returns To Practice
- There had been some concern among fans in the Twin Cities when Minnesota Wild rookie Zeev Buium, considered by many to be a leading Calder Trophy contender, missed a third consecutive day of training camp due to injury. But Buium was a full participant at practice today and Wild coach John Hynes told reporters (including The Athletic’s Joe Smith) that Buium is progressing well and is likely to dress for the club’s preseason game on Thursday. That Buium appears to have avoided any major injury trouble is great news for the Wild, who are likely to rely on Buium quite a bit in his rookie campaign. The 19-year-old former University of Denver star is an elite puck distributor and could very well start the season quarterbacking a power play unit ahead of one of Brock Faber or Jared Spurgeon.
Wild Sign Chase Wutzke To Entry-Level Contract
According to a team announcement, the Minnesota Wild have signed netminder Chase Wutzke to a three-year entry-level contract beginning this season. Minnesota now has 44 players under contract for the 2025-26 campaign.
The Wild selected Wutzke with the 142nd overall pick of the 2024 NHL Draft from the WHL’s Red Deer Rebels. That season, the Saskatchewan native played in 36 games for the Rebels, securing a 19-10-2 record with a .904 SV% and 2.82 GAA with one shutout.
Surprisingly, Wutzke’s production took a nosedive last year, largely because of the lack of talent in front of him. He finished with a 17-25-5 record in 50 games with a disappointing .895 SV% and 3.38 GAA. The Rebels finished 13 points removed from playoff positioning in the Eastern Conference.
Expected back in Red Deer this season, the team is already off to a winless start through their first two contests. Should Wutzke disappoint again after he’s returning from the Wild’s training camp, he may only project to serve as organizational depth in an AHL role moving forward.
Fortunately, Minnesota shouldn’t have too many expectations for Wutzke’s development. The future of Minnesota’s crease is guided by Filip Gustavsson and Jesper Wallstedt, meaning there’s little to no pressure on Wutzke to become an everyday NHL talent. The raw talent is there, largely from his quick work in the crease once he’s dropped down into the butterfly, but it remains to be seen if he can put it all together with the Rebels this season.
Latest On Mats Zuccarello
Veteran forward Mats Zuccarello has begun Minnesota Wild training camp limited to light activity due to an injury, the full nature of which currently remains undisclosed. The Athletic’s Michael Russo reported today that Zuccarello has an appointment on Monday that will “determine surgery vs no surgery,” according to Wild head coach John Hynes. Zuccarello is already slated to miss the start of the regular season per prior reporting from Russo, but depending on the medical opinion received tomorrow, the absence could conceivably extend quite a bit.
The loss of Zuccarello, 38, would be a major one for a Wild team entering a potentially franchise-altering regular season. Franchise face Kirill Kaprizov is a pending UFA and while the club has been vocal in its willingness to do pretty much anything in order to secure Kaprizov’s signature on an extension, Kaprizov has thus far appeared hesitant to commit the future of his playing prime to Minnesota. The best thing the Wild can do to convince Kaprizov is likely to win as much, and as early, as possible – something that will be made more difficult by any extended Zuccarello absence. Zuccarello scored 19 goals and 54 points in 69 games last season, and in his absence his lineup spot has been filled by 2022 first-rounder Liam Ohgren, who has reportedly had an impressive start to camp.
Snapshots: Capitals, Schmidt, Buium, Celebrini
Training camp updates are rolling in as many teams approach their first round of cuts. The most pertinent updates came for the Washington ahead of an early-morning scrimmage. Superstar Alex Ovechkin didn’t take the ice with the team as he continues to face a day-to-day, lower-body injury per Sammi Silber of The Hockey News. Silber also reported that forward Justin Sourdif and defenseman Martin Fehervary continue to not take contact during practice, and thus didn’t take part in Washington’s scrimmage.
None of Washington’s updates are cause for much concern. Ovechkin is expected to continue progressing towards a return, and be held out of action as a precaution. Ovechkin will return to his perennial role on top of Washington’s lineup when the regular season kicks off. Fehervary is also still on an expected track, continuing to work his way back from a torn meniscus suffered late last season. He underwent surgery on the knee during the off-season, but has since been unable to kick minor inflammation. Once that goes down, he’ll return to a solid role in Washington’s daily lineup. Sourdif was facing illness, and should work back to full speed after taking a few laps with the non-playing group on Sunday.
Other notes from around the NHL:
- Utah Mammoth defenseman Nate Schmidt was absent from the team’s Saturday practice. He was designated as day-to-day due to maintenance by head coach Andre Tourigny, per Cole Bagley of KSL Sports. That designation makes Schmidt’s availability over the next few days difficult, though it doesn’t seem the Mammoth are concerned about the long-term availability of their summer signing. Schmidt played a bottom-pair role on the Stanley Cup-winning Florida Panthers last season, working his way up to 19 points in 80 games. He’ll likely fill a similar role in Utah, though brings the experience of a 741-game veteran and one-time Cup-winner to the NHL’s newest club.
- Continuing the list of absences was top Minnesota Wild prospect Zeev Buium, who missed his third-consecutive practice on Sunday per Michael Russo of The Athletic. Russo pointed out that Buium did skate with Jonas Brodin before practice started. Again, Buium’s ailment isn’t expected to be a serious issue, head coach John Hynes told Sarah McLellan of Star Tribune Sports. Buium will be pushing for a starring role on the Wild roster this season, after playing the first four games of his NHL career in the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs. He recorded one assist and four penalty minutes in those outings. An extended absence will make a run to the NHL a bit tougher, but the one-time NCAA National Champion should have no problem convincing the Wild brass when he’s back to full health.
- In a positive swing, San Jose Sharks star centerman Macklin Celebrini returned to the team’s practices after missing multiple days to illness, per Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News. Celebrini won’t take part in San Jose’s first preseason game, though he’ll otherwise be fully on track to return to the role of San Jose’s top forward when the season kicks off. Celebrini scored 63 points in 70 games as a rookie last season, marking a franchise record in San Jose.
Snapshots: Ullmark, Buium, Sturm, Grzelcyk
Ottawa Senators goaltender Linus Ullmark is ready to enter the year with a high bar. He was heavily critical of his performances through the first two days of training camp, describing them as “terrible” to Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen. Head coach Travis Green wasn’t as harsh, telling Garioch that he thought Ullmark was fine through both days, and only being hard on himself.
While harsh words could be a sign of poor confidence, the Senators have to be encouraged by signs of a high bar from their star netminder. Ullmark posted a career-low .910 save percentage through 44 games last season, his first in Ottawa. That mark still ranked as the seventh-highest in the NHL, but was well below Ullmark’s career-long .917 save percentage. The Senators pay Ullmark a lofty $8.25MM cap hit, beginning this season. That will make finding a path back to elite performance a must for the 32-year-old netminder, and former Vezina Trophy winner.
Other notes from around the NHL:
- Top Minnesota Wild prospect Zeev Buium sustained an upper-body injury during the team’s Thursday practice, and missed Friday’s practice as a result, per Sarah McLellan of Star Tribune Sports. Nico Sturm was also absent for a designated maintenance day. McLellan adds that head coach John Hynes wasn’t concerned about Buium’s injury. That’s good news for Buium, who is looking to make the NHL roster in his first NHL training camp. He was a prolific collegiate defensemen – netting 24 goals, 98 points, one conference championship, and one national championship in 83 games and two seasons with the University of Denver. Buium was a main cog in the Pioneeers’ offense, and will now look to use that instinct to impress Minnesota’s coaching staff. Per this update, he’ll get back to doing just that within the next few days.
- Chicago Blackhawks head coach Jeff Blashill shed some more light on the team’s plans for Matt Grzelcyk’s professional try-out. He told Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun Times that Grzelcyk will likely only get a contract if one of the team’s young defensemen doesn’t look NHL-ready out of camp. Chicago will roll out the carpet for Artyom Levshunov, Sam Rinzel, and Kevin Korchinski at training camp. All three are high-upside defenders, each boasting their own reasons for excitement next season. But Rinzel hasn’t yet played through an extended run in the NHL, and Korchinski has proven shaky in past opportunities. It’s still hard to bet against either player, but Chicago made sure to hedge their bets with an NHL veteran coming off a 40-point season. Grzelcyk has played through nine NHL seasons and 527 games – and should be stout depth should the Hawks need to let one of their youngsters simmer a little while longer.
Minnesota Wild Injury Updates
During today’s scrimmage in the Minnesota Wild’s training camp, Michael Russo of The Athletic provided updates on a few injuries to the Wild’s roster. Notably, Russo reported that Nico Sturm was removed for precautionary reasons, and Mats Zuccarello and Jonas Brodin participated in a light shootaround before the scrimmage.
Mats Zuccarello Reportedly Injured
- In a vague report from Michael Russo of The Athletic, it doesn’t appear that veteran forward Mats Zuccarello will start the Minnesota Wild’s training camp on time. Without specifying the nature of the injury, there’s some concern in Minnesota that Zuccarello will miss some of the regular season due to the injury.
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Wild Not Entertaining Trade Offers For Kirill Kaprizov
Earlier this offseason, the Wild made headlines when it was reported that they were willing to offer $16MM per season to pending unrestricted free agent winger Kirill Kaprizov. Meanwhile, the winger himself made headlines when that offer (with an eight-year term) was rejected. Understandably, there has been plenty of speculation about what Kaprizov’s future with the Wild might be.
However, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reported in a TSN Early Trading segment that while teams are calling Minnesota GM Bill Guerin to try to assess if the 28-year-old might be available, they are being told that offers are not being entertained at this time. To that end, Michael Russo of The Athletic reported today on the DFO Rundown (video link) that as of yet, Kaprizov’s camp hasn’t been approached for a list of teams he would accept a trade to; he has a full no-move clause and can veto any deal.
Despite the setback of having that record-breaking offer declined, the Wild are still operating with the internal belief that Kaprizov wants to remain in Minnesota. It might be a case of his agent Paul Theofanous hoping to get a bit more money on the AAV, the year-to-year structure (salary and signing bonus money), or potentially a preference to take a shorter-term contract as some players are starting to want to do. However, LeBrun also characterized the discussions between the two sides as “not cordial” so at first glance, an agreement shouldn’t be expected in the near future.
When healthy, Kaprizov is among the NHL’s elite talents and has 386 points in 319 career regular season games after coming to North America for his age-23 year. He looked to be well on his way to setting new personal benchmarks last season but injuries ultimately limited him to just 41 games where he still managed 25 goals and 31 assists to finish third on the team in scoring. Meanwhile, despite the injuries, Kaprizov was quite productive in the playoffs, notching five goals and four assists in their first-round loss to Vegas.
Considering the Wild have already gone higher than what some teams might be inclined to offer Kaprizov if he made it to free agency next summer, it will be interesting to see what their next move may wind up being. Just don’t expect that move to be the initiation of trade discussions, an option that it appears they’re not ready to think about considering just yet.