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Daemon Hunt

Wild Activate Jared Spurgeon, Send Daemon Hunt To AHL

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4:10 PM: Minnesota Wild head coach Dean Evason announced that Spurgeon will, indeed, play in the team’s Friday night outing.

4:00 PM: The Minnesota Wild have activated team captain Jared Spurgeon from long-term injured reserve and sent Daemon Hunt to the minor leagues. Spurgeon has been on injured reserve for the entirety of the early season, battling an upper-body injury.

Getting Spurgeon back is a tremendous boost to a Wild lineup that’s struggled to get on the right side of the win column. The team currently has a 5-6-2 record through 13 games, ranking them sixth in the Central Division. But now they get back a pillar of their lineup in Spurgeon, who has averaged over 21 minutes of ice time for the club in every season since 2011-12. He scored 11 goals and 34 points last season, taking a slight step down from the 40 points he managed in the 2021-22 campaign.

Daemon Hunt appeared in his first five NHL games while helping to fill in for Spurgeon. He wasn’t able to net his first NHL box stat though, going without a point, penalty, or change in his +/-. He’ll return to the AHL’s Iowa Wild, where he’s already played four games this season – failing to record a point in those games as well, although he did record seven penalty minutes and a -3.

With the news of his Friday return, Spurgeon will have missed 12 games to start the season. The 33-year-old defenseman will have the potential to play in, at most, 69 games this season. The team captain is chasing his 400th NHL point, currently sitting 21 points back from the milestone

Minnesota Wild Recall Daemon Hunt

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The Minnesota Wild have once again recalled Daemon Hunt to the NHL, in advance of a two-game homestand. Hunt has already been recalled once this season, playing in his first two NHL games before being sent back down to the minors on October 30th.

Hunt has emerged as a strong prospect for the Wild, after being drafted 65th overall in the 2020 NHL Draft. He made his professional debut during the 2020-21 season, playing in six AHL games thanks to an awkward Covid season, but his rookie AHL season didn’t come until 2022-23. Hunt played in 59 games last year, scoring 11 points and recording 14 penalty minutes. It was a relatively low-event year for the left defender, something that he’s continued into this season as he currently sits without a point through 4 AHL games and 2 NHL games.

But Hunt’s impact has never come on the offensive side of the puck. Instead, he’s a stout defender who uses great mobility to close gaps with puck handlers and force opponents to make decisions. Hunt said himself, “I think I’m at my best when I’m defending really hard — good gaps, good sticks, good box outs. I think just being really reliable, too.”

The Wild are turning to Hunt to operate as their seventh defenseman, with captain Jared Spurgeon and veteran Alex Goligoski both out with injuries. Spurgeon has returned to practice but won’t be eligible to return until at least November 7th, while Goligoski is on injured reserve with a lower-body injury. Both Hunt and Dakota Mermis have earned NHL games in the wake of these injuries, with Mermis scoring four points in seven games this season.

Wild Assign Daemon Hunt, Jujhar Khaira To AHL

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The Wild have assigned defenseman Daemon Hunt and forward Jujhar Khaira to AHL Iowa after recalling both last week, a team release states.

Hunt and Khaira were called up to the NHL roster before last week’s road trip thanks to injuries affecting all positions. Hunt was a precautionary recall to have an extra defenseman around on the road trip, something that ended up paying dividends as he appeared in his first two NHL games, averaging a minute 4:52 per game. Khaira, 29, made just one appearance in lieu of injured forward Frédérick Gaudreau, logging 8:05.

The Wild, coming off a 4-3 loss to the Devils yesterday, do not play again until Thursday. The move allows the Wild to bank some cap space by staying out of LTIR and remaining cap-compliant. Both players could very well stay in the minors if one or both of Gaudreau and Matt Boldy are ready to return from their respective injuries later in the week.

While Hunt will not require waivers to return to AHL Iowa this season, Khaira will require waivers after he plays in ten NHL games and remains on the NHL roster for 30 days after clearing waivers preseason. Papering him down even if he requires an eventual recall does carry added benefit in that department.

Wild Recall Daemon Hunt

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The Minnesota Wild have recalled defenseman Daemon Hunt from AHL Iowa, per a team announcement. The transaction comes after head coach Dean Evason told reporters Monday, including The Athletic’s Michael Russo, that the team would recall a player from the minors in advance of their three-game Eastern swing that begins Thursday. It was likely to be a defender, with Jonathon Merrill banged up and taking a maintenance day today, although Evason believes the veteran will be able to play in tomorrow’s home game against Edmonton.

Hunt, 21, would make his NHL debut if he draws into the lineup in the coming days. Drafted as a physically inclined two-way defender, Hunt has yet to record a point in four games with Iowa this season and notched two goals and 11 points in 59 games with them last season, his first campaign in the pros. Selected in the third round of the 2020 NHL Draft, Hunt served as the captain for the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons before turning pro with the Wild.

It’s unlikely to be a lengthy stay on the active roster for Hunt, although roster flexibility is something the Wild desperately need right now, with no healthy extras available to them prior to the recall. Defenseman Alex Goligoski was moved to LTIR last week to create cap space. For now, Minnesota will carry 12 healthy forwards and seven defensemen, the former of which will increase to 13 once winger Matt Boldy is ready to return. Listed as week-to-week with an upper-body injury sustained on October 15, Boldy will travel with the Wild on the road trip but will not play Tuesday against the Oilers.

Injury Notes: Vasilevskiy, Luff, Hunt, van Riemsdyk

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The Tampa Bay Lightning are without all-world netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy as the preseason schedule begins. Head coach Jon Cooper informed reporters today, including Diandra Loux of The Hockey News, that the 2021 Conn Smythe winner is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury.

“He’s wrestling with some things right now, physically,” Cooper said. “It’s early in training camp, so we don’t need to rush anything along with him. When he’s ready to go, he’ll be out there.” Vasilevskiy missing any time would certainly throw a wrench into Tampa Bay’s season, although it thankfully appears that won’t be the case. With salary cap constraints in full force, the team has quite thin goaltending depth and is opting to go with unproven Jonas Johansson as Vasilevskiy’s full-time backup, meaning his workload is in line to be as high as ever. Vasilevskiy didn’t miss any time last season due to injury, but he certainly didn’t look himself in the team’s first-round playoff loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. It was the worst playoff performance of his career save for 2019’s upset loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets, posting a .875 save percentage and conceding 5.4 goals above average over the course of six games.

Elsewhere in injury notes from around the league with preseason games underway this afternoon:

  • Detroit Red Wings depth forward Matt Luff left today’s intrasquad scrimmage with a right arm injury after crashing into the boards, reports The Detroit News’ Ted Kulfan. The 26-year-old right wing didn’t crack Detroit’s roster out of camp last season but was recalled after a few weeks, getting into a handful of games before sustaining a wrist injury that sidelined him for 32 games. The undrafted free agent has largely been a fringe player throughout the course of his career, often splitting time between the majors and the minors, and this season is expected to be no different. He was extremely productive in the AHL with Grand Rapids last season when healthy, recording eight goals, 17 assists and 25 points in 28 games. Set to be a restricted free agent this summer, Detroit did not issue him a qualifying offer but re-signed him before free agency opened on July 1 anyway to a league-minimum two-way deal carrying a $450K guarantee.
  • Minnesota Wild defense prospect Daemon Hunt left today’s clash against the Colorado Avalanche and has not returned with a prospective upper-body injury. As The Athletic’s Peter Baugh notes, Hunt hit the ice after an accidental collision behind the net with Avalanche forward Tanner Kero. The 65th overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, Hunt is a promising two-way defense prospect entering his second pro season with AHL Iowa. The 21-year-old recorded two goals, nine assists, 11 points, and a +2 rating in 59 contests with Iowa last season after captaining the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors from 2020 to 2022.
  • Washington Capitals head coach told reporters, including Monumental Sports Network’s Matt Weyrich, that he’s “concerned” about the status of defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk. The veteran right-shot defender left today’s preseason game against the Buffalo Sabres and did not return after a shot from Sabres forward Jordan Greenway struck him in the right wrist area. Van Riemsdyk will undergo further testing tomorrow to determine the severity of the injury and a potential recovery timeline. The 32-year-old is entering the first season of a three-year, $9MM extension he signed last March and is expected to start the season on the team’s third pairing alongside offseason trade acquisition Joel Edmundson.

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