Minnesota Wild Reassign David Jiříček
Given that the Minnesota Wild are expected to activate forward Kirill Kaprizov and defenseman Jared Spurgeon before tomorrow’s game against the Utah Hockey Club, at least one player needed to come off the roster. According to a team announcement, the player in question will be defenseman David Jiříček, who the team has reassigned to their AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild.
It was difficult to ascertain any concrete expectations for Jiříček in his first real go-around with the Wild. Although he had been on the NHL roster after the team acquired him from the Columbus Blue Jackets, he had only participated in practice.
Once the team originally sent him to AHL Iowa, he was expected to continue or improve upon his nine-goal, 22-point effort in 33 games he had achieved from the start of the 2023-24 season with the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters. Instead, Jiříček fell short of those expectations, tallying only two assists in his first 11 games.
The Wild recalled Jiříček on January 8th to replace the injured Spurgeon but he produced many of the same results. Jiříček went scoreless over the first four games of the call-up averaging 12:56 of ice time per game.
Still, Jiříček was determined not to leave the Wild with a bad taste in their mouth, showing flashes of exactly why he was drafted with the sixth overall selection of the 2022 NHL Draft. In two games against the Nashville Predators and Colorado Avalanche, Jiříček scored one goal and one assist with a +2 rating averaging 13:16 of ice time.
It was readily apparent that Jiříček had more confidence with the puck and was more engaged in the action because of it. As he heads back to Des Moines, IA to continue his development with the Wild’s AHL affiliate, the team can only hope he brings that same confidence to his AHL contests.
Wild Reassign Brendan Gaunce
The Wild have multiple impact players nearing injured reserve activations, and the team announced they’ve opened a second roster spot today by reassigning center Brendan Gaunce to AHL Iowa.
Gaunce, 30, was a highly-touted prospect with the Canucks in the early days of his career but has since become a depth journeyman. He’s only landed full-time NHL work on rare occasions and has seen AHL time in each of his professional seasons spent in North America. He’s been productive in the minors in recent years, hovering near a point per game there while in the Blue Jackets organization from 2021 to 2024, leading to a two-year, two-way commitment from Minnesota in free agency last offseason. In addition to recording 39 points in 46 games while serving as Cleveland’s captain in 2023-24, he posted a pair of goals and assists in 24 NHL games for Columbus.
The 2024-25 season has once again been kind to Gaunce in the minors but not in his brief NHL action. He’s slotted in five times for the Wild this season amid injuries to their forward group, but none since his most recent recall on Friday. He’s gone without a point while posting a minus-three rating, averaging under 10 minutes per game, and winning 41.7% of his draws. He’s demonstrated a lack of physical play for his 6’3″, 219-lb frame, only recording six hits after averaging more than two per game in Columbus last year. His even-strength possession play has also been ghastly – opponents have out-attempted the Wild 63-26 with Gaunce on the ice at even strength this season.
Nonetheless, he’s been up to his usual tricks in Iowa, where he’s spent most of the season after clearing waivers during training camp. He’s among the team’s top three scorers with 12 goals and 10 assists for 22 points in 26 games. He doesn’t need waivers for today’s demotion since he’s spent less than 30 cumulative days on the Wild’s active roster since clearing waivers on Oct. 1 and played fewer than 10 NHL games.
In the meantime, the Wild now have the roster space to activate two of Jonas Brodin, Marcus Johansson, Kirill Kaprizov, and Jared Spurgeon before Thursday’s home tilt against Utah. Reassigning Gaunce also gets Minnesota out of using their LTIR pool, solely consisting of Kaprizov, to stay cap-compliant, so there won’t be additional maneuvering required to activate the superstar winger.
Wild Return Dylan Ferguson From Emergency Recall, Place Jonas Brodin On IR
Jan 19th: The Wild organization announced they’ve reassigned Ferguson to AHL Iowa from his emergency recall. The transaction indicates Gustavsson has recovered from his illness and will be an option against the Colorado Avalanche tomorrow afternoon.
Jan 18th: With Filip Gustavsson expected to be unavailable for tonight’s game against Nashville due to illness, the Wild needed to add another netminder. They’ve made that move, announcing the recall of Dylan Ferguson from AHL Iowa on an emergency basis. To make room on the roster, defenseman Jonas Brodin was placed on injured reserve.
After spending last season in the KHL, Ferguson returned to North America on a minor league deal with Iowa before being converted to a two-way NHL deal earlier this month. The 26-year-old has played in nine games in the AHL this season, putting up a 3.70 GAA and a .881 SV%. Ferguson has just three career NHL appearances, one coming as a junior-aged player with Vegas and two with Ottawa back in 2023.
As for Brodin, he has missed the last week and a half with a lower-body injury. Assuming his IR placement was backdated, he’ll have already missed the required seven days and will be eligible to be activated as soon as he’s cleared to return. The veteran has 16 points and 67 blocks in 31 games this season, putting him on pace for one of his best offensive outputs.
The team also noted that David Jiricek’s recall has been converted from an emergency one to a regular recall. He was brought up when Brodin was injured and this is simply a procedural move based on Brodin’s IR placement and the expected return of Brock Faber.
Latest On The Wild’s Injuries
The Wild have not had a pleasant past few weeks. They haven’t had a fully healthy lineup since Nov. 10, and injuries have really come to the forefront recently. Cap restrictions forced them to transfer star winger Kirill Kaprizov to long-term injured reserve yesterday.
Things are beginning to turn around, albeit slowly. Top defenseman Brock Faber is expected to return to the lineup tomorrow in Nashville after missing four games with an upper-body injury, head coach John Hynes told NHL.com’s Jessi Pierce. He also confirmed that winger Jakub Lauko will play after being previously activated from LTIR on Thursday.
They’ll still remain without Kaprizov for their next two games, though, as neither he nor captain Jared Spurgeon will make their brief Central Division road trip, Hynes added. Kaprizov is eligible to come back off LTIR at any time after already missing the required time with his lower-body injury, while Spurgeon remains sidelined due to the lower-body injury he sustained on a slew foot from Predators forward Zachary L’Heureux on New Year’s Eve.
Stalwart defender Jonas Brodin is also staying home while he continues to nurse a lower-body injury and Marcus Johansson is unavailable after his recent concussion landed him on IR yesterday, so that makes four roster regulars, and impactful ones at that, sidelined for at least Minnesota’s next two games. All of their roster maneuvering allowed the club to recall forwards Brendan Gaunce, Liam Ohgren, and Devin Shore from AHL Iowa over the past 24 hours, per PuckPedia, who detailed how the order in which those transactions were executed affected their delicate salary cap situation. After the moves, they’re back to having ample breathing room with $7.45MM in their LTIR pool, although they’ll need to figure out how to reinstate Kaprizov when he’s ready to come back in the next week or so.
While the Wild have understandably dropped three of their last four games, they’re still in a battle for second in the Central Division with a 27-14-4 record. They’re a virtual playoff lock at a 96.5% chance and still have a 9.7% chance of winning their second division title in franchise history, per Hockey Reference.
While Gaunce, Ohgren and Shore bring a decent mix of veteran professional experience and, in Ohgren’s case, long-term top-six upside, they’ve combined for just one assist in 38 appearances this season. Each has averaged under 10 minutes per game and posted ghastly possession numbers, particularly in Gaunce’s case with a 29.2 CF% at even strength in five showings.
Wild Place Kirill Kaprizov On LTIR, Marcus Johansson On IR
5:30 PM: Minnesota has additionally placed Kirill Kaprizov on retroactive long-term injured reserve. He will be eligible to return as soon as he’s back to full health. In addition, Minnesota has recalled forwards Liam Ohgren and Brendan Gaunce – bringing them to a full roster ahead of Saturday’s game against Nashville.
4:00 PM: The Minnesota Wild have placed forward Marcus Johansson on injured reserve with an upper-body injury believed to be a concussion, per Michael Russo of The Athletic. Johansson suffered the injury when Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid discretely elbowed him in the head in the two sides’ Wednesday night matchup. The infraction did not result in a penalty during the game, nor any response from NHL Player Safety afterward. Johansson was helped off the ice following the hit, ending his night late in the second period. Tensions flared in response to the incident, not helped along by the fact that referee Chris Lee told Minnesota’s Joel Eriksson Ek – who didn’t see the initial hit – that Johansson struck himself in the face with his own stick, per Dylan Loucks of The Hockey News.
Johansson will now head to IR for the first time this season. He’s been one of the few regulars in Minnesota’s injury-strewn year, and even then still missed one of the team’s 45 games this season with an upper-body injury in October. Consistency hasn’t meant high scoring for Johansson, who sits with just five goals and 16 points on the season. That puts him on pace for 30 points through 82 games this season, which would tie Johansson’s scoring total from last year. Johansson has continued to fill a serviceable middle-six role for the Wild, averaging just under 16 minutes of ice time.
This will be yet another injury for the Minnesota Wild to bear through. They’re already missing a chunk of the top of their lineup, including going without Kirill Kaprizov, Jared Spurgeon, Jonas Brodin, and Brock Faber for at least the last four games. Their silver lining is the return of winger Jakub Lauko, who was activated off of long-term injured reserve earlier on Thursday after missing Minnesota’s last 15 games with a lower-body injury. Lauko’s injury, suffered on December 15th, came just over a week after he was activated off of IR from a previous injury, which had him on the shelf from November 26th to December 9th.
Lauko has only appeared in 24 games this season as a result of the back-to-back injuries. He has two goals, six points, and 16 penalty minutes in that span – continuing his lack of scoring from his 10-point season last year. He’s been a true fourth-line forward for the Wild, but might be called upon to help support the middle-six in Johansson’s absence.
After Johansson’s IR placement, Minnesota will move forward down two forwards. The Athletic’s Russo shares that he’s expecting the team to make a call-up in response, but their cap situation will make even that process stressful. Russo points out that Minnesota would exceed the salary cap by recalling two forwards, and may need to retroactively place Kaprizov on LTIR to open their finances. Minnesota could also turn towards an emergency call-up, but would first need to play a game without a full roster. The former option certainly seems more feasible, with Minnesota then likely to turn towards their cheaper options in the minor leagues. Travis Boyd, Ben Jones, Michael Milne, Brendan Gaunce, and Devin Shore all carry league-minimum ($775K) cap hits and have been previously called up at some point this season. They could make up the list of top options this week, while players like Liam Ohgren and Riley Heidt will be pricier, but more high-upside, bets.
Minnesota’s next game will come on Saturday, when they travel to Nashville to take on the struggling Predators. The Wild have set a 2-3-0 in their last five games while grappling with major injuries.
Wild Activate Jakub Lauko From Long-Term Injured Reserve
The Wild are getting at least one piece of their forward lineup back this weekend against the Predators. The team announced they’ve activated winger Jakub Lauko off long-term injured reserve, assigning forwards Ben Jones and Devin Shore to AHL Iowa in corresponding transactions after they cleared waivers earlier in the week.
Lauko, 24, has been out of action for most of the past two months with a lower-body injury, believed to be a muscle strain in his groin. The Czech depth forward initially exited the lineup in late November and missed six games before returning. That stint in the lineup was short-lived, skating in three games before reaggravating the issue and landing on the shelf again. He last appeared on Dec. 14 against the Flyers.
Lauko missed 21 games overall due to the issue. He hasn’t significantly impacted the lineup, posting four points and a minus-six rating in 24 appearances while averaging 10 minutes per game. Yet that’s still a considerable upgrade from the poor possession play and non-existent point production both Jones and Shore were providing. His return should boost the Wild’s fourth line as the club looks to get out of a brief 1-3-0 skid.
Whether they’ll be able to ice a full fourth line against Nashville in two days is a different question. They’re down to exactly $775K in cap space after the activation and reassignments, only permitting the recall of one league-minimum salary for the game. Kirill Kaprizov isn’t expected to be ready to come off injured reserve, and Marcus Johansson is now expected to miss time after taking an elbow from Oilers superstar Connor McDavid in last night’s loss, head coach John Hynes told Jessi Pierce of NHL.com. That would mean they’d be playing a forward short, even with a recall.
They could end up with 18 skaters if star defender Brock Faber is ready to return from an upper-body injury or if they retroactively move Kaprizov to LTIR to free up cap space for an additional recall. The latter is doable, as he’s already missed the 24 days and 10 games required for an LTIR placement, so he’d be eligible to come off anytime.
Regardless, the versatile and energetic Lauko now gets a chance to jumpstart his game. Acquired from the Bruins for Vinni Lettieri last summer, he has eight goals and 21 points in 107 NHL games dating back to his debut with Boston in the 2022-23 campaign.
Wild’s Ben Jones, Devin Shore Clear Waivers
Jan. 14: Jones and Shore cleared waivers, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. Minnesota can now assign them to Iowa at will, although they haven’t done so yet.
Jan. 13: The Wild have placed forwards Ben Jones and Devin Shore on waivers with the intent to assign them to AHL Iowa, the team announced.
It’s good news for the Wild, who are likely freeing up roster space to activate star winger Kirill Kaprizov from injured reserve and depth piece Jakub Lauko from LTIR ahead of Wednesday’s matchup against the Oilers. Kaprizov has been skating on his own for the past few days, and general manager Bill Guerin told Michael Russo of The Athletic on Sunday that he was a possibility to play against Edmonton. Lauko has also been skating away from the team as he rehabilitates a lower-body muscle issue, Guerin said.
Jones and Shore have been on the Wild roster for the better part of the past two months, playing fill-in duty with Joel Eriksson Ek, Yakov Trenin and Mats Zuccarello all missing significant chunks of the schedule in addition to Kaprizov and Lauko. Both cleared waivers en route to beginning the season in Iowa, although Shore was also waived last month to give Minnesota roster and salary cap flexibility around the holiday break.
Those injuries have allowed Jones to become something of a fourth-line fixture in the second quarter of the season, but that experiment hasn’t gone particularly well. The 25-year-old had only two games of NHL experience prior to his November call-up, and that’s shown in his play.
Through 25 appearances, Jones has yet to get on the scoresheet and has a minus-three rating with 10 PIMs. He’s averaged just 8:29 per game and has posted gnarly possession numbers, only controlling 39.9% of shot attempts at even strength. He’s been a physical factor, posting 11 blocks and 49 hits, but hasn’t shown upside elsewhere in his game.
The former seventh-round pick of the Golden Knights will return to a more comfortable role on the farm, where he had 12 points in 14 games with Iowa in the early going. The 6’0″, 187-lb pivot is coming off a 21-goal season with the Calgary Wranglers while under contract with the Flames, the second time in his professional career that he’s hit 20 goals in an AHL season.
Shore, the far more experienced of the duo, hasn’t been much better. He’s got one assist and a minus-four mark through 24 appearances, averaging 8:18 as Minnesota’s usual fourth-line left wing over the past couple of months.
Now in his 10th NHL season, Shore has 140 points in 467 career games but hasn’t hit double-digit points in a season since recording 11 in 49 games with the Oilers in 2021-22. He began the season as an alternate captain in Iowa, posting a pair of goals and eight assists for 10 points through 14 games.
Both may remain on the NHL roster if they clear waivers and Kaprizov and Lauko aren’t yet ready to return, but if they’re sent down within 30 days and play fewer than 10 games, they won’t need waivers again upon doing so.
Kaprizov Skating, Could Travel On Upcoming Road Trip
There has been plenty of speculation in recent weeks about whether the Islanders might consider moving veterans Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri by the March 7th trade deadline. However, speaking with reporters today including Newsday’s Andrew Gross, GM Lou Lamoriello indicated that the concept is “not even a thought in my mind right now”. Both players are pending unrestricted free agents and New York went into today’s action in last in the Metropolitan Division, only two points up on Buffalo who sat last in the Eastern Conference coming into tonight. That said, the second Wild Card spot is still within striking distance so don’t expect Lamoriello to even consider selling for a while yet.
- While the Wild were once again without top winger Kirill Kaprizov tonight, a return could be on the horizon. Michael Russo of The Athletic relays (Twitter link) that Kaprizov has skated for the last two days and that there’s a chance he will travel with the team for their upcoming two-game road trip if there’s a possibility he can play in one of the games. The 27-year-old was off to a flying start before sustaining a lower-body injury that has kept him out since the holiday break. Kaprizov has 23 goals and 27 assists in 34 games so far, good for ninth in league scoring despite being out for more than two weeks now.
Minnesota Wild Recall David Jiříček
Jan. 9: Shore is back up to the NHL today, Michael Russo of The Athletic reports. His reassignment was part of optimizing the Wild’s cap space when transferring Jakub Lauko to long-term injured reserve yesterday. Shore is expected to play against the Avalanche on Thursday.
Jan. 8: The injury bug continues to affect the names and faces on the blue line for the Minnesota Wild. In another roster move to bring a defenseman to the NHL level, the Wild announced they’ve recalled defenseman David Jiříček to the active roster and sent forward Devin Shore to their AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild.
The need for another defenseman was created last night when Brock Faber left the game due to an upper-body injury. Given that defensive prospect Carson Lambos was already filling in as a depth defenseman for the injured Jared Spurgeon, one of Lambos or Jiříček is expected to debut with the Wild tomorrow night against the Colorado Avalanche.
It’s more insult to injury for a Minnesota roster that has struggled through injuries this season. In just over a week, they’ve lost two out of their top three defensemen to injury and will have to navigate their upcoming schedule with a diminished blue line. Still, the Wild remain undefeated in the new year and are 6-4-0 in their last 10 contests.
Given that Jiříček is one of two healthy right-handed shooting defensemen on the roster he’ll likely get the nod over Lambos in tomorrow’s game. Still, it could be a toss-up between the two blue liners given their play in the AHL this season.
Before being acquired by the Wild from the Columbus Blue Jackets in one of this season’s biggest trades, Jiříček scored two goals and three points in four games for the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters one year after registering seven goals and 19 points in 29 games with the same team.
His time in Iowa has not been as fruitful. Jiříček has only tallied two assists in 11 games with the AHL Wild. It’s likely more of a testament to Iowa’s playstyle rather than a step backward in Jiříček’s development given the team only has one defenseman with 10 or more points this year.
Returning to the AHL is Shore, who has been a bright spot for Iowa this year. He’s scored two goals and 10 points in 14 games as an assistant captain for AHL Iowa while tallying one assist in 21 games in Minnesota averaging 8:21 of ice time per game.
Lauko Moved To LTIR
- The Wild announced (Twitter link) that they have placed winger Jakub Lauko on LTIR retroactive to December 14th. The move comes just one day after they exited LTIR with the activation of Jacob Middleton. PuckPedia notes (Twitter link) that today’s recall of David Jiricek allowed them to get his bonuses into their LTIR pool which could be useful if Lauko’s stint on LTIR is a lengthy one. The bonuses would stay in their pool even if Jiricek is subsequently reassigned to the minors again. Lauko has four points and 48 hits in 24 games while averaging ten minutes a night of playing time.