Wild Week Ahead: Schedule & Storylines – Injury Problems, Top Line Shines & Solid Defense

After spending a bit of time on the road, the Wild were able to get in some games on their home ice this past week. They had a good start to the week as they took down the Vegas Golden Knights in dominating fashion, 4-2, on Monday night, Oct. 12, before they flew to Winnipeg and fell to the Jets the following evening. 

On Thursday, Oct. 15, they were back at home and took down the St. Louis Blues 5-4 before finishing the homestand on Sunday evening with a win against the Columbus Blue Jackets 2-1. The main item that has been following the Wild and has refused to leave is their injury issues. Here are a few storylines to follow for the week of Oct. 19 – Oct. 26. 

Wild Injuries Mount

Every team goes through it at some time through the season, and for the Wild it’s hitting early. This season it’s been mainly their bottom-six forwards, with the Foligno brothers, but their defense has been hit hard; from Brock Faber’s skull fracture to Jared Spurgeon, Olli Määttä, and Zach Bogosian, all missing time. Bogosian is back in the lineup after only missing one game, but both Spurgeon and Määttä are still out. They will be on the road trip, according to head coach John Hynes, who spoke with the media following their win over the Blue Jackets, but it’s unclear when they’ll take the ice. 

Luckily for the Wild in this time of dealing with injuries, they’ve had players join the roster and haven’t missed a beat. Rieger Lorenz, Tyler Pitlick, David Špaček, and Matt Kiersted have all been called up, filling in voids, and they’ve done well. They’ve fit in almost seamlessly and made a big impact to help the Wild continue to win games.

“Yeah, no, I think that’s exactly what I wanted to come in and do. There’s an opportunity for me to come into the lineup, and just want to help the team in any way I can. I think from the back end I think we’ve played strong, Hughesy does his thing out there he’s playing a lot but if I can come in and do anything, just play simple kind of and lighten the burden a little bit,” said Matt Kiersted to the media in his postgame interview following the Wild’s win over the Columbus Blue Jackets when asked about coming into the lineup. 

Wild’s Top Line Cruising

The Wild’s top line has been doing well since the first game of the season despite changing players, with the exception of Kirill Kaprizov, of course. The line started as Kaprizov, Danila Yurov, and Maxim Shabanov, which had a lot of chemistry, but with the injuries, the Wild elected to change some things around, and now it’s Kaprizov, Matt Boldy, and Joel Eriksson Ek. 

The three of these players have always done well together, and they are continuing to do so this season. They have great chemistry and know where each other is going to be at all times, and this season, even more so than last, it has become very obvious. Even when they lose the puck, one of them is right behind to pick it back up. The Wild will need them to continue this play, especially when they’re facing teams like the Edmonton Oilers, Utah Mammoth, etc. 

Wild’s Defense Solid

With all the injuries to the defense, it would be expected that the Wild would struggle, but they’re doing the opposite. They’re playing very solid and working as a cohesive unit, with Quinn Hughes at the forefront. Without Brock Faber, it was also expected that Hughes would have trouble adjusting, but he’s shone brightly, as have his defensive partners. 

First, he was with Jared Spurgeon, who played very well with Hughes, and now, with the injury to Spurgeon, he’s been with Jonas Brodin. They’ve also fit fairly seamlessly together with no issues, and while Spurgeon, Brodin, and Faber are all different players, they’ve all worked strongly with Hughes. The Wild are very lucky to have players who can adjust as these guys have, and hopefully they can keep the good going until the injured players return and their lineup is back healthy.