The Minnesota Wild had some bad news to announce today, as Greg Pateryn won’t be hitting the ice for quite some time. The defenseman underwent bilateral core muscle repair surgery today in Philadelphia and will be out for approximately six weeks.
It’s an unfortunate start to the year for Pateryn and the Wild, who are both hoping for bounce-back seasons. The 29-year old defenseman played in 80 games for the Wild in 2018-19 after signing a three-year, $6.75MM deal, but saw his offensive output drop to just seven points while averaging 17 minutes a game. Though never known for his scoring ability, the Wild had a tough time generating offense when Pateryn was on the ice and he didn’t even serve as a prime penalty killer, trailing in that respect behind Jared Spurgeon, Ryan Suter and Jonas Brodin.
Now with a core injury, Pateryn will not only miss time but will have to battle his way back into the lineup. The Wild are hoping a healthy Matt Dumba can bring together what should still be a solid defense corps enough to let Minnesota compete for a playoff spot, or at least climb out of the basement of the Central Division where they finished last year. The team still has Carson Soucy with the team for now, getting an opportunity with Pateryn on the sideline.