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Wild Claim Travis Dermott, Place Jacob Middleton On LTIR

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The Wild have claimed defenseman Travis Dermott off waivers from the Oilers, per Michael Russo of The Athletic. Defender Jacob Middleton, who sustained a hand injury in last night’s 7-1 loss to the Oilers, landed on long-term injured reserve minutes earlier in a corresponding move, per the team.

It’s no surprise to see Minnesota’s desire to add some defensive depth to the organization, particularly a lefty. They’re now without their top two left-shot options in Middleton and Jonas Brodin (upper body, week-to-week) for quite a bit, and Cameron Crotty, the current No. 7 on the roster, is a right-shot defender with just one NHL game under his belt.

In comes Dermott and his 339 NHL games of experience, although just 10 came in an Edmonton sweater. The soon-to-be 28-year-old didn’t generate much interest on the free-agent market last summer. Instead, he opted for a tryout with the Oilers, which he successfully converted into a one-year, two-way pact at the beginning of the regular season. After posting no points, a -3 rating and being out-attempted 132-111 in his even-strength minutes, he was scratched in nine straight games – including last night’s win over the Wild.

After suiting up for the Coyotes last season, Dermott shouldn’t have many work visa issues. General manager Bill Guerin told Russo he believes he’ll be available for tomorrow’s matinee against the Flyers. Unfortunately, he flew back to Edmonton with his former Oilers teammates last night and will need to make the trek back to Minnesota today.

Regarding Middleton, the veteran took an Evan Bouchard shot to the hand in the first period of last night’s loss and didn’t return. He’s labeled as week-to-week, but as his LTIR placement dictates, the earliest he’s eligible to return is Jan. 7 against the Blues. Whatever fracture he sustained will likely need surgery today, Russo reports.

It’s incredibly tough timing for Middleton, who turns 29 next month. He’s amid the best season of his career by far, leading the NHL with a +22 rating and averaging north of 20 minutes per game for the first time. He has five goals and 13 points in 29 games – assuming he’s available on Jan. 7, he’d still be on pace to record 31 points in about 70 games and break last year’s career-best 25.

Declan Chisholm now stands as the Wild’s top left-shot option until Brodin is ready to return (he’ll likely be the first one back). He’ll stand to see far more than his usual 16-17 minutes per game in the coming days – he’s already skated more than 20 minutes twice in Minnesota’s last five games.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Central Notes: Zuccarello, Brodin, Bortuzzo, Ingram

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Sarah McLellan of Star Tribune Sports tweeted that Minnesota Wild forward Mats Zuccarello and defenseman Jonas Brodin skated with the team yesterday but there is currently no timetable for a return. Zuccarello has been out with a lower-body injury and hasn’t played since November 14th, a stretch of 12 games. Brodin, on the other hand, last played on November 25th as he tries to recover from an upper-body injury that has kept him on the sidelines for seven games.

The 37-year-old Zuccarello is having another solid season for Minnesota, tallying six goals and eight assists in 16 games, while Brodin was having one of his better offensive seasons with two goals and six assists in 19 games.

The Wild currently sit second in the Central Division with a 19-6-4 record.

In other Central Division Notes:

  • The Utah Hockey Club announced that defenseman Robert Bortuzzo is out day-to-day with a lower-body injury. The 35-year-old was hurt on Tuesday night in a game against Minnesota and will not join his teammates on their two-game road trip. The 14-year NHL veteran has averaged the lowest ice time of his career since his rookie season in Pittsburgh and has been sheltered in his 15 appearances this season. Bortuzzo has two assists this season and has a -2 plus/minus along with 15 turnovers.
  • Utah Hockey Club head coach Andre Tourigny told the media yesterday that goaltender Connor Ingram is not fit to play this week, although the netminder did practice yesterday morning (as per Belle Fraser of the Salt Lake Tribune). Ingram was placed on IR back on November 20th due to an upper-body injury and hasn’t dressed since November 18th. The 27-year-old hasn’t been able to find his game this season and has struggled, posting a goals saved above expected of -10.9 (as per Money Puck) as well as a .871 save percentage and a 3.61 goals-against average.

Wild Recall Cameron Crotty, Reassign David Jiříček

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Newly-acquired David Jiříček has been on the Minnesota Wild’s roster for a week but has failed to debut with his new club. In an attempt to find Jiříček more playing time, the Wild organization has reassigned him to their AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild, and has recalled defenseman Cameron Crotty in his stead.

It’s an inevitable roster move for Jiříček and Minnesota. It wasn’t wise for the organization to have their new defensive prospect in the press box and they’ll now give him more playing time in Iowa.

The prudent move would be to keep Jiříček with the AHL Wild unless there’s a major injury in Minnesota. The team already deploys Brock Faber and Jared Spurgeon on the right side of the defense and won’t have much use for Jiříček in the top four. Jiříček was plagued by a few years of inconsistency with the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Wild will assuredly want to avoid the same mistake.

Jiříček should finally debut with the Wild organization over a week after being acquired via trade. He’s scored two goals and three points in four AHL contests this season during his time with the Cleveland Monsters.

Replacing Jiříček in the lineup will be Iowa’s captain. After spending the last four with the now-defunct Arizona Coyotes organization, Crotty is in his first year with the Wild organization. He’s tallied five assists in 19 games for the AHL Wild this season and has managed a +2 rating.

Wild To Reassign Travis Boyd, Expected To Activate Jakub Lauko

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The Minnesota Wild are swapping out one forward in favor of another. Michael Russo of The Athletic reports the Wild organization has reassigned forward Travis Boyd to the American Hockey League with Jakub Lauko expected back on Tuesday.

It’s the third time the 31-year-old Boyd has been reassigned back to the AHL’s Iowa Wild this season. The Hopkins, Minnesota native has only made two appearances for the Wild this season going scoreless while averaging 7:39 of ice time per game.

His production in Iowa has been understandably more fruitful. It’s his first stretch in the AHL since the 2019-20 season and he’s collected two goals and 11 points in 13 games. The AHL Wild will now have their third-highest scorer back as they look to stay competitive in a top-heavy AHL Central Division.

Lauko, who’s been on Minnesota’s injured reserve since November 26th due to a lower-body injury, is expected to return to the lineup against the Utah Hockey Club on Tuesday. He won’t help fill the voids in the top-six forward group but will add a stabilizing presence to the bottom of the forward core.

He’s skated in 21 games throughout his first year in Minnesota adding two goals and four points overall. Lauko will provide a more physical presence compared to Boyd and should cause some trepidation from opposing teams if he’s placed on a line with Yakov Trenin.

Wild Issue Multiple Injury Updates, Place Eriksson Ek On IR

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12/6: According to a team announcement, the Wild have placed Eriksson Ek on injured reserve as expected. His placement on the team’s injured reserve will likely be made retroactive to December 4th.

12/4: Depth is becoming an important factor for the best team in the league. This afternoon, the Minnesota Wild issued multiple injury updates regarding the status of Joel Eriksson Ek, Jonas Brodin, Mats Zuccarello, and Jakub Lauko.

The organization confirmed the earlier report from Michael Russo of The Athletic stating that top center Eriksson Ek would be considered week-to-week with a lower-body injury. If there’s one area of weakness Minnesota could enhance via the trade market, it would be their center depth. The Wild have managed a 1-1-1 record in the three games Eriksson Ek has already missed this season and they will now have to rely on Marco Rossi as their first-line middleman.

Rossi is adequate for this role but it thins out behind him. Minnesota will deploy a rotation of Frederick Gaudreau, Marat Khusnutdinov, and Ben Jones to center the remaining three lines which isn’t typically the quality seen from first-place teams.

The Wild could gauge the trade market for a center depending on the severity of Eriksson Ek’s injury. Minnesota already swung one of the season’s biggest trades when they acquired David Jiříček from the Columbus Blue Jackets. Jake Evans of the Montreal Canadiens comes to mind as a rental piece with playoff experience that would boost Minnesota’s depth down the middle.

The remaining injury updates didn’t have any surprises. Brodin and Zuccarello are still considered week-to-week with their respective injuries while Lauko is only on a day-to-day basis. Brodin and Lauko are on the team’s injured reserve while Zuccarello and his $4.125MM salary are on the long-term injured reserve. Still, with six out of their next 10 games against opponents currently positioned for a playoff spot, the Wild’s depth will surely be tested.

West Notes: Wild, Sasson, Szuber

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The Minnesota Wild made a pair of recalls today bringing up forwards Travis Boyd and Reese Johnson from Iowa of the American Hockey League. Boyd has already dressed in two games this season for Minnesota, while Johnson has spent this entire season in the AHL.

The 31-year-old Boyd has gone scoreless in the NHL this season but has put up decent offensive numbers with Iowa, posting two goals and nine assists in 13 AHL games. The Hopkins, Minnesota native is just two years removed from providing several seasons of solid depth scoring, eclipsing 30 points a season from 2021-23.

Johnson on the other hand spent the last two years in the NHL with the Chicago Blackhawks but has found himself returning to the AHL this season. The 25-year-old has registered three goals and six assists in 18 AHL games this year. At the NHL level, the Regina, Saskatchewan native has posted just 17 points in 141 career NHL games.

In other Western Conference notes:

  • The Vancouver Canucks have reassigned Max Sasson to the Abbotsford Canucks of the AHL. The move is likely just a paper transaction as the Canucks attempt to accrue additional cap space to have more flexibility at the NHL trade deadline. Vancouver has done this earlier in the season with Arshdeep Bains and Aatu Räty, and might be making the same move here, although they could be keeping room for a different transaction. The 24-year-old Sasson had two assists in five games with Vancouver and averaged just 8:45 of ice time per game. His possession numbers weren’t great, with a CF% of 40.8% at even strength, but given that he was an undrafted free agent signing, he has likely exceeded expectations thus far.
  • The Utah Hockey Club has assigned defenseman Maksymilian Szuber to the American Hockey League’s Tucson Roadrunners. The 22-year-old was recalled four days ago but didn’t see any NHL action and hasn’t since a single appearance back in April that remains the lone game he’s played in the NHL. The former sixth-round pick isn’t a big point producer but has used his strong passing to post four assists and a goal in 11 AHL games this season.

Wild Reassign Liam Ohgren, Jesper Wallstedt

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Dec. 4: The Wild announced Wednesday that they reassigned Ohgren and Wallstedt to Iowa. Ohgren did not suit up against Vancouver – evidently, the recalls were for salary cap management purposes to optimize Zuccarello’s LTIR capture.

Dec. 3: The Wild have recalled top prospects Liam Ohgren and Jesper Wallstedt from AHL Iowa ahead of Tuesday’s game against the Canucks, per a team release. The team placed defenseman Jonas Brodin and left-winger Jakub Lauko on injured reserve to open spots on the active roster and also moved right-winger Mats Zuccarello from IR to LTIR to open up the necessary cap space.

Ohgren, 20, made Minnesota’s opening night roster but struggled out of the gate, posting no points and a -2 rating in seven appearances while averaging under 10 minutes a night before being assigned to Iowa at the end of October. He was recalled under emergency conditions for a game against the Stars last month but has otherwise spent all his time in the minors since.

The 2022 first-round pick has fared much better in the AHL, quickly proving himself as one of the club’s most efficient goal-scorers with five in eight contests. It’s unclear if he’ll unseat recent AHL call-ups Ben Jones or Devin Shore for a spot in the lineup tonight with Lauko and Zuccarello still out, but it seems likely.

In Wallstedt’s case, it’s similarly uncertain if they plan to give the 22-year-old his first start of the season between the pipes. Michael Russo of The Athletic “has a sense” that his recall is primarily to get him working with Minnesota’s NHL goaltending staff, one that’s worked wonders to help Filip Gustavsson along to a vicious resurgence this season.

Wallstedt, the 20th overall pick in the 2021 draft, is off to a nightmarish start in Iowa in what the Wild hoped would be his last season seeing minor-league ice. After back-to-back AHL All-Star Game appearances, the 6’3″ Swede has just a .860 SV% and 4.34 GAA in 10 games with Iowa this year behind a 3-6-1 record. Minnesota inked Wallstedt to a two-year, $4.4MM extension in October that goes into effect for the 2025-26 campaign.

Brodin’s IR placement doesn’t affect the stalwart’s return timeline. The 31-year-old has already missed three games with an upper-body injury and remains day-to-day for now. He last played on Nov. 25 against the Jets, so he can come off the injured list at any time.

In 19 games this season, Brodin has two goals and six assists for eight points with a +7 rating. His 45 blocked shots are second on the team behind Jacob Middleton’s 61.

Lauko, 24, also last suited up in the Winnipeg game last week, so his situation is pretty much the same. He’s still listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury, and while he won’t play tonight, he hasn’t been ruled out for Friday’s game against the Ducks. He has two goals and two assists in 21 games for Minnesota in a fourth-line role after being acquired in an offseason swap with the Bruins.

Zuccarello underwent lower-body surgery on Nov. 14 and is expected back sometime in the next two weeks, although the move to LTIR means he won’t be back until Tuesday against Utah at the soonest.

Central Notes: Montgomery, Jiříček, Hall

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Clear communication and detailed feedback are the early hallmarks of Jim Montgomery’s tenure as Blues head coach, multiple players told Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic. They’ve yet to lose in regulation since signing the ex-Bruins bench boss to a five-year contract and relieving Drew Bannister of his duties, going 2-0-1 since the change.

Among the players praising Montgomery early on was captain Brayden Schenn, who said Montgomery had garnered a “tremendous amount of respect” from both the team’s veterans and up-and-comers. It’s not Montgomery’s first go-around with a good portion of the roster – the 2023 Jack Adams Award winner served as an assistant for the Blues in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 campaigns.

There’s still significant room for improvement if the 11-12-2 Blues want to sneak into a playoff spot. While they’ve outscored opponents 10-5 so far under Montgomery, they’ve been outshot slightly 92-91 in all situations and only control 44.2% of shot attempts at even strength.

“He’s not afraid to talk on the bench, and he’s quick on feedback, and I really like that from him,” sophomore forward Zachary Bolduc said. “It happened in New York and in New Jersey, too. I love getting feedback — good or bad. It’s always great to get during the game.”

More from the Central Division:

  • The Wild are dealing with an injury to stalwart defender Jonas Brodin, which should provide more opportunity than otherwise expected for new trade pickup David Jiříček out of the gate. Head coach John Hynes told Michael Russo of The Athletic that Minnesota will be patient with the 21-year-old as he makes the adjustment from Columbus to Minnesota but that they’ll lean on the puck-moving elements of his game and give him some power-play reps, likely bumping Declan Chisholm off the man-advantage units.
  • Blackhawks veteran Taylor Hall reaffirmed his desire to see through Chicago’s rebuild in a recent sitdown with Mark Lazerus of The Athletic. The pending unrestricted free agent said that he’d “like to stick around here and be a part of making this thing grow” but fully recognizes the possibility he’ll be on the move by deadline day to help the Blackhawks add some additional futures to their system. Injuries have significantly hamstrung the 33-year-old since Chicago acquired him from the Bruins in the summer of 2023, limiting him to seven goals and 14 points in 34 appearances while sticking in a middle-six role,

Wild Didn't Want To Include Daemon Hunt In Trade

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The Colorado Avalanche have assigned forwards Ivan Ivan, Nikita Prishchepov, and Chris Wagner to the minor leagues in what appears to be a paper transaction. The move will help Colorado accrue morsels of salary cap before their next game on Tuesday. Injuries have continued to pile up in Colorado, pushing all three players into Saturday’s loss to Edmonton.

Ivan stamped his spot on the third line with a two-goal game last week, but he hasn’t managed any more scoring in the three games since. Still, he’s received far more attention than Wagner and Prishchepov, who respectively recorded a measly five and six minutes of ice time in Colorado’s last game. The trio make up the bulk of Colorado’s bottom-six ice time, and the Avalanche will now take advantage of their waiver exemption status to bank some daily cap space.

In other Western Conference notes:

  • Minnesota Wild general manager Bill Guerin reportedly did not want to include defenseman Daemon Hunt in the trade package the was used to pluck David Jiricek from the Columbus Blue Jackets yesterday (as per Dylan Loucks of The Hockey News). The Wild sent Hunt and four draft picks to Columbus to acquire Jiricek and a fifth-round pick, and Guerin told the media that he hated including Hunt in the deal but felt that the price he paid to acquire the former sixth-overall pick was fair. The Wild paid a heavy price to acquire the 21-year-old Jiricek, but if he develops into the defenseman the Wild expect, he and current Wild defender Brock Faber will give the team a solid core to build around for years to come.
  • Winnipeg Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers missed today’s game against the Dallas Stars and is day-to-day with a lower-body injury (as per Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press). Jets head coach Scott Arniel didn’t have much in the way of an update after today’s game but did tell the media that Ehlers will see the team doctors in Winnipeg tomorrow. Ehlers is in the final season of a seven-year $42MM contract and will become an unrestricted free agent next July. The 28-year-old has had a fantastic start to the season with nine goals and 16 assists in 24 games.

Wild Recall David Jiricek, Assign Travis Boyd

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Top defense prospect David Jiricek has officially joined the Minnesota Wild, receiving an official call-up after a trade from the Columbus Blue Jackets placed him on the AHL Iowa Wild roster. Minnesota made room for Jiricek’s recall by re-assigning fowrard Travis Boyd to the minors. Jiricek will head to the NHL while Daemon Hunt, who went the other way in the trade alongside four draft picks, has been assigned to the AHL by Columbus.

Wild head coach John Hynes told reporters, including Dylan Loucks of The Hockey News, that Jiricek is expected to join the team’s practices on Monday.

The Minnesota defense has been firing on all cylinders this season. Half of the blue-line has recorded 10-or-more points on the season, with Jacob Middleton and Brock Faber each tied for the scoring lead with 12 points in 24 games. The bunch has supported Minnesota to the best goals-against per-game of any team in the NHL. They allow just 2.33 goals-against on average, well ahead of the second-place Winnipeg Jets’ 2.50 average. That standing could make ice time hard to find for Jiricek, who only has one assist in six NHL games this season. Jiricek is an incredibly talented puck-carrier, and earned a commendable 10 points in 43 games as a rookie last season. But Jiricek’s impact off of the puck, and overall agility, have left a lot to be desired – part of why he’s totaled a -10 through 53 career games.

Jiricek won’t support Minnesota’s pursuit of top defensive metrics, but his uspide as an offensive asset is sky-high. He was drafted sixth overall in the 2022 NHL Draft after earning an everyday role in the Czechia Extraliga at 16. He played through 67 games, and scored 20 points, with Plzen HC between 2019 and 2022 – but suffered a long-term, lower-body injury at the 2022 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. The injury would deprive Jiricek of five months of action in his draft year, though he returned with two points in four World Championship games – just enough to convince Columbus that he was still worthy of a top-10 pick.

Jiricek followed the draft with four points in seven games at the rescheduled 2022 World Junior Championships, and joined the Cleveland Monsters one month later. He was productive as a rookie, netting 38 points in his first 55 AHL games – but not managing any scoring through his first four NHL games, waiting until 2023-24 to record his first NHL point. Jiricek has continued to perform well in the minors, with 19 points in 29 AHL games last year and three points in four games this year, but hasn’t yet translated that production to the top flight. Minnesota will represent a change of scenery, so long as he can beat out Zach Bogosian, Jonathon Merrill, or Declan Chisholm for minutes.

Meanwhile, Travis Boyd will return to the minors after two scoreless games for Minnesota. He’s scored two goals and 11 points in 13 games with the Iowa Wild this season, which still stands as second on the team in scoring behind Ben Jones’ 12 points in 14 games. Boyd is a top, veteran presence for Iowa – and should return to a top role with this assignment.

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