Christian Dvorak Out For Season With Torn Pectoral Muscle
Canadiens forward Christian Dvorak will miss the remainder of the 2023-24 season with a torn pectoral muscle, the team announced Thursday. The injury will require surgery, which Dvorak will undergo tomorrow.
It’s another long-term injury for a Canadiens team that’s no stranger to having players out of the lineup for long stretches of the season. After leading the league in man-games lost last year, Montreal lost young top-six forward Kirby Dach to a season-ending knee injury just two games into the campaign. They’ve also been without the services of defenseman Chris Wideman for the whole season up to this point with a back injury, and Jordan Harris, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, Alex Newhook, and David Savard have all missed significant chunks of the campaign.
The Habs’ 16-16-5 record and sixth-place standing in the Atlantic Division is better than some expected, but Dvorak hasn’t been a major factor in their return to relevancy. The 27-year-old hasn’t been the bona fide second-line center the Canadiens expected to get when they acquired him from the Coyotes days before the 2021-22 season began. Dating back to his acquisition, he’s played in 145 games and notched 24 goals for the Canadiens, adding 44 assists for 68 points. That works out to a rather underwhelming points-per-game pace of 0.47.
Dvorak began this season on long-term injured reserve while he was still recovering from knee surgery that prematurely ended his 2022-23 campaign last March. After missing ten games, Dvorak returned to the lineup in early November, scoring just three times in the 25 games since. While he won nearly 60% of his draws during his stint in the lineup this year, a career-high, Dvorak’s ice time also dipped below the 16-minute average mark for the first time in five years.
Unfortunately, the writing is on the wall for his potential as an everyday top-six forward in the NHL. He last played on December 30, recording a -1 rating in a 4-1 loss to the Panthers. He missed the following two games with what the team termed an upper-body injury.
In Dvorak’s absence, the Canadiens have dressed 11 forwards and seven defensemen, though don’t expect that to continue long-term. The Canadiens will need to recall a forward from AHL Laval to fill his spot in the top nine, or just wait for the returns of Harvey-Pinard and Tanner Pearson from their respective lower-body and upper-body injuries, which are both expected before the end of the month.
If they do look to Laval for help on offense in the short term, there are a handful of young candidates who could use a two- or three-week trial. 22-year-old Swedish winger Emil Heineman could get another bump to the NHL roster after being recalled for two weeks last month, playing his first two NHL games in the process. An injury cost him a solid chunk of the early portion of the season in Laval, although he does have two goals and six points in ten games there. 2021 fifth-round pick Joshua Roy remains tied for the team lead in goals with ten through 30 games, although the team seems content to keep the 20-year-old in the minors all season to adapt to the pro game despite his strong rookie showing on the scoresheet.
Even Dvorak’s overall two-way performance in his abbreviated 2023-24 showing was cause for concern. He spent most of his time in the lineup centering Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky on the team’s top line, and while his aforementioned faceoff skills were strong, the trio’s success at controlling play was not. Out of four Montreal forward lines with more than 100 minutes together this season, the Caufield-Dvorak-Slakovsky line’s expected goal share of 44.3% ranks dead last, per MoneyPuck. When Caufield and Slafkovsky have been centered by Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki this season, meanwhile, that trio has posted an expected goals share of 60.2% – quite a notable swing for swapping out just one player.
Dvorak has not yet been returned to long-term injured reserve, but expect him to end up on IR or LTIR in the near future if the Canadiens need roster and/or salary cap space. He remains under contract through the 2024-25 season at a cap hit of $4.45MM and carries an eight-team no-trade list that kicked in at the beginning of this season, per CapFriendly.
Minnesota Wild Place Kirill Kaprizov On Injured Reserve
The Minnesota Wild have placed star winger Kirill Kaprizov on injured reserve. He joins a long list of Wild players on IR, including Filip Gustavsson – who was injured on the same night – Mats Zuccarello, Vinni Lettieri, Sam Hentges, and Jonas Brodin.
Kaprizov went down after receiving multiple cross-checks in the back from Winnipeg Jets defenseman Brenden Dillon. Dillon wasn’t penalized on the play, though Kaprizov is now labelled with a lower-body injury that will hold him out for a minimum of one week. He adds to Minnesota’s long list of injuries, that has also recently featured Marcus Foligno. It’s the beginning of what will inevitably be a difficult stretch for the Wild, now without their top two scorers in Kaprizov and Zuccarello. Kaprizov is the only player to overtake Zuccarello while the latter has sat out for the last eight games. It’s a testament to Zuccarello’s performances this year, netting 28 points in 28 games. Kaprizov has matched the point-per-game scoring, managing 34 points in 34 games.
Minnesota has lost both of their games since Kaprizov and Gustavsson went down with injury, getting outscored six-to-three. Marc-Andre Fleury served as the team’s starter in both games, backed up by Zayne McIntyre. McIntyre joined forward Nic Petan as the two players recalled in the wake of Kaprizov and Gustavsson’s injuries – though it will be interesting to see if Minnesota swaps out depth pieces now knowing that they will be without their pair of dynamic scorers for some time. Top goalie prospect Jesper Wallstedt is currently serving as the starter for Minnesota’s AHL affiliate, where his .922 save percentage across 18 games ranks fourth in the entire league. Wallstedt received an NHL call-up earlier in the season but has yet to make his NHL debut.
Minnesota Wild Place Filip Gustavsson On Injured Reserve
The Minnesota Wild have announced that netminder Filip Gustavsson has been placed on injured reserve. Gustavsson was knocked out of his last start due to a lower-body injury, and The Athletic’s Michael Russo reports that Gustavsson is set for “another MRI” tomorrow, and is expected to miss “at least a couple weeks.”
Additionally, Russo reports that superstar winger Kirill Kaprizov, who was also knocked out of the same game as Gustavsson, will be out for one to two weeks due to injury.
These two developments are significant blows to the Wild’s hopes of re-entering the Western Conference playoff picture. Although the club is 7-3 in its last 10 games and has been extremely good since hiring John Hynes, they have also lost their last two games. It’s difficult for any club to deal with the loss of its best skater and best netminder, but that’s especially true for a Wild team whose ability to build quality depth has been compromised by significant cap penalties.
The loss of Gustavsson, 25, for a potentially extended period is a massive one. Although his .903 save percentage this season is a far cry from the .931 he posted last year, he has significantly improved as the season has gone on and has seemingly recovered from a very poor start.
With Gustavsson, out, the Wild will have to turn to Marc-André Fleury and Zane McIntyre. Fleury is a legendary goalie but his .893 save percentage this season indicates that he might not be able to keep the Wild in games the same way Gustavsson has. McIntyre, 31, is an experienced third goalie but his .884 save percentage in 12 AHL contests this season suggests he could have trouble playing in the NHL on a regular basis.
It’s unlikely, given the cap constraints they are working under, that the Wild will add meaningful external help at the goalie position. Instead, the team will have to hope that getting more consistent starts, as he did earlier in his career when he was the undisputed number-one goalie for the Pittsburgh Penguins and Vegas Golden Knights, will inspire enough improvement in Fleury’s form to keep Minnesota in the playoff chase.
As for the loss of Kaprizov, the Wild gave veteran Nic Petan a shot in the team’s top-six as a replacement for Kaprizov. While Petan has excelled at the AHL level, he’s 28 years old and his 188-game NHL career suggests he should not be counted on to provide offense on any sort of consistent basis.
The Wild’s installation of Petan in Kaprizov’s place shows how the team’s lack of salary cap space directly impacts the team’s NHL options. CapFriendly projects the club to have just $40K in cap space, meaning Petan is likely on the Wild’s roster by virtue of his extremely affordable $762.5k cap hit, rather than his merits in the NHL.
Another team might have given the first crack at filling Kaprizov’s spot to a younger player such as Sammy Walker, someone who has scored in the AHL but hasn’t quite gotten a major chance to show his skills at the NHL level. But Walker’s cap hit is $855k, meaning the Wild would need to jump through quite a few more hoops to recall Walker compared to Petan.
In any case, the team’s form has been significantly improved under Hynes and those improvements should leave Wild fans confident in their team moving forward. That being said, these two injury announcements pose a significant threat to the Wild’s ability to keep pace with other Western Conference playoff hopefuls.
Ilya Samsonov Clears Waivers
01/01/24: As expected, Samsonov has cleared waivers, according to The Athletic’s Chris Johnston. As a result, he is now eligible for assignment to AHL Toronto.
12/31/23: The Toronto Maple Leafs have placed goaltender Ilya Samsonov on waivers. Samsonov’s last appearance came on December 29nd, when he allowed the Columbus Blue Jackets six goals on only 21 shots.
Samsonov’s placement on waivers was coupled with Toronto’s AHL club recalling ECHL goaltender Luke Cavallin, something that Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman thinks may be a sign that Dennis Hildeby could receive a call-up to the NHL squad should Samsonov clear waivers. Hildeby has been gaining traction in the eyes of Toronto fans, setting a 7-5-3 record and .919 save percentage in the 15 AHL games he’s appeared in this season. The Swedish goaltender is in his first full season of North American hockey, after joining the AHL’s Toronto Marlies following the end of Farjestads’ 2022-23 season in the SHL. The 22-year-old goalie was prolific in Sweden’s top league last season, setting a .918 save percentage in 21 games with the top club. The Leafs drafted Hildeby in the fourth round of the 2022 NHL Draft. Like all players after pick 54 in that draft class, Hildeby has yet to make his NHL debut – something that could change soon with this recent roster moves.
Samsonov is placed on waivers after a series of disappointing games. The 26-year-old netminder currently carries a .862 save percentage through 15 games, second-worst in the league among goalies with 15-or-more games. The only goaltender with a worse save percentage is Antti Raanta, who was similarly waived earlier in the season. Samsonov is in his second season with the Toronto Maple Leafs, going to arbitration to earn a one-year, $3.6MM contract with the team for this season.
Senators Announce Several Front Office Moves
After going with an interim GM since Pierre Dorion was let go, the Senators have their new GM in place. Instead of hiring someone else, they announced that they have lifted the interim tag from Steve Staios, officially naming him to the role of General Manager and President of Hockey Operations. Meanwhile, assistant GM Ryan Bowness has been promoted to Associate GM. The Sens have also added to its front office, appointing Dave Poulin as their Senior Vice-President of Hockey Operations.
Staios joined Ottawa earlier this season following Michael Andlauer’s purchase of the team being made official. He originally came over as their President of Hockey Operations but after the Sens lost a first-round pick for failing to disclose Evgenii Dadonov‘s no-trade clause to Vegas when they traded him there (later nixing a trade the Golden Knights made with Anaheim), Dorion was relieved of his duties with Staios adding interim GM duties to his responsibilities at the beginning of November.
During his time in that role, Staios brought in Jacques Martin as a consultant but later elevated him to interim head coach when D.J. Smith was fired. At the time, the logic made sense in that saddling a new GM with a more permanent coaching hire might not be the best course of action but now that Staios will be the chief decision maker, he can now start to assess options for who will get that opportunity down the road. The expectation is that the 71-year-old Martin will be behind the bench for the remainder of the regular season.
Bowness joined the Sens a little less than a year and a half ago after working in Pittsburgh as their Director of Professional Scouting. He is also GM of Ottawa’s AHL affiliate in Belleville, something that is likely to remain the case even as he takes on other responsibilities with his elevated title.
As for Poulin, he last worked in a front office nearly a decade ago. He had a five-year stint as Vice President of Hockey Operations from 2009 through 2014 while also being their AHL GM for two of those seasons. Since then, the long-time NHL forward has worked in the media.
TSN’s Darren Dreger notes (Twitter link) that Andlauer had sought to replicate the managerial structure that Montreal has; Andlauer had been a minority owner of the Canadiens before purchasing the Sens. While this front office isn’t now shaped exactly the same way as Montreal’s, it now has been augmented with the addition of Poulin and Bowness taking on expanded duties.
Blue Jackets Place Zach Werenski On Injured Reserve, Activate Jack Roslovic
The Blue Jackets placed defenseman Zach Werenski on injured reserve Friday, the NHL’s media site reflects. Head coach Pascal Vincent informed reporters yesterday that he’d be sidelined on a week-to-week basis with a lower-body injury. A team release distributed later Friday reflects that Werenski sustained an ankle injury and that the team has also activated forward Jack Roslovic off injured reserve.
Werenski will miss a minimum of seven days, starting from Wednesday when he sustained the injury against the Devils, but he’ll likely be sidelined for much longer given the week-to-week designation. This continues a stretch of horrid injury luck for the Blue Jackets’ top defenseman, who missed two games early this season with a quadriceps contusion and nearly all of last season with a shoulder injury.
He may have just one goal through 34 games, but Werenski has racked up 24 assists for a 0.74 points per game rate that’s the highest of his career – and on the team this season. His two-way play is also at a peak, posting a team-high +1.5 expected rating while averaging nearly 20 minutes per game at even strength and additional time on both special teams units. Simply put, the 26-year-old has been the Blue Jackets’ best player this season by a decent margin.
His absence won’t affect the Blue Jackets’ outlook this season very much, as their 11-18-7 start to the campaign has them with just a 0.6% chance of making the playoffs, per Hockey Reference. However, it is another tough blow for one of the division’s top defensemen who, at 26 years old, is beginning his prime.
If the Blue Jackets can build a playoff contender out of this current group of developing prospects, Werenski will be the leader of the core. He has four seasons remaining after this at a $9.58MM cap hit.
Roslovic will return to the lineup tonight for the first time in over six weeks. He last played on November 12 against the Rangers before sustaining an ankle fracture, resulting in a 21-game absence.
Before getting injured, the 26-year-old had eight points through 14 games. He is expected to play wing on the team’s fourth line alongside Brendan Gaunce and Alexandre Texier in tonight’s game against the Maple Leafs, the teams’ third meeting of the season.
Devils Send Akira Schmid To AHL
The Devils assigned netminder Akira Schmid to the AHL’s Utica Comets on Thursday, according to a team release.
Most expected the Devils to make a move to shake up their crease, but few expected the team to demote last year’s breakout performer between the pipes. Schmid, 23, logged a .922 SV% in 18 appearances in 2022-23, usurping Mackenzie Blackwood for the backup job behind starter Vítek Vaněček by season’s end. The Swiss goalie even stole starts from Vaněček in the postseason, starting eight of New Jersey’s 12 playoff games while recording a .921 SV% and two shutouts. It became clear by the summer that Schmid had secured the backup job behind Vaněček this season, leading the Devils to part ways with Blackwood and trade his signing rights to the Sharks.
Both Schmid and Vaněček have failed to recapture last season’s strong play, however. The Devils’ .888 team SV% is near the bottom of the league, and it’s almost singlehandedly keeping them out of a playoff spot after finishing with 112 points last season.
Even though he’s been below average, Schmid’s numbers are far superior to Vaněček’s this season. In 15 appearances (13 starts), he’s posted a .893 SV% and conceded -3.8 goals saved above average compared to Vaněček’s .885 SV% and -10.2 GSAA in 22 appearances (20 starts).
Choosing to send down the better of your two goalies will certainly raise some eyebrows, but short of trading Vaněček, it’s the only choice Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald had at his disposal to try and improve their goalie situation in the short term. Waiving Vaněček would destroy his trade value as the team continues to browse the market for upgrades, while Schmid can head to Utica without needing waivers.
Last season in Utica, Schmid went 11-7-4 with a .905 SV%, 2.62 GAA and two shutouts in 23 games as he bounced between leagues.
The team now turns to 23-year-old Nico Daws to see if he’s ready for full-time NHL play. New Jersey recalled him yesterday after he posted a 2.39 GAA and .929 SV% in three starts with Utica this month. The 2020 third-round pick missed the first two months of this season after undergoing hip surgery over the summer.
Daws has not made an NHL appearance since the end of the 2021-22 campaign when he made 25 appearances for a Devils team plagued by injuries between the pipes that season. Behind veteran Jonathan Bernier, who played ten games before sustaining a career-ending hip injury, Daws was the best of the other six goalies who suited up for the Devils that year with a 10-11-1 record and .893 SV%. Those still weren’t standout numbers for a team that had decent defensive stats, but he’ll lean on that experience now as he gets another NHL shot. He will presumably start one of the Devils’ upcoming back-to-back road games against the Senators and Bruins to wrap up 2023.
Leo Carlsson Expected To Miss 4-6 Weeks
Ducks standout rookie center Leo Carlsson is expected to miss four to six weeks with a Grade I right MCL sprain sustained Thursday against the Flames, per a team release. In more minor news, the team also announced defenseman Radko Gudas will be out for tonight’s game against the Kraken with a lower-body injury also sustained Thursday. He will be evaluated when the team returns from their holiday break.
This is positive news for the Ducks and Carlsson, who avoids what most expected to be a much more prolonged absence after Flames defenseman MacKenzie Weegar fell awkwardly on his leg in the third period of Thursday’s matchup. Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reported earlier Saturday that Carlsson’s injury was not season-ending.
Carlsson, who will turn 19 in three days, has had a promising start to his NHL career. The 6-foot-3 Swedish pivot has eight goals, seven assists and 15 points through 23 games this season, averaging over 18 minutes per game. While some criticized the Ducks for selecting Carlsson over center Adam Fantilli with the second overall pick earlier this year, they’ve put up similar stat lines to begin their NHL career and look to be in the same tier of the league’s under-20 talent.
The Ducks have taken an interesting approach to Carlsson’s development this season, scratching him on multiple occasions to avoid playing the rookie in more than two games per week, regardless of his performance. Few expected Carlsson to be NHL-ready at the beginning of the season, so after he forced his way onto the roster with a strong training camp, it makes sense the team would want to be cautious of overusing the youngster who’s used to the more abbreviated and spaced-out schedule of the Swedish Hockey League.
Carlsson frequently centered their first line with Alex Killorn and Troy Terry when in the lineup. He will be replaced in that role by Trevor Zegras, who’s returning to the lineup tonight after missing 20 games with a lower-body injury. After a drawn-out contract negotiation process last summer, Zegras was off to a sluggish start pre-injury, posting just two points in 12 games. He’ll look to hit the ground running in his return to play as the team’s de facto number-one center.
Despite the better-than-expected news on his recovery timeline, it’s still an unfortunate bump in the road for Carlsson. Many had the sense Anaheim’s load management plan for him was beginning to ease, especially given his solid possession play. He’s posted a strong 52.4% Corsi share at even strength and a +0.3 expected plus-minus rating per Hockey Reference, exceeded only by Max Jones among Ducks forwards. His eight goals are tied for fourth on the team behind Frank Vatrano (14), Mason McTavish (10) and Adam Henrique (10).
Unfortunately for Anaheim, they’re losing two of their best defensive players this season at once. It’s unclear how severe the injury Gudas suffered is, but an absence of any length is a significant blow to their new-look defense. After reaching the Stanley Cup Final with the Panthers last season and promptly signing a three-year, $12MM contract in Anaheim, the 33-year-old has been their best shutdown player.
Gudas has scored five goals and nine points through 31 games, although he’s relied upon more for his defensive acumen and physicality. He’s knocked it out of the park in both regards, posting a team-high +7 rating and 65 penalty minutes while playing second-pairing minutes.
Nolan Patrick Walks Back Reports That He’s Retired
3:00 PM: Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman has reported that Nolan Patrick has not officially retired from the NHL, despite previous reports. Friedman shared that Patrick declined to comment further.
11:00 AM: Former Flyers and Golden Knights center Nolan Patrick has officially retired from the NHL, multiple sources reported Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. The 25-year-old was an unrestricted free agent and has not played since March 2022 due to a migraine disorder. The Flyers’ 2017 second-overall pick and son of former NHL winger Steve Patrick has been hired as a skills coach by The Power Play, a hockey coaching program run by former NHL forward Jayce Hawryluk.
It’s been challenging to watch Patrick’s consistent migraine issues for all hockey fans. After a 2015-16 season in which Patrick finished fifth in WHL scoring with 41 goals, 61 assists and 102 points in 71 games with the Brandon Wheat Kings, he was viewed as the slam-dunk first-overall pick in the upcoming 2017 draft.
However, Patrick’s significant injury issues began during the 2016 WHL Playoffs. He sustained a sports hernia injury late in the postseason and, despite having prompt surgery to repair the hernia, complications would arise from the surgery early in the 2016-17 season. Those complications limited him to 33 games with Brandon that year, and although he still excelled with 20 goals and 46 points, his point-production pace took a small step backward from the year before. He also missed the chance to play for Canada in that year’s World Junior Championship, leading eventual Devils captain Nico Hischier to usurp him as the first-overall selection in 2017.
Patrick signed his entry-level contract with the Flyers promptly after the draft. However, the team quickly announced Patrick would miss their offseason development activities as he was recovering from a second abdominal surgery performed just days before the draft. Thankfully, it didn’t stop him from being a full-time player at age 19 during his rookie season with the Flyers, in which he logged 13 goals and 30 points in 73 games while averaging 13:43 per game. The season didn’t result in any Calder Trophy recognition, but it did seem like his development into a future star in Philadelphia was back on track. Unfortunately, his 73 games and 13 goals would both be career-highs.
He was able to stay the course and avoid injury issues in the 2018-19 campaign, but his point production didn’t break out like most expected. Playing in 72 games, he matched last season’s goal total and added one more assist, essentially putting up the same stat line despite an increase in ice time.
However, during the following offseason, the Flyers announced Patrick had been diagnosed with a migraine disorder, which the diagnosing physician believed to be genetic and not related to a hockey injury. While he would begin skating with the team months into the season, the COVID pandemic started shortly after that, and he could not participate in the league’s Return to Play protocol, keeping him out for the entirety of the 2019-20 campaign. That was the first of two seasons Patrick would be held out entirely due to migraine issues.
A restricted free agent after the expiration of his entry-level contract, Patrick signed a one-year qualifying offer to remain with the team and cleared medical protocols to begin the 2020-21 season on the active roster, playing his first NHL game in nearly two full calendar years. He was still feeling the effects of his migraine disorder, however, and it reflected in his performance. By any metric, Patrick was one of the worst players in the league that year, posting four goals and nine points in 52 games with a staggering -30 rating, the worst on a Flyers team that failed to make the playoffs but still finished above the .500 mark.
Logically, that season led both the Flyers and Patrick to want an amicable departure and a fresh start for the former high-flying prospect. In July 2021, the Flyers traded Patrick to the Golden Knights in the ill-fated three-way trade with the Predators that saw high-end defenseman Ryan Ellis end up with the Flyers. Ellis played just four games in a Philadelphia sweater before a poorly-handled injury to his psoas muscle ended his career.
After acquiring his signing rights, Golden Knights GM Kelly McCrimmon, who had presided over Patrick’s junior tenure in Brandon, signed him to a two-year, $2.4MM contract. With his migraine disorder still ongoing, however, Patrick would play just 25 games for Vegas in 2021-22, recording two goals and seven points while averaging 11:30 per game. He was one of many Golden Knights players who missed significant time that season, leading the franchise to miss the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.
While Patrick was under contract with Vegas last season, he remained on long-term injured reserve for the whole campaign and did not suit up in any games en route to the Golden Knights’ run to the 2023 Stanley Cup. Vegas did not tender Patrick a qualifying offer last summer, and thus, he became an unrestricted free agent. The Winnipeg-born center finishes his NHL career with 32 goals, 45 assists, 77 points, and a -36 rating across 222 games.
All of us at PHR wish Patrick health and fulfillment in his post-playing career.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Mats Zuccarello Out Week-To-Week With Upper-Body Injury
The Minnesota Wild have announced that Mats Zuccarello will miss the team’s Tuesday night game, designating him as week-to-week with an upper-body injury. The veteran forward has been a focal piece of Minnesota’s offense through the early season, currently leading the team in scoring with 28 points in 28 games.
Zuccarello is in his fifth season with Minnesota, after spending nine seasons with the New York Rangers. His 14-year NHL career comes despite the 5’8″ winger originally going undrafted. Zucarello originally signed with the Rangers following the end of the 2009-10 SHL (then the SEL) season. Zuccarello led MODO Hockey in scoring that season,
Zuccarello began his North American career at the end of the SHL’s 2009-10 season, signing as an undrafted free agent with the Rangers after leading MODO Hockey in scoring. He split the 2010-11 season between the AHL and NHL, recording 23 points in the 42 games he managed with the Rangers lineup. He again split time between the two leagues for 2011-12 and traveled to the KHL for ice time during the lockout 2012-13 season. As a result, it wasn’t until 2013-14 that Zuccarello received his first full NHL season and he made the most of it – leading the Rangers in scoring with 19 goals and 59 points in 77 games. His strong offense helped propel New York to the Stanley Cup Finals that season, with Zuccarello adding 13 points in 25 playoff games.
Extra forward Vinni Lettieri will likely slot into the lineup in the wake of Zuccarello’s injury. Lettieri has already appeared in 14 games with the Wild this season, scoring three goals and four points. Minnesota could also turn towards an AHL call-up, with minor-leaguers Nic Petan, Jujhar Khaira, and Samuel Walker all slotting into the NHL lineup at some point this season.