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Ryan Hartman Suspended One Game

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2:13 pm: Hartman has been suspended for one game as a result of the play, NHL Player Safety announced Wednesday afternoon.

9:07 am: The NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced that Minnesota Wild forward Ryan Hartman will face a hearing today for interference against Winnipeg Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers during last night’s game.

The incident occurred with 8:30 left in a contentious game between the Central Division rivals. Hartman received two minor penalties on the hit, one for interference on Ehlers and one for roughing after the play. He laid an open-ice check on Ehlers after playing the puck, with Ehlers leaving the ice surface holding the back of his head. He did not return to the game.

This isn’t Hartman’s first time in hot water with the Department of Player Safety. The 28-year-old forward has been suspended once before, for a high hit in 2018 when he was playing for the Nashville Predators.

The Wild have nothing left to play for this season with one game remaining. A regulation loss last night and a Colorado overtime loss locked them into third place in the Central.

Still, a potential Hartman absence from the lineup harms the Wild at their most vulnerable position. With Joel Eriksson Ek already sidelined week-to-week and not expected to be ready for the beginning of the playoffs, the team could be involuntarily without their top two centers for their final game of the season against Nashville on Thursday.

Minnesota Wild To Recall Sammy Walker, Nick Swaney

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The Minnesota Wild have recalled forwards Sammy Walker and Nick Swaney from AHL Iowa ahead of their final game of the regular season against the Nashville Predators tomorrow, The Athletic’s Michael Russo reports.

Minnesota could square off against Nashville without the services of three forwards who dressed for last night’s game against Winnipeg: Marcus Johansson, Ryan Hartman, and Sam Steel. Johansson’s status for Thursday is questionable after sustaining an upper-body injury on a cross-check from Jets defenseman Neal Pionk, while Steel left the game in the second period with an undisclosed illness. Meanwhile, Hartman is facing a suspension today for a hit on Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers.

Hence the recalls, which could yield an NHL debut for Swaney, 25, in the team’s last game of the 2022-23 regular season. Born in Lakeville, Minn., Swaney was a 2017 seventh-round pick of the Wild and won back-to-back NCAA championships with the University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs in 2018 and 2019. In just over two seasons of play in Iowa since, Swaney’s recorded 33 goals, 35 assists, and 68 points in 114 games.

This is a familiar refrain for Walker, though, who’s now earned the fourth recall of his rookie season. The 23-year-old free agent signing out of the University of Minnesota has a goal in eight appearances with the NHL Wild this year while also leading the AHL Wild in goals with 26.

Neal Pionk Avoids Suspension, Earns Fine For Cross-Checking

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Winnipeg Jets defenseman Neal Pionk has been fined $5,000 for cross-checking Minnesota Wild forward Marcus Johansson during a heated game between the two teams last night, the NHL Department of Player Safety said Wednesday morning. This is the maximum allowable fine under the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

The incident occurred late in the third period of the game, which the Jets won 3-1. Pionk received a major penalty for cross-checking Johansson, but the league felt that the infraction deserved further punishment.

Johansson was in obvious discomfort after the play, which caused him to fall to the ice. His injury status is currently unknown.

The game between the Jets and the Wild was a physical affair, with other incidents drawing the attention of the league. Wild forward Ryan Hartman is facing a potential suspension for a hit on Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers, which occurred earlier in the game. The league is expected to make a ruling on Hartman’s status later today.

The decision to hold a hearing for one incident but not the other is sure to draw ire from some. Both incidents had some perceived level of intent, depending on who you ask, and both resulted in potential injuries to the opposing players.

Minnesota Wild Recall Marco Rossi

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The Minnesota Wild have recalled forwards Marco Rossi and Nic Petan from their AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild, according to a team announcement.

These recalls come as the Wild are dealing with a major injury suffered by their most accomplished center, Joel Eriksson Ek. With Eriksson Ek out of the picture leading into the team’s playoff series next week, the Wild are exploring options to fill spots down the middle in their lineup, and Rossi is the Wild’s best center prospect.

Petan, on the other hand, is no longer a prospect, but instead a 28-year-old top-scoring AHLer. Petan leads the Wild’s AHL affiliate in scoring with 60 points in 51 games this year, and perhaps this recall is a reward for the strong play he has delivered in Iowa.

As for Rossi, the 21-year-old 2020 first-round pick saw his developmental trajectory significantly disrupted when he was diagnosed with myocarditis, a heart condition that forced him off the ice for a time. More details on Rossi’s health battle can be found in a story by The Athletic’s Michael Russo. (subscription link) Despite the fact that Rossi has not yet found success at the NHL level, what he has achieved at the AHL level and his return to hockey overall represents a major athletic accomplishment.

This season, Rossi has been a difference-maker for the AHL’s Wild, scoring 50 points in 51 games. In total, he has 103 points in 114 career contests. While he has just one point in 18 career NHL contests, the Wild are planning on Rossi becoming a top-six forward and someone they can rely on into the future.

With this recall, Rossi now has the opportunity to enter the Wild lineup and finally prove himself as an NHLer at a crucial point in Minnesota’s season. Ryan Hartman and Frederick Gaudreau are currently Minnesota’s top two NHL centers, and while they have each scored 36 points this season and are quality pivots, they’re hardly the type of dynamic, star-level centers that typically headline Stanley Cup-winning teams.

The Wild have had a strong season and have dreams that captain Jared Spurgeon will be lifting the Stanley Cup later this year. While Rossi hasn’t yet shown it on NHL ice, his AHL form lends to the idea that he could finally become the type of center the Wild have been missing for years. And if he can become that player just in time for Minnesota’s playoff run, perhaps that Stanley Cup dream could get a little bit closer to reality.

Minnesota Wild Sign Brock Faber

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The Minnesota Wild have put pen to paper with one of their top defensive prospects, inking Brock Faber to a three-year entry-level deal.

According to The Athletic’s Michael Russo, Faber will travel with the Wild for their road game against the Chicago Blackhawks and “burn” a year of his entry-level contract. He signs this deal after concluding his accomplished three-year collegiate career at the University of Minnesota.

At Minnesota, Faber scored 53 points in 97 total games and captained his team to the NCAA’s National Championship game, which happened last night. While the Gophers lost in dramatic and heartbreaking fashion just seconds into overtime against Quinnipiac University, Faber remains a decorated college player. He is a two-time conference Defensive Player of the Year in the Big 10 and won the conference title as a freshman.

Even before this season, Faber cemented himself as a top prospect with a brilliant 2021-22 campaign that saw him earn a spot on the United States’ team for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. He also played on Team USA for two World Junior Championships.

Faber is half of the Wild’s compensation package that they received from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for star forward Kevin Fiala, alongside the 2022 first-round pick that became Djurgarden forward Liam Ohgren.

While he might not reach the heights Fiala has as an NHLer, Faber has done everything necessary to give fans confidence that he will become a difference-making blueliner at the NHL level, and perhaps with this entry-level deal in hand, Faber can do that sooner rather than later.

Mason Shaw Will Have ACL Surgery Next Week

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  • Wild winger Mason Shaw will have his ACL surgery next week, relays Michael Russo of The Athletic (Twitter link). It will be the fourth such procedure that the 24-year-old has had.  The recovery timeline is typically eight to nine months which means he won’t be available for training camp in the fall but will be tendered a qualifying offer this spring.  Shaw finished with 17 points and 87 hits in 59 games this season.

Joel Eriksson Ek Out Week-To-Week, Kirill Kaprizov To Return

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The Minnesota Wild’s center depth took a hit on Wednesday, as Joel Eriksson Ek was listed as week to week with a lower-body injury, per Michael Russo of The Athletic. The news is a significant blow to the team’s weakest position and takes the Wild’s best two-way forward out of the lineup longer-term as the playoffs quickly approach. Trade deadline acquisition Oskar Sundqvist is also day-to-day with a lower-body injury.

It wasn’t all bad news, though, as Russo reported that Kirill Kaprizov is set to return to the lineup tomorrow against the St. Louis Blues after missing multiple weeks with a lower-body injury.

Kaprizov has been the Wild’s best skater by a mile again this season, scoring 39 goals and 35 assists in 65 games. His return will be a welcome sight for a team that will struggle to fill the gap left at center by Eriksson Ek’s injury. The Wild managed to stay afloat in his absence, going 7-3-3 in 13 games without their star scorer and recording 3.62 goals per game, well above their season average of 2.9.

The news on Eriksson Ek, however, is concerning for the Wild, as the 26-year-old has been one of the team’s most reliable players this season. He has scored 23 goals and 38 assists in 78 games, logging almost 19 minutes per game in the process of his career offensive year. The Wild have limited options at center without him, though, and pressure will shift back onto last year’s breakout star, Ryan Hartman, down the stretch to carry the weight in the middle of the ice.

Sundqvist’s injury may be less severe than Eriksson Ek’s, but it still leaves the Wild with another hole to fill in their lineup. The Wild acquired Sundqvist in a trade deadline deal with the Detroit Red Wings and has provided solid depth scoring in the bottom six, recording seven points in 15 games with Minnesota.

As Russo notes, the Wild will need to call up a forward ahead of tomorrow’s game from the AHL’s Iowa Wild to ice 12 players at the position. It could be a chance for 21-year-old Marco Rossi, who had one assist in 16 games earlier this season, to get a late-season look in the NHL lineup.

Gustav Nyquist Could Return This Weekend

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When Gustav Nyquist was shut down with a shoulder injury in late January, the Columbus Blue Jackets announced that he was expected to miss the rest of the regular season. That was curious, given he wasn’t going to undergo surgery, and the veteran forward quickly came out to say that he would not give up on the chance to return before the end of the year.

Many speculated that he could potentially be an LTIR playoff addition for a contender, sitting out the whole regular season only to return at some point in the postseason. When the Minnesota Wild sent a fifth-round pick for him at the deadline, it seemed like that wasn’t even a guarantee, given the low cost.

Now, as Michael Russo of The Athletic reports, Nyquist could debut Saturday for the Wild after returning to full practice with the club. That’s quite an impressive addition for a fifth-round pick, given his long history of success in the NHL.

Nyquist, 33, had recorded at least 40 points in the previous eight seasons (save for one lost entirely to injury), including 53 last year. Given how much time he’s missed due to injury, he won’t reach that number this time around, but he’s still a solid middle-six player who can contribute on special teams.

In fact, his six shorthanded goals tie him for third in the league over the last two years, behind only Mitch Marner and Chris Kreider, who each have seven. For a Minnesota team still fighting for the top spot in the Central Division and in need of a little boost, it’s a perfect time for him to return.

Kaprizov, Nyquist Close To Returning

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The Minnesota Wild, already rolling near the top of the Western Conference, are set to get two key pieces into their rotation soon. The Athletic’s Michael Russo reported today that both forwards Kirill Kaprizov and Gustav Nyquist could be options to return during their game next Saturday against the St. Louis Blues.

Head coach Dean Evason indicated further that only one of Kaprizov or Nyquist would play in the Saturday game, with the team opting to work both players back into the lineup slowly. The team has three games next week, including a back-to-back set on Monday and Tuesday. Neither player will suit up for both of those games. When Nyquist does suit up, it will be his Minnesota debut after he was traded mid-recovery from a shoulder injury sustained with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Kaprizov’s return would obviously be the more monumental of the two, although the Wild have still managed to string multiple wins together without their superstar winger.

Minnesota Wild Will Sign Mason Shaw This Summer

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Joe Smith of The Athletic is reporting that the Minnesota Wild intend to sign pending restricted free agent Mason Shaw to an extension this summer, despite his recent ACL tear. Shaw is expected to be out for eight to nine months after he was injured this past Saturday in a loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.

For Shaw, this is the fourth time he’s torn an ACL in his young career. He’s had surgery three times already and will now need to go through it a fourth time. Smith reported that the feeling in the Wild dressing room was somber, with Shaw’s injury hitting his teammates hard.

By all accounts, Shaw is very popular within the Wild dressing room and has worked hard to get into the teams bottom six. Wild GM Bill Guerin said of Shaw’s contract, ““That won’t be something he’s going to have to worry about. We’ll figure something out. You don’t want to let go of guys like that.”

Minnesota is going to be in a tight cap crunch once again this summer with the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts accounting for nearly $15MM in cap space next year. While Shaw may not return in the 2023 calendar year, he should return in early 2024 barring any setbacks. Shaw’s qualifying offer this summer will be just $787.5K, meaning that even with a modest raise Minnesota shouldn’t have any issue offering him a contract, despite their precarious cap situation.

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