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Jon Merrill

Wild Injury Notes: Klingberg, Duhaime, Reaves

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Joe Smith of The Athletic is reporting that John Klingberg will re-join the Minnesota Wild after missing the past three games with an upper body injury. Klingberg came over from the Anaheim Ducks at the trade deadline and has a goal and three assists in nine games since joining the Wild. Smith went onto say that it appears that Klingberg will serve in the top-4 and play alongside Jon Merrill. The Wild took five of a possible six points with Klingberg out of the lineup but will certainly welcome the offensive firepower that he adds to the backend.

Klingberg has had a nightmarish season thus far. He didn’t find that long term deal he was hoping for last summer in free agency and opted to bet on himself and sign in Anaheim for a single season. This move has largely been a failure as Klingberg struggled mightily with the Ducks notching just 24 points in 50 games. While he has struggled to this point in the season, he still has an opportunity to prove his worth with the Wild. Minnesota has had a tremendous season and with the acquisition of Klingberg, one has to assume that they see themselves as a contender to come out of a wide open Western Conference.

In other Wild injury news:

  • The Athletic’s Joe Smith is also reporting that winger Brandon Duhaime won’t play this evening due to an undisclosed illness. Duhaime is in his second season with the Wild and has nine points in 44 games, including eight goals. While Duhaime won’t fill the scoresheet, he does add an element of grit that the Minnesota will miss this evening when they do battle with their division rival. Duhaime is third on the team in hits with 126 hits on the season while averaging just over 10 minutes of ice time per game. The Wild sit one point up on Colorado for the division lead in the Central.
  • Speaking of grit, Ryan Reaves also won’t be dressing tonight as he will be sidelined with what is being described as an upper body injury. Reaves left the Wild’s 5-1 win over the Seattle Kraken on Monday night and did not return. Little is known about Reaves injury, but with he and Duhaime on the shelf, it will make for a much easier night for Avalanche defensemen. Reaves is second on the Wild in hits this season with 134 hits in 54 games and has been an emotional catalyst for Minnesota since coming over from the New York Rangers in a mid-season trade. With Reaves and Duhaime out for tonight, and Kirill Kaprizov also sidelined, the Wild will be forced to play with 11 forwards and seven defensemen in a crucial game. Joe Smith tweeted that Alex Goligoski could take some shifts at forward to offset the injuries.

Andrej Sustr And Michal Kempny Clear Waivers

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Saturday: Sustr has cleared waivers, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports.  No one was placed on waivers today.

Friday: With Jon Merrill set to get back into the Minnesota Wild lineup, the team has placed Andrej Sustr on waivers. Michal Kempny, who was placed on unconditional waivers yesterday, has cleared and will have his contract terminated.

Sustr, 31, hasn’t even played a game yet for the Wild, but is no longer even needed for insurance purposes. Merrill is expected to take Alex Goligoski’s spot in the lineup tomorrow, after the veteran defenseman played in his 1,000th game yesterday. Goligoski will become the player that rotates in when needed, and Sustr can report to the minor leagues.

That is, of course, if he clears waivers, which isn’t necessarily guaranteed. Just last season he was claimed by the Anaheim Ducks when the Tampa Bay Lightning tried to sneak him through, and he ended up playing in 23 games down the stretch. The 6’7″ behemoth has played in 361 regular season NHL games, and is a useful veteran to have on the roster as a seventh option.

For teams that might be dealing with injuries on the back end, Sustr and his one-year, two-way contract might not be a bad option. Still, he doesn’t offer much upside, so if he slips through the Wild will be able to keep him in the organization as an injury replacement. Sustr played in the minor leagues without complaint last season, registering 12 points in 25 games for the Syracuse Crunch. Because the team has designated him for assignment already, they’ll be able to activate Merrill even before his waivers resolve tomorrow afternoon.

Minnesota Places Jordan Greenway On IR, Activates Jon Merrill

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It’s good news and bad news on the injury front for the Wild.  The team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve activated defenseman Jon Merrill off injured reserve which is the good news.  However, the bad news is that winger Jordan Greenway has been placed on IR to make room for Merrill’s return.

Merrill suffered an arm injury while playing for the United States at the World Championship, undergoing surgery soon after.  He missed the entire preseason and while he was cleared for contact a little more than a week ago, Minnesota was cautious in bringing him back.  The 30-year-old had a career year last season, notching 20 points in 69 games while logging over 17 minutes per night which helped him earn a three-year extension back in January.

As for Greenway, his return to the lineup was short-lived.  He was activated off IR back on Thursday but lasted just six shifts before suffering an upper-body injury that evidently will keep him out for at least the next week.  The 25-year-old is an important secondary scorer for the Wild that contributes plenty of hits as well but he’ll be waiting a little while before he gets a shot at his second game of the season; Michael Russo of The Athletic notes (Twitter link) that the team is still waiting to get an idea of how much time Greenway will miss.

Central Notes: Blackhawks, Wild Injuries, Jets

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There will be teams that need to clear salary before the regular season gets underway next month.  There aren’t many squads that have enough room to take on a contract but the Blackhawks have made it known that they are open to discussing such a move, relays Ben Pope of the Chicago-Sun Times.  While Chicago clearly isn’t looking to win now, their impetus for doing such a move would be to pick up some other future assets along with the contract of the veteran player they’d be acquiring.  Per CapFriendly, the team has roughly $7.5MM in cap room right now and while they’ll want to leave some wiggle room for injury recalls, they certainly will have enough flexibility left to make this type of trade.

More from the Central where St. Louis and Arizona will play the first-ever NHL game in Kansas tonight:

  • The bad news for the Wild is that they’ll be without both defenseman Jon Merrill and winger Jordan Greenway when the regular season gets underway. However, as Michael Russo of The Athletic notes (subscription link), both players are expected back within the first five to ten games of the season.  Merrill was injured in the opening game at the World Championship back in the spring while Greenway underwent offseason shoulder surgery with Russo noting that he recently had another procedure done as well.  Neither player will be out long enough to be LTIR-eligible but Minnesota has enough cap space to not need the LTIR relief anyway.
  • The Jets appear likely to carry eight defensemen on their roster to start the season, suggests Jeff Hamilton of the Winnipeg Free Press. With their six returning regulars from 2021-22, that leaves a couple of roster spots open.  Ville Heinola and Dylan Samberg would appear to be the favorites for the final two slots but only if they’re going to be in the top six.  That could have newcomer Kyle Capobianco and younger Leon Gawanke (who is now waiver-eligible) on the outside looking in, making them a pair of possible claim candidates in the coming weeks.

Central Notes: Dach, Beaudin, Borgstrom, Merrill

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It wasn’t a particularly good season for Blackhawks center Kirby Dach as he had just 26 points in 70 games, hardly what they were expecting from the third-overall pick in 2019 in his third NHL season.  However, as Scott Powers of The Athletic points out (subscription link), Chicago will at least benefit from some internal cap flexibility as his next contract will check in lower than the $5MM or so they were believed to be internally estimating.  Now, the 21-year-old is a prime candidate for a two-year bridge deal, one that will allow both sides more time to see if Dach can live up to his potential.  While his draft status will boost the price tag a little bit, that contract should be closer to the $3MM range, giving GM Kyle Davidson a bit more wiggle room this summer than he was anticipating at this time a year ago.

Elsewhere in the Central:

  • Still with Chicago, the Blackhawks could look to move a pair of youngsters in forward Henrik Borgstrom and defenseman Nicolas Beaudin, suggests Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times. Borgstrom underachieved in his first season back in the NHL, notching just seven points in 52 games while being a frequent scratch which will limit his value to a strict change of scenery swap for another underachiever.  Beaudin, however, is a bit more notable as it wasn’t long ago that he was viewed as a piece of Chicago’s future back end.  But he struggled considerably with AHL Rockford this season, notching just 16 points in 66 games (hardly ideal for someone that was an offensive blueliner in the QMJHL) while being scratched for all but one of their playoff games.  Both players have one year left on their contracts with Borgstrom making $1MM on a one-way deal and Beaudin $863K on his entry-level pact.
  • While Minnesota has provided injury updates on some of their players, they haven’t done so yet for defenseman Jon Merrill who has undergone surgery for an upper-body injury sustained during his first game (and shift) at the Worlds. However, Michael Russo of The Athletic believes (subscription link) that the blueliner is expected to be out longer than the six-week period given for winger Mats Zuccarello and defender Jared Spurgeon for their surgeries.  Merrill had a good first year for the Wild in a depth role, picking up 20 points in 69 games, earning himself a three-year extension midseason as a reward.

Central Notes: Leddy, Wild, Meyers

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There was good news and bad news today for the St. Louis Blues. The good news was the team clinched a playoff spot with a 6-5 overtime win over the Minnesota Wild. The bad news was defenseman Nick Leddy taking a high stick near his eye, causing him to leave the game. The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford spoke to Blues’ Head Coach Craig Berube, who said that the incident had blurred Leddy’s vision and he is not expected to play tomorrow against the Nashville Predators.

With the Blues clinching today, the need to have Leddy in the lineup is not so pressing, however the team paid a hefty price to acquire the defenseman, who is rich with playoff experience, to use down the stretch and in the playoffs. Berube did not appear to be overly concerned about this injury, however any time an injury involving a player’s vision comes into question, it can be scary, not only for their playing career, but their life away from the rink too.

  • The Athletic’s Michael Russo provided several updates on the Minnesota Wild, per Head Coach Dean Evason. Most notably, Tyson Jost, who took a big hit from Pavel Buchnevich earlier today, will not play tomorrow against the San Jose Sharks for precautionary reasons. Evason also notes that defenseman Jon Merrill is still out of the lineup going forward, having not played since March 31st with an upper-body injury. In more positive news for the Wild, Evason says that forward Jordan Greenway has started skating and star defenseman Mathew Dumba is getting closer to return as well.
  • The Colorado Avalanche announced that forward Ben Meyers will make his NHL debut tonight as the Avalanche take on the Carolina Hurricanes at home. Colorado signed the undrafted college free agent earlier this week after his season at the University of Minnesota had come to an end at the hands of Minnesota State. A finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, Meyers figures to provide solid scoring depth for a deep, talented Avalanche team as they head into the playoffs. Avalanche Head Coach Jared Bednar said he plans to have Meyers center Andrew Cogliano and Logan O’Connor in tonight’s game.

Injury Updates: Pacioretty, Wild, Stars, Petry

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Vegas could get a key player back for tomorrow’s contest against Arizona as Ben Gotz of the Las Vegas Review-Journal relays that winger Max Pacioretty is listed as a game-time decision.  The veteran has missed nearly a month with an undisclosed injury, continuing what has been a tough year on the injury front as he has been limited to just 29 games.  However, the 33-year-old has been quite productive when he has been in the lineup as he has 15 goals and 14 assists.  With the Golden Knights sitting two points out of the last Wild Card spot in the Western Conference heading into Friday’s slate of games, Pacioretty would undoubtedly give them a big boost as they look to get into the postseason.

Other injury updates from around the NHL:

  • The Wild could get a pair of players back for Sunday’s game against Los Angeles as Sarah McLellan of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports (Twitter link) that defenseman Jon Merrill and winger Matt Boldy could both be back. Both players suffered upper-body injuries at the end of March and while Merrill has seen his role scaled back a little bit lately, Boldy has played a crucial role for Minnesota since being recalled in January, collecting 27 points in 35 games.
  • Stars defenseman Esa Lindell plus wingers Jacob Peterson and Denis Gurianov have all been upgraded to game-time decisions for their game on Saturday against New Jersey, notes Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News. Each player has missed the last three games, Lindell due to an upper-body injury, Peterson a lower-body injury, and Gurianov an illness.  Dallas has a two-point lead on Vegas for the final Wild Card spot in the West and getting those three back will only help their cause.
  • The Canadiens could get defenseman Jeff Petry back for Saturday’s game against Toronto, mentions TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie (Twitter link). The veteran has missed the last two weeks with a lower-body injury, the latest frustration in what has been a tough season as the 34-year-old has struggled considerably, notching just 16 points in 57 games while Montreal wasn’t able to find a suitable trade for him at the deadline last month.

Jon Merrill Enters Protocol; Jonas Brodin Returns To Practice

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The Minnesota Wild will be without Jon Merrill and Nico Sturm for the next few days after they were placed in the COVID protocol. Both players missed practice today, though their status moving forward was not confirmed. If they are a confirmed positive case of COVID-19, they’ll be held out for the normal minimum of five days, meaning they would not be available for at least the next two games.

The loss of Merrill from the lineup may not be felt as strongly as one might think, as the Wild had Jonas Brodin back at practice today. The veteran defenseman hasn’t played since January 6 but is now medically cleared to return and is a possible option for Friday in New York. Brodin told reporters including Michael Russo of The Athletic that he has been skating on his own and believes his conditioning level is in good shape.

Sturm’s absence comes at a disappointing time, given how well he played in Monday’s game against the Montreal Canadiens. The 26-year-old scored a goal and registered three points in just under 13 minutes of action, a little more than his season average. He now has seven goals and 15 points on the season, close to matching the 17-point rookie season he had in 2020-21.

For Minnesota, who have won three straight, getting Brodin back is key if the team is going to make a second-half run for a Central Division playoff spot. They now sit in fourth, but just four points behind the second-place Nashville Predators with six games in hand. While the Colorado Avalanche will be a difficult train to catch, the Wild should be considered a real contender in the Western Conference and a team to watch as the trade deadline approaches.

Minnesota Wild Extend Jon Merrill

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Jon Merrill won’t be looking for a new contract this summer after all. The Minnesota Wild have extended the pending free agent defenseman, signing him to a new three-year, $3.6MM contract that will carry him through the 2024-25 season.

Merill, 29, signed a one-year, $850K contract with the Wild last offseason after a Stanley Cup run with the Montreal Canadiens and was expected to be nothing more than a depth option. He’s quickly shown he can be more than that, averaging more than 17 minutes a night through 33 games and racking up 11 points. That has him on track to blow past his previous career-high of 15 points, set in 2018-19 with the Vegas Golden Knights, and has landed him this multi-year contract that brings a level of security and stability.

Selected 38th overall in 2010, Merill is on his fifth NHL organization already. Starting out with the New Jersey Devils, he then moved to the Golden Knights, Detroit Red Wings, and Canadiens before ending up in Minnesota. It’s with the Wild where he has found the best fit, and where he’ll be the next while after inking a three-year extension.

In that nine-year career, he’s played in 438 games, scoring 77 points while registering 557 blocked shots and 389 hits. A $1.2MM cap hit is still representative of his role on the Minnesota depth chart–that is, as an option well behind the likes of Jonas Brodin, Jared Spurgeon, and Matt Dumba–but also suggests that he’ll have a full-time role for the team moving forward. Jordie Benn and Alex Goligoski are both unrestricted free agents at the end of the season, though the latter is expected to sign an extension at some point to keep him in Minnesota.

Minnesota Wild Sign Jon Merrill

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The Minnesota Wild have filled one of their last defensive spots, agreeing to terms with Jon Merrill on a one-year, $850K contract.

Merrill, 29, split this season between the Detroit Red Wings and Montreal Canadiens, joining the latter at the deadline only to end up on a deep playoff run. The 6’3″ defenseman has played 405 regular season games in the NHL, but always seems to be at the bottom of a depth chart. His career-high of 15 points was set in 2018-19 with the Vegas Golden Knights, but he actually averaged more ice time this season at 18:15.

In Minnesota, he becomes the sixth defenseman on a one-way contract, sliding in behind newcomers Alex Goligoski and Dmitry Kulikov. Though it seemed likely that prospect Calen Addison would receive a chance to crack the NHL lineup, the team now at least has an option if the 21-year-old is not quite ready. The fact that Merrill and Goligoski have experience on both the left and right side will be a bonus for the Wild, who can mix and match the bottom pairing this season.

There’s a connection in the Wild front office for Merrill, as Ray Shero now acts as a senior advisor. Shero was the general manager in New Jersey in the early part of Merrill’s career and when the Golden Knights plucked him through the expansion draft. The two are together again, though now it’s GM Bill Guerin and head coach Dean Evason that Merrill will have to impress to keep his place in the everyday lineup.

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