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Central Notes: Brodin, Bolduc, Predators

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The Minnesota Wild have opted to pull defenseman Jonas Brodin back out of the lineup with three games over the next four days, per Joe Smith of The Athletic. Brodin returned from a month-long absence on Friday, after recovering from missing 12 games with a lower-body injury. Head coach John Hynes told Smith that Brodin’s absence was precautionary, and that the defender hadn’t re-aggravated his previous injury.

The news that Brodin’s health hasn’t gotten worse will be a silver lining for Wild fans. But missing the top defender is still a tough pill to swallow. Brodin has played in just 39 games this season, but he’s looked strong when he’s on the ice – marked by 19 points and a plus-11 on the season. Brodin seemed to jump right back into play in Friday’s game, playing through 20 minutes of ice time and recording one assist and one penalty. But Minnesota will opt to be cautious with their top-pair guy – opting to not tempt fait with each of Marcus Foligno, Joel Eriksson Ek, and Kirill Kaprizov still out of the lineup. Jon Merrill and Declan Chisholm will man the minutes opened up by Brodin’s absence.

Other notes from the Central Division:

  • Top St. Louis Blues youngster Zachary Bolduc is continuing to reach new milestones in his young NHL career. The Department of Player Safety has penalized Bolduc with the first fine of his career, after he cross-checked Nashville Predators defenseman Nick Blankenburg in Saturday night’s game. Bolduc will forfeit $2,248.26 for the incident – the max allowable under the CBA. The young winger has been a focal point of the Blues’ league-best 12-2-2 record since the 4-Nations Face-Off break. He has four points in his last five games, and 11 points in 16 games since the league returned. Bolduc has managed those totals despite averaging just 13 minutes of ice time each night. With that in mind, St. Louis will breathe a sigh of relief that Bolduc was fined rather than suspended. He’ll continue to contribute on a nightly basis, as the Blues look to continue blazing their path to the playoffs.
  • The Nashville Predators have announced a four-year extension with AHL affiliate the Milwaukee Admirals per Predators beat reporter Brooks Bratten. The deal will run through the 2028-29 season and will mark 30 years of partnership between the two sides when it next expires. Nashville announced Milwaukee as an IHL affiliate immediately upon joining the NHL in 1998. The Admirals moved to the AHL three years later and have made the playoffs in 19 of 21 seasons since then. That includes winning the Calder Cup in 2oo4 and making the Finals in 2006. Milwaukee currently ranks second in the AHL’s Central Division and is one of just three minor league clubs to already clinch a postseason berth. Their success comes in part thanks to top Predators prospects such as Ozzy Wiesblatt, Joakim Kemell, and Ryan Ufko.

Wild Recall Liam Öhgren And Cameron Crotty

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Minnesota Wild President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Bill Guerin announced today the team has recalled forward Liam Öhgren and defender Cameron Crotty from Iowa on an emergency basis, per a team announcement. The Wild will face-off against the Dallas Stars on Monday, and forward Marcus Foligno (who has missed three straight contests) remains day-to-day as he works his way back from an upper-body injury.

Öhgren was just reassigned to the AHL yesterday after being recalled by the Wild under an emergency loan to fill in for a sick Marcus Johansson who couldn’t suit up in a recent game against the Seattle Kraken. Öhgren has played in 35 games for the Wild this season, recording five points (including a goal in the game against the Kraken). The 20-year-old was Minnesota’s first round selection in the 2022 draft. While he’s struggled to make an offensive impact with the Wild in limited action this season, he has posted 28 points in 29 games in the AHL on the year.

Crotty has spent the entire year in Iowa, where he has registered zero goals and eight assists in 56 games. Originally a third-round selection by the Arizona Coyotes, Crotty has laced up in 275 career AHL games but has only skated in one NHL contest – a cup of coffee with the Coyotes during the 2023-24 season. Crotty, 25, also played three years at Boston University.

The Wild did receive good news with the return of defender Jonas Brodin, who played Saturday after being out of the lineup since Feb. 28 with a lower-body injury. Brodin has struggled with injuries throughout the season, suiting up in just 39 games. But when healthy, the 31-year-old has recorded 19 points and a plus-11 rating. And in addition to Brodin’s return, the Wild are expecting superstar Kirill Kaprizov to start skating as soon as this upcoming week, per The Athletic’s Michael Russo. The goal, according to Russo, would be to get Kaprizov a few regular season games to knock some rust off ahead of the playoffs. The return of Kaprizov would no doubt spark Minnesota’s sputtering offensive. Despite currently finding themselves in the top wild card position in the west, the Wild have only scored 195 goals on the season and are the only Western Conference team currently in playoff position with a negative goal differential on the year.

 

Ohgren Sent Back To Iowa

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  • After being recalled on Tuesday on an emergency basis, the Wild announced (Twitter link) that winger Liam Ohgren has been returned to AHL Iowa. The 21-year-old got into the lineup on Wednesday but with Marcus Johansson returning today against Buffalo, the emergency conditions no longer existed, necessitating his demotion or conversion to a regular recall which would have counted against their post-deadline limit of four.  Ohgren is in his first full season in North America and has five points in 24 games with Minnesota but has been quite productive on the farm, tallying 14 goals and 14 assists in 28 outings with Iowa.

Wild Reassign David Jiříček, Jonas Brodin Likely To Return

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The Wild announced they’ve reassigned top right-shot defense prospect David Jiříček to AHL Iowa. That bodes well for the likelihood of top shutdown rearguard Jonas Brodin returning to the lineup tomorrow against the Sabres, something head coach John Hynes called a “strong possibility” today (via Michael Russo of The Athletic).

Jiříček’s latest stint on the Minnesota roster was nothing to write home about. After being recalled on March 1 following Brodin’s injury, he sat as a healthy scratch for nine straight games while depth veteran Jonathon Merrill got an extended run in the lineup instead. Jiříček told Joe Smith of The Athletic this week that while he was disappointed with the lack of playing time, he preferred the development work with the NHL staff instead of spending time in Iowa amid a light schedule for the minor-league club over the past few weeks.

Since the Wild acquired the 2022 No. 6 overall pick from the Blue Jackets in November, he’s suited up just six times for them while posting a goal and an assist with a plus-two rating. That’s much better than what he’s shown in Iowa, where he’s failed to score and has just six assists with a minus-two rating in 26 appearances for the struggling affiliate. Before spending most of last year in the NHL with Columbus, Jiříček was an AHL All-Star in 2022-23 amid a 38-point showing in 55 games with Cleveland.

He’ll now return to the farm for the stretch run. Iowa likely won’t be making the Calder Cup Playoffs, sitting 10 points back of a spot with 14 games remaining, so he should be on Minnesota’s playoff roster. Despite their recent struggles, the team still has a 93.8% chance of clinching a playoff berth, per MoneyPuck.

Getting Brodin back is a tremendous defensive boost to a team needing to keep pucks out of their net, with Joel Eriksson Ek and Kirill Kaprizov’s absences limiting their offensive upside. He missed nine games with a lower-body issue, another in a string of ailments for the 31-year-old Swede this season. He’s only appeared in 38 of 69 contests for the Wild, clinching his third straight season without hitting the 70-game mark.

When healthy, he’s been his usual self – if not even better, tossing in a bit more offensively than normal – with 4-14–18 with a +10 rating while averaging 22:42 per game. He continues to have positive possession impacts in difficult shutdown deployment.

Wild Sign Stevie Leskovar To Entry-Level Contract

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The Wild announced they’ve signed defenseman Stevie Leskovar to a three-year, entry-level contract starting next season. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Minnesota selected Leskovar, 20, in the sixth round (No. 174 overall) of last year’s draft. His upside comes solely from physicality and defensive play. He has just 1-4–5 in 33 games with the Brampton Steelheads of the Ontario Hockey League this season, although his 70 PIMs rank fifth on the team.

That menial offensive production is slightly decreased from his 2023-24 pace when the 6’4″, 216-lb lefty posted 2-10–12, a +11 rating, and 96 shots in 61 games with a team-leading 113 PIMs. Leskovar, an Ontario native, has 20 points, 237 PIMs, and 203 shots on goal in 158 career OHL games since debuting at the major-junior level with the Peterborough Petes in 2022-23.

He doesn’t stand out much in the Wild’s prospect pool, which remains one of the league’s deepest. He didn’t earn a mention from Scott Wheeler of The Athletic when he put together his 2025 NHL prospect pool rankings, although that’s par for the course for a player selected in the sixth round after being passed over in both the 2022 and 2023 drafts. If he sniffs NHL minutes at some point during his professional career, it’ll presumably be in a bottom-pairing or press box role as a penalty-kill specialist. That’s not of much concern for Minnesota, who has names like 2024 No. 12 overall pick Zeev Buium and David Jiříček still in the pipeline.

Since Leskovar is already 20, he’s ineligible for an entry-level slide and can suit up in the pros with AHL Iowa next season. His ELC will run through the 2027-28 campaign, making him a restricted free agent upon expiry. The Wild now has 28 contracts on the books for 2025-26.

Morning Notes: Gritsyuk, Jiříček, Front Office App

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Devils prospect Arseni Gritsyuk is on an expiring deal with SKA St. Petersburg of the Kontinental Hockey League. His contract remains in effect through May 31, however, and James Nichols of New Jersey Hockey Now reports the team’s efforts to get him over to North America before that date appear futile. SKA remains intent on keeping Gritsyuk through the end of his deal despite general manager Tom Fitzgerald’s post-deadline statement that they wanted to get him over to New Jersey down the stretch to “show us what he can do.” The No. 3 prospect in the Devils’ system (per McKeen’s Hockey), the 24-year-old right winger has 17-26–43 in 48 games with SKA, on pace for a career-high if not for a knee injury that cost him a decent chunk of the campaign. A 2019 fifth-round pick, he has 68-83–151 in 215 career KHL games across five seasons.

Other items from around the NHL today:

  • Wild prospect David Jiříček has now been scratched nine straight games since being recalled from AHL Iowa on March 1. The 21-year-old told The Athletic’s Joe Smith this week that while he’s eager to get back into game action, he’s enjoying having development time in NHL practices compared to skating for AHL Iowa, which has a sparse schedule this month. “I skated with [Jonas Brodin] and had some practices with [Marc-André Fleury]. For me, that’s always like a dream, you know? He’s a Hall of Famer. To shoot on him, it’s always a blessing. It’s actually a pretty good situation for me.” Selected sixth overall by the Blue Jackets in 2022 and acquired by the Wild in November, the righty has a goal and an assist while averaging 13:02 in six NHL appearances for Minnesota since the swap.
  • The NHL has finally created an app comparable to sites like PuckPedia, CapWages, and the now-defunct CapFriendly – but they’re keeping it in-house. Stephen Whyno of the AP reports the league has launched an iPad app, developed by SAP, for use only by teams’ front offices that “modernizes the league’s roster, contract and salary cap information.” Instead of having to coalesce with the league’s Central Registry and keep track of official contract information on a team-by-team basis, NHL GMs will now have private access to every team’s active roster size, salary cap room, injured reserve statuses, and no-move and no-trade clauses in players’ contracts.

Wild Recall Liam Ohgren Under Emergency Conditions

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The Minnesota Wild have recalled top wing prospect Liam Ohgren under emergency conditions. The move comes after an unnamed member of the Wild fell sick, per Michael Russo of The Athletic. Forward Marcus Foligno is also facing a day-to-day absence and sat out of Monday’s game. Ohgren will be eligible to play should both Foligno and the ill Wild player both need to sit out. The Wild’s next game comes against Seattle on Wednesday.

This move returns Ohgren to the NHL roster after 11 days, and four games, in the minor leagues. He didn’t manage any scoring in his first two games back in the minors, but amassed two goals and five points in a pair of games this weekend. That scoring brought Ohgren up to 28 points, split evenly, in 29 AHL games this season. He is the only Iowa Wild skater still rivaling point-per-game scoring, and ranks sixth on the team in total points despite playing fewer games than Iowa forward with more than 10 points.

Despite hot scoring in the minors, Ohgren still hasn’t found his groove at the NHL level. He has just four points in 23 games with Minnesota this season, adding to his two points in four NHL games last year. The Wild have moved Ohgren around the bottom-six to try and spark his scoring, though he’s averaged just 11:06 in ice time through the full season.

This call-up will give Ohgren another chance to spark his NHL scoring after a hot weekend in the minor leagues. He’ll need specific circumstances to prompt a return to the Minnesota lineup, including another absence for lineup fixture Foligno – who’s scored 22 points in 67 games from a third-line role this season. Ohgren will likely absorb most of Foligno’s minutes, should he get to play.

Upper-Body Injury For Foligno

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  • The Wild announced (Twitter link) that winger Marcus Foligno was scratched from tonight’s game against Los Angeles due to an upper-body injury. The 33-year-old leads Minnesota in hits with 219 through 67 games this season but his offensive production has been limited once again as he has just 11 goals and 11 assists while logging a little over 14 minutes a night.  There’s no word yet on how long Foligno might be out for.

Wild Welcome Jonas Brodin Back To Practice After Injury

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  • Top-pair Minnesota Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin also returned to practice on Monday per Joe Smith of The Athletic. Smith adds that head coach John Hynes dubbed Brodin as day-to-day and out for Monday night’s game. The top shutdown defender has missed Minnesota’s last seven games with a lower-body injury, pulling him deeper into the well of absences this year. He’s now played in just 38 of the Wild’s 67 games on the year. Those routine absences have held Brodin to just 18 points on the season. That mark stands as the highest points-per-game average of Brodin’s career (.474), just narrowly beating out his previous career high set when he scored 27 points in 62 games last season (.435). But without a clean bill of health, Brodin hasn’t had a chance to relish in a newfound scoring gear. For yet another time this season, he’ll now be tasked with getting back to full speed so he can support Minnesota’s top defense pair with a tough streak coming up.

Jonas Brodin Continues To Practice

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  • In other injury news, Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin has skated three straight days as he seeks to return from a lower-body injury, per Michael Russo of The Athletic. The veteran of 841 career games, Brodin had been a key contributor for the Wild, aided by his plus-10 rating and 22:42 of ice time per game. Brodin, 31, left the Wild’s game against the Colorado Avalanche on Feb. 28 and GM Bill Guerin announced soon after that Brodin would be sidelined on a week-to-week basis. The injury was believed to be caused by a shot block. Regardless of the cause, Brodin’s return to the lineup will no doubt support Minnesota’s efforts in solidifying their position in the playoff seedings. The team currently finds themselves in the first wildcard spot in the west, but has sputtered to a 4-5-1 record over their last 10 contests.
  • The Stars are also getting a few key players back in the fold, as left winger Roope Hintz (face) and defender Lian Bichsel (illness) skated with the team today, per Stars reporter Mike Heika. The return of Hintz is an obvious boost to the lineup, as the 28-year-old is on his way to his fourth-straight 30-plus goal season. Hintz was injured when he took a puck to the face during a contest against the Oilers on March 8. In 59 contests this season, Hintz has 25 goals, 26 assists, and 51 points. Bichsel missed the Stars’ Friday night matchup against the Wild due to illness and was replaced in the lineup by veteran Brendan Smith. The 20-year-old Bichsel has looked the part of an NHL-ready player, posting five points and a plus-6 rating in his first 22 career contests. Bichsel was the organization’s first-round selection in the 2021 draft (18th overall). It remains to be seen if Hintz and/or Bichsel will be available for tomorrow’s matchup against the Ducks.

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