Absent from tonight’s game against the Montreal Canadiens, the Minnesota Wild announced that defenseman Alex Goligoski is out with a lower-body injury. For context on that injury, Michael Russo of The Athletic reported that Goligoski injured himself sometime during practice with the team yesterday.
Playing on the last year of a two-year, $4MM contract signed with the Wild back in 2022, Goligoski is not getting off to the best start in what could be his final year in the NHL. In the team’s first two games, Goligoski has averaged just over 17 minutes of ice time, scoring zero points, blocking five shots, and already carrying a -3 rating.
In Minnesota’s most recent game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Goligoski would take a tripping penalty near the beginning of the second period, allowing the Maple Leafs to take a 4-1 lead on the night after a Tyler Bertuzzi goal on the powerplay. The Wild finished the second period on a high note, pulling themselves one goal away from tying the game. Nevertheless, with about seven minutes gone in the third period, Goligoski took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, eliminating Minnesota’s momentum for the rest of the evening.
Replacing Goligoski in the lineup tonight will be 29-year-old defenseman Dakota Mermis, who has yet to play in any games for the Wild up to this point. More importantly, however, if Goligoski continues his run of play on the Minnesota blue line, he could find himself on the waiver wire once captain Jared Spurgeon returns from his upper-body injury.
All the dead money is really a problem these days for Minnesota, They have NO depth to replace the injured players.
Wilf;
Yep,So much of a problem they just beat Montreal 5-2 with 2 shorthanded goals and 3 power play goals.
Wild have historically gotten better when faced with adversity and down players.