After making his return to the lineup on Tuesday, Wild winger Jordan Greenway was scratched for a second straight game last night against Seattle. Head coach Dean Evason told reporters including Dane Mizutani of the Pioneer Press that Greenway has suffered a setback that will keep him out of the lineup a little longer. Greenway started the year injured, then was reinjured in his season debut last month, and now is banged up once more. Fortunately, Evason clarified that this setback isn’t as serious as last time and he is skating at least. There’s no timeline yet for when he might be able to return.
Wild Rumors
Kirill Kaprizov Avoids Suspension, Earns Fine
The Department of Player Safety is busy today. While they hold a hearing with Juraj Slafkovsky for his hit on Matt Luff, the league has also handed out a $5,000 fine to Kirill Kaprizov for his incident last night.
Kaprizov was ejected from a game against the Los Angeles Kings after he swung his stick down and hit Drew Doughty in the face and neck area. The league has called it “roughing” in the announcement of the fine, though last night they gave him a match penalty for intent to injure. That came with a five-minute major, a game misconduct, and an automatic review from the DoPS.
The Wild ended up losing the game 1-0 without their star forward but will have him back in the lineup this evening when they take on the Anaheim Ducks. Kaprizov has eight goals and 13 points through 12 games so far this season while the Wild struggle to stay competitive in the Central Division. The club is now 5-6-1 and has lost two in a row, falling into a tie with the Arizona Coyotes and Nashville Predators for fifth in the division.
Minnesota Wild Place Brandon Duhaime On Injured Reserve
The Minnesota Wild have placed Brandon Duhaime on injured reserve, according to CapFriendly. Duhaime has missed the team’s last game with an upper-body injury and did not travel on their current road trip, meaning he’ll miss at least three more games.
Entering his second NHL season, Duhaime had scored twice and added an assist through his first 10 games in 2022-23. Averaging just 9:01 per game, Duhaime is reprising his fourth-line role and continues to provide a solid energy boost to the Wild.
Duhaime was injured in a November 1 win against the Montreal Canadiens. With his IR placement retroactive to that date, he is technically eligible to be activated at any time.
His IR placement allows the Wild to convert Adam Beckman’s emergency recall into a spot on the NHL roster in earnest, as the Wild technically had 24 (out of 23 maximum) players on the active roster. Duhaime joins Ryan Hartman and Marcus Foligno on the team’s injured list.
Minnesota Wild Recall Adam Beckman, Joseph Cramarossa
Continuing with a busy Sunday of roster moves, the Minnesota Wild announced that they are bringing a pair of forwards up from the AHL, recalling Adam Beckman and Joseph Cramarossa. The team did not announced any corresponding moves. The transaction brings the Wild up to 23 players on their roster, the maximum. Importantly, the team had only been carrying 12 forwards after re-assigning Steven Fogarty on Friday. Now, they should have additional assurance up front.
Beckman, 21, was a third-round pick of the Wild back in 2019 and made his NHL debut last season. After three impressive seasons with the Spokane Chiefs in the WHL, Beckman turned pro at the tail-end of the 2020-21 season, recording five points in nine games as a member of the Iowa Wild. The forward became a full-time pro last season, getting into 68 games for Iowa where he scored 11 goals to go with 23 assists. This season, the young forward is off to a fast start, scoring three goals with three assists in six games for Iowa.
A long-time AHL veteran, Cramarossa, 30, has spent three seasons in the Wild organization, primarily with Iowa. The veteran did manage to get into one NHL game last season, marking the third season in which he did so. the 30-year-old’s most prominent NHL action came back in 2016-17 as a member of the Anaheim Ducks and Vancouver Canucks, where he recorded 10 points in 59 games. He’s had just five games of NHL action since then, but has become a reliable, physical forward at the AHL level. Cramarossa has four points and a whopping 23 penalty minutes in just eight games with Iowa to start this season.
Greenway Should Return This Road Trip, Two Players Likely To Be Recalled To Replace Duhaime And Hartman
Minnesota could soon get a key winger back as Sarah McLellan of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune relays (Twitter link) that the team is optimistic that Jordan Greenway will play in at least half of their upcoming back-to-back next week which begins on Thursday. The 25-year-old missed the start of the season due to an upper-body injury and in his first game back, suffered another upper-body issue on his third shift of the game. Last year, he had 27 points in 62 games for the Wild while chipping in with 155 hits and would be a welcome addition to a team that is banged up when it comes to their forward situation.
To that end, the Wild will recall a pair of forwards before heading out on the road as Ryan Hartman and Brandon Duhaime aren’t expected to make the trip. With Minnesota currently banking cap space, it’s in their best interest to delay formalizing those recalls for at least a couple more days.
Minnesota Wild Re-Assign Steven Fogarty
With the Minnesota Wild off until Tuesday, the team has returned Steven Fogarty to the minor league. The move will save some additional cap space and salary, while also suggesting they could be getting healthy bodies back soon. Michael Russo of The Athletic tweets that Jordan Greenway is expected back in time for the game against the Los Angeles Kings but also notes that two forwards could be recalled if Marcus Foligno and Brandon Duhaime are still unavailable.
Fogarty, 29, was up on an emergency recall and played two games for the team, seeing limited ice time in both. The minor league veteran failed to record a shot on goal and registered three hits. That’s about what is expected of him at this point, given his rare appearances in the NHL. Since turning pro in 2016, he has just 32 games at the highest level and has recorded three points.
Greenway, who started the year on injured reserve, returned for just six shifts in late October before ending up on the shelf once again. The 6’6″ forward is a key part of the Minnesota forward group but needs to find a way to stay on the ice. Last season he had ten goals and 27 points in 62 games but was part of one of the best defensive lines in the NHL, alongside Foligno and Joel Eriksson Ek.
After the team was blown out of the building by the Seattle Kraken last night, they certainly could use a bit of that added defensive identity back in the lineup.
Ryan Hartman's Injury Reportedly Considered "More Long-Term"
While the Minnesota Wild have somewhat turned things around after a tough start to the season, injuries are already starting to pile up. The Athletic’s Joe Smith reports that the injury forward Ryan Hartman is currently dealing with is considered “more long-term.”
Hartman sustained the injury in a fight with Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Jarred Tinordi on Sunday, leading to the team recalling Steven Fogarty from the AHL under emergency circumstances. Smith also reported that the team “isn’t sure” about winger Marcus Foligno, who missed the team’s last game with an upper-body injury and is not on injured reserve (not yet, at least). The two join Jordan Greenway as the three regular Wild forwards already out of the lineup less than 10 games into the season.
Minnesota Wild Recall Steven Fogarty
The Minnesota Wild today recalled forward Steven Fogarty from the AHL’s Iowa Wild on an emergency basis, according to a team release.
Fogarty is up with the Wild on an emergency basis due to Ryan Hartman’s upper-body injury suffered last night during a fight with Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Jarred Tinordi. The team has not issued an update on Hartman, though the recall suggests he won’t be playing tomorrow when the Wild face the Montreal Canadiens.
With Hartman as well as Marcus Foligno and Jordan Greenway on the shelf, the team was down to 11 healthy forwards on the active roster, necessitating Fogarty’s emergency recall. The Wild signed the 29-year-old Fogarty to a two-year contract last offseason.
Fogarty had a goal and two assists for three points in six games to start the season in Iowa, as well as a +4 rating, tied for the team lead.
Update On Marcus Foligno
- The Minnesota Wild have announced that forward Marcus Foligno will not play in tonight’s game due to an upper-body injury. Foligno has three points in eight games this season. His health will be something for Wild fans to monitor as the team, who currently boast a 3-4-1 record, looks to find stronger footing early in this campaign.
Minnesota Wild Waive Dakota Mermis
October 29: Mermis has cleared waivers and is cleared to head to Iowa, according to Chris Johnston of TSN and NorthStar Bets.
October 28: The Minnesota Wild have placed defenseman Dakota Mermis on waivers, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.
The move was necessitated by Mermis’ return to health from an injury he suffered in the preseason. He had been on the team’s injured reserve list, and now that he’s healthy he must clear waivers in order to be sent to the AHL.
Mermis, 28, is an undrafted defenseman who has fashioned a nice career for himself as a depth defenseman. The former London Knight made his professional debut for the Springfield Falcons of the AHL in 2015-16, and then moved on to the Tucson Roadrunners and Arizona Coyotes organization after that season. In Arizona, Mermis’ development accelerated, and by his second season there he had even earned his first NHL call-up.
Now a member of his third NHL organization, Mermis has 25 NHL games played on his resume. He spent most of last season with the Wild’s AHL affiliate in Iowa, and will now head back to Des Moines to begin his 2022-23 season.
Last year Mermis had a healthy 24 points in 59 games and this year should resume his role as a valuable veteran contributor for the Wild’s top minor league affiliate.