Jared Spurgeon

The Wild look to have superstar winger Kirill Kaprizov and captain Jared Spurgeon back in their lineup Thursday against Utah, Michael Russo of The Athletic reports. Both were full participants in Wednesday’s practice.

Kaprizov, 27, has missed 12 games with a nagging groin injury and has not played in nearly a month. On Dec. 23, the date of his last appearance, he was tied for second in the league in goals (23) and fourth in points (50) through 34 games.

Spurgeon, 35, returns after a slew-foot from Predators winger Zachary L’Heureux caused him a lower-body injury on New Year’s Eve. L’Heureux has since served and returned from a three-game suspension for the play, while Spurgeon missed nine contests, assuming he’s cleared to draw into the lineup tomorrow.

Minnesota entered Wednesday with a pair of roster spots, so taking Spurgeon off standard injured reserve won’t be a problem. However, Kaprizov is on long-term injured reserve, and the Wild lack the cap space to reinstate his $9MM cap hit.

They don’t need to open up a ton of flexibility, though, so they have a few ways of creating the required funds quickly. The simplest and likeliest is sending down defenseman David Jiříček, who projects to exit the lineup with Spurgeon returning anyway, Russo adds. They could also retroactively place defenseman Jonas Brodin on LTIR with his lower-body injury if he’s due to remain out until at least Feb. 1 or place defenseman Travis Dermott on waivers with the intent to send him to AHL Iowa.

Kaprizov looks to skate in his usual top-line role alongside Marco Rossi and Mats Zuccarello, according to Minnesota’s line rushes at today’s skate. Spurgeon will return to his new role as the Wild’s No. 2 right-shot defenseman behind Brock Faber with Declan Chisholm on his left flank as usual top-four option Brodin remains sidelined.

Despite missing an extended period, Kaprizov still has a nine-point cushion ahead of Matt Boldy for the team lead in points. He also leads the club with a +21 rating and 4.5 GF/60 at even strength.

While not the Norris nomination threat he once was, Spurgeon is still a comfortable top-four piece coming off left hip and back surgeries that capped his 2023-24 campaign at 16 appearances. In 37 contests this year, he’s posted four goals and nine assists for 13 points with a plus-three rating, averaging 20:43 per game. That’s still the 35-year-old’s lowest usage since his rookie season with Minnesota 14 years ago, though.

Although it hasn’t translated into a dominant rating, Spurgeon still tracks as the Wild’s best possession-controlling defenseman, at least at even strength. His 52.5 CF% leads Minnesota blue-liners and ranks second on the team behind Marcus Foligno’s 52.7.

The Wild are placing star winger Kirill Kaprizov on injured reserve retroactive to Dec. 23, Michael Russo of The Athletic reports. He’s eligible to come off at any time after missing the last three games with a minor lower-body injury but will still miss at least their next two games, Russo adds. The move creates roster space for a recall from AHL Iowa in place of captain Jared Spurgeon, who left last night’s win over the Predators with a right leg injury and did not return after he was on the receiving end of a slew-foot from Nashville rookie Zachary L’Heureux.

Minnesota hasn’t commented on how long Spurgeon might be out of the lineup, but he’ll miss a game or two at the very least – likely longer. The 35-year-old, who’s missed 72 games since the beginning of last season with back and hip issues that resulted in significant midseason surgery in 2023-24, did not put weight on his right leg as he was helped off the ice (video via Nick Kieser of 102.5 The Game). L’Heureux was assessed a match penalty on the play, although the league’s Department of Player Safety hasn’t yet issued any supplemental discipline.

Spurgeon is still capable of top-pairing minutes and has continued to put up stellar possession numbers in his twilight years, but his point totals haven’t recovered since he dropped from 0.62 per game in 2021-22 to 0.43 per game in 2023-24. Add in the emergence of sophomore Brock Faber as the Wild’s new No. 1 defender, and there have been fewer opportunities for Spurgeon to contribute offensively. He has four goals and 13 points in 32 games this season, working out to a 0.41 points-per-game pace that would stand as his lowest since 2015-16, not counting last year’s 16-game stint in the lineup.

Still, Spurgeon is an incredibly important on-ice and off-ice piece to a Wild team trying to get out of the mud. After a hot start to the season, they’re .500 since the beginning of December and have been hamstrung by injuries to star players, a trend that’s unfortunately continuing into the New Year. Despite the rough patch, they accumulated enough points early on to keep them with a 23-11-4 record, still good for second in the Central Division. The 2008 Islanders sixth-round pick has never suited up for anyone other than the Wild, and his 899 games played rank second in franchise history behind Mikko Koivu. No one’s done better than his career +120 rating for the Wild, either.

Minnesota is already without Spurgeon’s usual second-pairing partner, Jacob Middleton, for another couple of weeks while he nurses a hand injury. That means continued increased responsibility for depth defenders Declan Chisholm, Jonathon Merrill and Zach Bogosian, while the newly-acquired David Jiříček should be in line for a recall from AHL Iowa and some power-play time in Spurgeon’s absence. The 2022 sixth-overall pick has just two points and a -4 rating in nine AHL games since being acquired from the Blue Jackets in November.

Meanwhile, Kaprizov’s absence will last a few more days, although he could miss a bit more. Multiple reports indicate that he hasn’t skated since before the holiday break. The 27-year-old, who becomes eligible to sign what will likely be a fruitful extension in Minnesota next summer, had 50 points in 34 games before exiting the lineup and still leads the league with 20 even-strength goals. Somewhat miraculously, the Wild have gone 2-1-0 in his absence, with Matt Boldy filling in on the top line alongside Marco Rossi and Mats Zuccarello.

The Wild will have two open roster spots after placing Kaprizov on IR, but just $378K in cap space is not enough for an additional recall. They could swap a forward for a defense call-up or create additional financial flexibility by moving forward Jakub Lauko, who hasn’t played since Dec. 14 and remains week-to-week with a muscular issue, from standard IR to long-term injured reserve.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.