Latest On Minnesota Wild Injuries
March 26: The Wild returned Crotty to the minors late last night after he didn’t enter the lineup, per a team announcement.
March 25: Throughout each season, a handful of teams fall into the well of persistent injury bugs. For yet another year, the Minnesota Wild have found themselves firmly in that rut – with persistent injuries holding stars like Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek, and Jonas Brodin to fewer than 45 games each. All three options remain sidelined as April rolls around, though recent updates could see them back in the fold soon.
Minnesota recalled depth defenseman Cameron Crotty under emergency conditions on Tuesday morning. The move was made in case Brodin – who sat out of Monday night’s 3-0 loss to Dallas for rest – was unable to go once again, per Michael Russo of The Athletic. But with Tuesday’s matchup against Vegas drawing close, Russo has updated that Brodin will in fact play per head coach John Hynes. Crotty could still get a chance to go, though – as Russo has shared that Declan Chisholm is day-to-day with a lower-body injury after blocking a shot from Matt Dumba on Monday.
Assuming he’s in, Crotty will be playing in just the second NHL game of his career on Tuesday, after debuting with the Arizona Coyotes last year. The right-shot 25-year-old has managed eight assists, 47 penalty minutes, and a minus-nine in 56 AHL games this season. Those totals are a slight downtick from the 13 points he potted in 64 games of the 2022-23 season, then repeated in 55 games of the 2023-24 season.
Crotty landed as the Wild’s emergency recall after top prospect and routine middle-man David Jiricek was himself injured in the Iowa Wild’s Monday night contest. Jiricek had seven assists in 27 AHL games. No specifics have been revealed about his injury or timeline, but Russo shares that he’s expected to be out for a while. None of Minnesota’s other AHL defensemen – including Carson Lambos, David Spacek, Joseph Cecconi, and Ryan O’Rourke – have yet made their NHL debuts.
Despite the mess of news surrounding the Wild’s blue-line, they’ll enter Tuesday’s game with positive momentum. Brodin is a major addition to the lineup, and showed flashes of bouncing back to form when he recorded an assist on Saturday, playing in his first game after a month-long absence due to injury. He skated in 21 minutes of action, just shy of the 22:38 in ice time that Brodin has averaged through 39 games this season. In those minutes, he’s recorded 19 points, 14 penalty minutes, and a plus-11. Those are strong numbers that, mixed with the rookie Crotty, should help make up for the hold Chisholm leaves on Minnesota’s bottom pair. Chisholm has 12 points, 10 penalty minutes, and a minus-five in 61 games this season. He’s playing through his first full year in the NHL after marking his rookie season last year.
The Wild have more good news waiting in their wings. Russo went on to share that stars Kaprizov and Eriksson Ek are both expected to begin skating this weekend. The pair have been in-and-out of the lineup, with Kaprizov missing 21 games and Eriksson Ek missing 14 with their current injuries. It’s an understatement to say the two are crucial to the Wild lineup. They operate as clear top-line and special teams options for the club, and each average near or north of 20 minutes of ice time each game. Kaprizov led the team in scoring at the time of his injury with 23 goals and 52 points in just 37 games. That mark put him on pace for an amazing 115 points, which would have upended his career-high, and the Wild single-season scoring record, of 108 points set in the 2021-22 season. Eriksson Ek has been far more modest, with just 24 points in 42 games – though his all-three-zones impact has made his absences noticeable.
Minnesota has seen a surge from their 23-year-olds in the absence of their stars. Winger Matt Boldy now leads the team in scoring with 23 goals and 60 points on the season. Center Marco Rossi isn’t too far behind him, with 22 goals and 54 points in as many games. The pair will likely both take a hit to their ice time and special teams usage when Minnesota is back to full health, though their breakout performances are a clear indication of what’s soon to come for the Wild.
Wild Reassign David Jiříček, Jonas Brodin Likely To Return
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.
Morning Notes: Gritsyuk, Jiříček, Front Office App
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 David Jiricek, Reassign Two
The Minnesota Wild have recalled defenseman David Jiricek and reassigned forwards Marat Khusnutdinov and Liam Ohgren. The moves clear space for winger Gustav Nyquist, who Minnesota acquired from the Nashville Predators for a second-round pick on Saturday morning.
Jiricek’s recall comes after news that both Zach Bogosian and Jonas Brodin are banged up. Bogosian sat out of Minnesota’s Friday game with a lower-body injury, per NHL.com’s Joe Smith. Brodin played just 15:47 of the outing, and his availability remains up in the air per Michael Russo of The Athletic.
Jiricek will be the beneficiary of any open minutes, after he recorded his first point in seven AHL games on Friday. He’s struggled to find a consistent rut in the Wild organization, with two points in six NHL games and six points in 26 AHL games. The Wild acquired Jiricek from the Columbus Blue Jackets on November 30th, sending Daemon Hunt and three draft picks the other way. Jiricek is in his third season in North America, and his cold scoring has dragged through every year. He has 66 points in 114 career AHL games, and 13 points in 59 NHL games.
The Wild’s swap of forwards in this mix might not sway their scoring a ton. Ohgren and Khusnutdinov have combined for just four points across their last 10 games. Ohgren has often served as Minnesota’s extra forward, with just four points in 23 games this season. Khusnutdinov has served a hardier role as the fourth-line center, but has just seven points in 57 games. Nyquist has confidently outscored both youngster in his time with Nashville – netting 21 points in 57 games – but he’s managed just one assist in his last 10 NHL games.
Nyquist had a stint with the Wild during the 2022-23 season as well. He scored five points in three games on that stint, but an upper-body injury kept him from stepping into the lineup more before hitting unrestricted free agency. With these moves, Minnesota has carved out the lineup spot needed to give Nyquist a truer look this time around.
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 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.
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.
Wild Recall Cameron Crotty, Reassign David Jiříček
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.
Central Notes: Montgomery, Jiříček, Hall
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,
West Notes: Avalanche, Wild, Ehlers
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.