Wild Remaining Strong | Wild Wednesday
As another week passes, the Wild (28-15-4) remain in second place in the Central division, five points behind the Winnipeg Jets (31-14-3). The Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche are starting to inch their way up in the standings with the Stars only one point behind and the Avalanche three points behind the Wild.
The Wild faced the Nashville Predators on Saturday where the team seemed to be so focused on getting revenge for the slew foot by Zachary L’Heureux that sidelined Jared Spurgeon for multiple weeks that they allowed Nashville to outplay them for the entire 60 minutes, resulting in Nashville winning 6-2. That was the Wild’s third loss in a row, but they luckily bounced back on Monday when they beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-1. They were certainly the better team all game long while still missing most of their key players and we saw players like David Jiricek and Liam Ohgren have outstanding games.
The Wild have been battling injuries amongst their top players for weeks now, but the team is expecting a couple of their returns this week, which should bring the Wild back to their winning ways.
Almost Healthy...
Both Kirill Kaprizov and Spurgeon fully returned to practice on Wednesday where they participated in line rushes. Coach John Hynes confirmed early on Wednesday that they both will be activated off of IR and return in time for Thursday night’s game against Utah.
While the Wild were managing to still win almost every game in the beginning without their superstar and top defensemen, the injuries have finally caught up to them. The Wild are now 7-5 since the first game Kaprizov missed on Friday, Dec. 27 against Dallas, and Spurgeon has missed the last nine games.
With these two back, that meant the Wild had to make some moves to open up some cap space and reassigning Jiricek to Iowa was unfortunately the only way it was going to work. Despite his tremendous play lately in the last two games where he secured two points, the team really had no other choice in sending him back down in order to free up some money. Hynes told Russo that he is extremely excited based on what he has seen from Jiricek so far, so he will certainly receive more opportunities this season to fight for a more permanent spot on the roster.
Brock Faber cleared concussion protocol and returned to the lineup on Saturday. Forward Jakub Lauko returned on Monday after missing the last 15 games. In his first game back, Colorado forward Casey Mittelstadt collided with Lauko late in the second period, which left Lauko wincing in pain.
No penalty was called on the play – shocking. Luckily, Lauko did not sustain any serious injuries and returned to the game in the third period.
According to Hynes, both Jonas Brodin and Marcus Johansson are progressing off the ice, but neither have started skating, so they will still be out for some time.
McDavid is Suspended?!
Connor McDavid let the emotions get the best of him this week by having three notably “dirty” plays on other players. The first being on our very own, Marcus Johansson, in last Wednesday’s game. When the game was tied 3-3 late in the second period, McDavid sneakily clipped Johansson in the jaw with his elbow when skating past him. At first glance, it is easy to miss, but it appears to be intentional once the play is slowed down.
The Minnesota Wild announce Marcus Johansson has an upper-body injury following this elbow from Connor McDavid 😬 pic.twitter.com/ndTtNPiiEC
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) January 16, 2025
Johansson laid on the ice, holding his head until the play was finally called dead, but there was no penalty called. According to Russo, Ek asked the referee what happened and he responded that Johansson took his own stick to the face, which clearly was not what happened based on the replay.
“If that’s Hartman or Foligno, you know what would happen,” Jake Middleton said in an interview after the game. “I don’t care if it’s the best player in the world.”
Most players would at least receive a fine after the Department of Player Safety reviewed the play, but McDavid got away with zero repercussions.
In the Oilers and Canucks game on Saturday, McDavid had two very questionable plays with the first being a spear on Canucks defenseman Filip Hronek.
No penalty was called.
With five seconds left to go in the third period and the Oilers down by a goal, Connor McDavid cross-checked Canucks forward Conor Garland in the head after they wrestled for position in front of the net.
McDavid received a match penalty, meaning he had to leave the game immediately and he would have an automatic hearing with the Department of Player Safety on Monday, where they determined he will be suspended for three games.
On Tuesday, the Oilers organization released a rather odd, and pointless statement regarding the suspension.
"The Oilers organization is disappointed and we share in our fans' frustration over the three-game suspension of our captain Connor McDavid. We support him through this process and the organization and our fans look forward to having him back in the lineup vs. Seattle next week."
This typically is not the type of statement a team would release when the suspension is warranted, especially when McDavid was involved in multiple incidents this past week.
McDavid did not appeal the suspension and he will be eligible to return to the lineup on Jan. 27.
Looking Forward
The Wild are now home for their next two games where they will face the Utah Hockey Club on Thursday and the Calgary Flames on Saturday. They will then travel to Chicago to face the Blackhawks for the fourth time this season.
The Wild are 11-10-1 at home this season, with three of those losses being lost by five or more goals. Hopefully, with a few more bodies back into the lineup, including their superstar, the Wild can start to improve that record.
Kelly Rivard
Kelly is a Minnesota native and a proud Gopher alumna who enjoys making people laugh and spending time with family. Her skills include going 5/6 on parlays, managing multiple incredibly great (fantasy) sports teams and throwing 30 mph fastballs. When she’s not at the X, Target Field or US Bank Stadium cheering on her favorite teams, you can find her pouring drinks for customers at her hometown pub.
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