Wild coach provides disappointing Mats Zuccarello injury timeline
Yesterday at 11:14 AM
The Minnesota Wild lost both Joel Eriksson Ek and Mats Zuccarello to injury in a 3-0 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night, and although the former is day-to-day and could play this weekend, the latter will be out quite a while longer.
Zuccarello was placed on injured reserve on Friday after undergoing surgery for a lower-body injury sustained in the cross-conference win, according to NHL.com’s Jessi Pierce.
“I don't know for sure how long Zuccarello will be out,” Wild head coach John Hynes told Pierce. “I would probably say 3-4 weeks, maybe.”
The 37-year-old left the game midway through the first period after being hit in the stomach by a Brock Faber shot. He’s officially been labeled as week-to-week.
Zuccarello has been one of Minnesota’s most productive players through 16 games, managing six goals and 14 points in that span. He continues to build chemistry with superstar Kirill Kaprizov, who has been putting together a Hart Trophy case in the early going with 10 goals and 30 points of his own.
In the absence of the Norwegian veteran, the Wild could shift Matt Boldy to the top line alongside Kaprizov and Marco Rossi. Boldy has also been exceptional in 2024-25, amassing 10 goals and 17 points in 16 games. It also opens up a spot on the top powerplay unit, which could be filled by Rossi, Marcus Johansson or Ryan Hartman.
Despite the injury bug beginning to hit, the Wild continue to surge this season. The squad is up to 11-2-3, good for second place in the Central Division ahead of a clash with the Dallas Stars at Xcel Energy Center on Saturday night.
Wild are rolling in 2024-25
With Kaprizov leading the charge up front and Filip Gustavsson in the midst of a renaissance between the pipes, the Wild are looking like one of the teams to beat in the Western Conference.
With six wins in their last eight games, the phenomenal start in Saint Paul continues. After missing the postseason altogether in 2023-24, it’s looking like Minnesota will surely return to the dance next spring.
And both Eriksson Ek and Jonas Brodin — the defenseman missed Thursday’s game — could return to the lineup as soon as Saturday night’s tilt.
“Neither one of them is ruled out for [Saturday],” Hynes confirmed, per Pierce. “But right now, they are truly day to day.”
Hynes said the Wild will probably recall a forward from AHL Iowa before the divisional clash, and he’ll be hoping for a similar effort that he got from his club against the Habs on Thursday.
"I thought the effort was really good," Hynes said. "I thought we had a really good start to the game as well. Both teams looked like they were ready to play. … We defended hard when we had to. I thought the third period we regathered ourselves with our puck management."
Puck is set to drop between the Wild and Stars just past 8:00 p.m. ET on Saturday night.
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