Is The Wild’s Cushion Big Enough? | Wild Wednesday
Is The Wild’s Cushion Big Enough?
With only 24 games left to be played, the Wild (34-20-4) currently sit in third place with 72 points in the Central division. They are four points behind Dallas and 13 behind Winnipeg who are on a 10-game winning streak. The Wild’s cushion over 9th place Vancouver is down to nine points with Calgary and Colorado currently holding the two Wild Card slots.
The Wild’s first game after the Four Nations Tournament on Saturday was an exciting one where they came back from a two-goal deficit late in the third period and eventually won in overtime against Detroit. The Red Wings response was to do the exact same in Tuesday’s game where they came back and won 3-2 in regulation after the Wild had a two-goal lead after the first period. It is a shame this game got away from the Wild as they held the hot and explosive Red Wings to just 16 shots the entire game. In fact, Detroit only had nine shots after the first period when trailing by two, but scored three goals on their final seven shots of the night.
With a game like that slipping away from the Wild, it is going to come down to the wire on who makes the playoffs, and it just became a whole lot harder for them due to another detrimental injury – Joel Eriksson Ek.
When Will it Stop?
It is speculated that Ek may have re-injured his lower-body injury from earlier this season during the 4 Nations tournament, but he played through it in Saturday’s game against Detroit and it did not become a real issue until after Monday’s practice. According to coach John Hynes, nothing really stood out at practice that would have caused an injury, but Russo reported on X that it is a broken bone and it is going to sideline him for multiple weeks. If he in fact did get injured during the tournament like it is speculated, that is another player added to a hefty list of players that potentially suffered season-ending injuries. Florida’s Matthew Tkachuk, Boston’s Charlie McAvoy and Vegas’ Shea Theodore were all injured during the tournament. So, although the 4 Nations was great entertainment, was it worth it?
Nonetheless, a loss like this at this point in the season is devastating for the already banged-up Wild, which includes star left-winger, Kirill Kaprizov.
Bill Guerin announced on Friday that Kaprizov is going to be out longer than expected after undergoing a surgery on Jan. 31 to address a lower-body injury that originally projected him to be out for 4-6 weeks.
“He’s just recovering right now, and we’ll see how it turns out, but he’s going to be a little longer than we expected,” Guerin said on KFAN radio. “And what that does with our (salary) cap situation? I don’t know because when he’s healthy, we’ll put him back in. If he’s not, then we won’t”
Wild fans have every right to be frustrated with the lack of clarity on Kaprizov’s status that stems all the way back to the first game he missed on Dec. 27 and when he was originally listed as day-to-day for weeks. Kaprizov still leads the Wild with 52 points (23 goals, 29 assists) and was on track for a record-breaking season, so Kaprizov is just as upset as the fans.
“He’s frustrated, and I don’t blame him either,” Guerin said. “The start he had, he was taking the League by storm and then you get this injury that sets you back and takes you out. He was having a Hart Trophy-type season and I’d be frustrated too. But we’re just trying to keep him busy and helping him out as much as we can, but he’s frustrated.”
The Wild are also without forward Ryan Hartman due to an original 10-game suspension for roughing Senators forward Tim Stutzle, but his suspension was reduced to eight games on Monday. Hartman is now available to return on Mar. 4 against the Seattle Kraken.
With both Kaprizov and Ek being out for the unforeseeable future, this makes the Wild’s decisions for the Mar. 7 trade deadline much more difficult. Without Ek, the Wild desperately need a center and players like Brock Nelson, Dylan Cozens and Scott Laughton will all be up for grabs, but that poses the question on if the Wild want to trade assets to get one of them now or wait until the offseason for when they could practically get one of them for free. A lot of this depends on whether Kaprizov or Ek will be back before the end of the regular season, so they desperately need more clarity on their timelines before the deadline strikes. If only one of them is able to return in time, they would still be able to afford one of these centers as long as they make use of the LTIR to free up cap space.
And remember, there is no salary cap in the postseason...
Looking Forward
The Wild are now are on the road for the next four of five games, which may be a good thing as their home record slipped back to 13-13-1. The Wild face Utah on Thursday, Colorado on Friday and the Bruins at home on Sunday. They will have a chance to improve their record at home in March with a seven-game home-stand and 11 of 15 games at home. It is just a shame that all these injuries could potentially derail such a promising season.
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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