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Mats Zuccarello

Wild Notes: Gustavsson, Sundqvist, Zuccarello

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Michael Russo of The Athletic is reporting that Filip Gustavsson was the first goalie off at Minnesota Wild practice today indicating that he will likely get the start in game six tonight against the Dallas Stars. Gustavsson has been between the pipes for four of the Wild’s five playoff games and has given up just nine goals on 125 shots. Although those numbers are sparking, Gustavsson has struggled in each of his last two starts giving up three goals in each game on just 24 shots. This drop in his play coupled with the brilliant play of Dallas netminder Jake Oettinger has Minnesota on the ropes as they will face elimination in game six tonight.

There was some speculation that Minnesota could turn to veteran goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to start game six, but Fleury has struggled in his last four starts dating back to early April. The former Vezina winner has only started one game in the series, a game two loss in which he gave up seven goals on 31 shots. Gustavsson had superior numbers to Fleury in the regular season as well and may even garner some Vezina consideration come awards season.

In other Minnesota notes:

  • Michael Russo tweeted that Oskar Sundqvist could possibly play tonight for the Wild. Sundqvist hasn’t dressed since game two of the Dallas series and has a goal in just a single game in these playoffs. The two-time Stanley Cup winner was healthy scratched for game three and hasn’t seen game action since. The 29-year-old Swede came over from the Detroit Red Wings in a trade deadline move for a fourth-round pick and looked to be a fit putting up seven points in 15 games. However, in the playoffs the Wild have opted for more toughness and have kept Ryan Reaves in the lineup over Sundqvist.
  • Russo also tweeted that Wild forward Mats Zuccarello will likely be out of the lineup, or best-case scenario he will be a game time decision. The Norway native didn’t skate yesterday with the team and is dealing with an undisclosed ailment. The Wild have been tight lipped about the situation and at this point there are more questions than answers. Zuccarello has been fantastic for the Wild this season with 67 points in 78 games during the regular season and has followed that up with two goals and three assists through five playoff games. Should he be unable to dress, the Wild will be hard pressed to replicate his production in the most important game of their season.

Evening Notes: Bortuzzo, Wild, Oilers, Ostapchuk

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It has been a rough stretch for St. Louis defensemen lately with Torey Krug and Nick Leddy both being injured recently.  Those two join Marco Scandella and Scott Perunovich (both haven’t played this season) on injured reserve.  Last night, another defender went down in veteran Robert Bortuzzo who sustained a lower-body injury.  Speaking to reporters today, Blues head coach Craig Berube told reporters including Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic (Twitter link) that the veteran is currently listed as day-to-day although he’s still being evaluated.  Bortuzzo has played in 30 games this season on the third pairing and now their defensive depth will be tested a little more for the time being.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • Prior to tonight’s game, the Wild announced (Twitter link) that winger Jordan Greenway wouldn’t play. No, it’s not another recurrence of the upper-body injury that has plagued him all season.  Instead, he’s out with a non-COVID illness.  Meanwhile, Sarah McLellan of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune relays (Twitter link) that winger Mats Zuccarello will accompany the team on their upcoming road trip after missing both Saturday’s game and tonight’s.  Between his injury and Greenway’s illness, Minnesota only has 11 healthy forwards on their roster and as a result, had to dress seven blueliners against St. Louis.
  • There are teams that will need to move first-round picks over the next couple of months to add a missing piece or two. While the Oilers typically haven’t been one of those lately, Allan Mitchell of The Athletic argues (subscription link) that they should be much more willing to do so this time around.  Whoever they get with that selection if they were to keep it likely wouldn’t be ready to play in Edmonton before the contracts of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl expire.  Accordingly, with the team in win-now mode, acquiring someone with that pick that can help the current core might be the better way for them to go.
  • The big trades in the CHL continue as Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek reports (Twitter link) that Senators prospect Zack Ostapchuk is being traded to WHL Winnipeg. The 2021 second-rounder played for Canada at the World Juniors and has 10 goals and 19 assists in 21 games this season.  The full trade package is unknown but it’s believed to involve three first-round picks.

Snapshots: Zuccarello, Hedman, Lambert

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The Minnesota Wild will be without a member of their top line this weekend. Dane Mizutani of The Pioneer Press reports that right wing Mats Zuccarello is out with an upper-body injury and won’t play in their games against the Buffalo Sabres and St. Louis Blues this weekend.

Zuccarello, now 35, is second on the Wild in scoring and is again producing at over a point-per-game pace after doing so for the first time in his career last season. His 16 goals, 24 assists, and 40 points are all second on the team behind linemate Kirill Kaprizov, who is heading to the 2023 NHL All-Star Game in South Florida, as announced last night.

However, Mizutani also reports that the Wild will get gritty winger Brandon Duhaime back in the lineup, who hasn’t played since American Thanksgiving. It doesn’t appear to be a long-term absence for Zuccarello, who Mizutani says hopes to re-join the team for next week’s road trip to New York.

  • Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman is out tonight against the Winnipeg Jets, although it’s for a positive reason. Lightning beat writer Chris Krenn notes that Hedman has returned to Tampa and is expecting the birth of his family’s second child over the next few days. Mikhail Sergachev, who actually leads all Lightning blueliners in points, steps up to the top pairing in Hedman’s absence.
  • After playing the first half of the season in the AHL, Winnipeg Jets 2022 first-round pick Brad Lambert could head to junior hockey for the first time in North America. Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek expects Lambert to end up with the top-ranked Seattle Thunderbirds in the WHL “at some point” this weekend. Lambert has struggled somewhat in his post-draft season after seeing his stock fall heavily out of the top five, as he posted just one point in five games at the 2023 World Junior Championship and managed three points in 14 games with Winnipeg’s AHL affiliate, the Manitoba Moose.

Snapshots: Three Stars, Novak, Sharks

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The NHL released its Three Stars for last week, with Alex Ovechkin taking the top spot. The legendary Washington Capitals forward became just the third player in NHL history to score 800 goals, and the third to record 18 consecutive 20+ goal seasons. Gordie Howe, ahead of him on both of those lists, is the target now, as Ovechkin’s next goal will tie him with Mr. Hockey at 801.

Second and third place went to Tage Thompson of the Buffalo Sabres and Mats Zuccarello of the Minnesota Wild, who both had eight points on the week. Thompson, 25, continues what has become one of the most impressive breakouts in recent memory, with 25 goals and 49 points this season. Through his first six seasons of professional hockey, Thompson scored 44 goals at all levels combined (including playoffs). Since the start of 2021-22, he now has 63. Zuccarello meanwhile just continues to impress in Minnesota. The undrafted, 5’8″, 35-year-old playmaker now has 36 points in 31 games and is well on his way to another outstanding campaign.

  • The Nashville Predators have recalled Tommy Novak from the AHL, and he’ll get quite the opportunity. Team reporter Emma Lingan tweets that Novak will center Filip Forsberg and Mikael Granlund while also getting a chance on the powerplay. The 25-year-old has 26 points in 25 games for the Milwaukee Admirals this season after getting his first chance in the NHL during 2021-22.
  • The San Jose Sharks, off today after a 5-2 loss to the Calgary Flames last night, have sent Nick Cicek and C.J. Suess to the minor leagues. With Tomas Hertl likely facing a suspension, it wouldn’t be surprising to see additional moves tomorrow ahead of the rematch in this odd two-game, no-travel series with the Flames.

Jared Spurgeon, Mats Zuccarello Out With Core Muscle Injuries

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Every year, veteran players on playoff teams end up having to go under the knife at the end of the season. The Minnesota Wild are no different, as both Jared Spurgeon and Mats Zuccarello will face recovery timelines of six weeks after core muscle surgery. Michael Russo of The Athletic reports that Spurgeon has already undergone the procedure, while Zuccarello is scheduled for it. The latter also dealt with a fracture in his leg which will not require surgery.

For Spurgeon, the injury goes back to before the January 1 Winter Classic according to Russo. That means he played at least 50 games while dealing with it, including six playoff matches against the St. Louis Blues. It’s easy to understand that he was dealing with something (or perhaps several things), as the team captain’s ice time dropped dramatically in the postseason. Spurgeon averaged just over 20 minutes, and actually didn’t even reach that threshold in three of the six games. Still, he finished the regular season with a strong 40 points in 65 matches.

Zuccarello meanwhile had the best offensive season of his career, putting up 79 points in 70 games. He did have four points in six playoff games as well, but the Wild were outscored 6-5 while he was on the ice, a huge change from the regular season (Minnesota outscored their opponent 77-54 with him at even-strength) and a big reason why they were eventually eliminated.

A six-week timeline certainly isn’t the end of the world, given how far away the 2022-23 season is, but core muscle surgeries are notorious for impacting performance long after the player is cleared to hit the ice. Hopefully, for the Wild’s sake at least, both players will be at full strength when the season kicks off and ready to challenge for the playoffs once again.

Playoff Injury Notes: Penguins, Wild, Nurse

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The Pittsburgh Penguins announced, per Head Coach Mike Sullivan, that forward Jason Zucker and goaltender Tristan Jarry have been updated as day-to-day, though they are not expected to play in at least the next couple of games (link). Having the two players come back into the lineup would be a major step for Pittsburgh, with Zucker increasing their forward and scoring depth, a crucial key to playoff success, and Jarry of course being their number one goaltender. Though it appears neither will be able to go for the Penguins in Game 1 or 2 in New York against the Rangers, they could look to Game 3 at home on Saturday night as a return for the pair.

Zucker has dealt with his share of injuries this season, ultimately playing in just 41 of the Penguins 82 games this season, recording 17 points in the process. The veteran forward had been playing down the stretch for Pittsburgh, but was injured early in Tuesday’s game against the Edmonton Oilers and has not played since. Jarry had been having a stellar season in net for the Penguins, posting a 2.42 goals-against average and .919 save-percentage, however he was declared week-to-week on April 16th after last playing April 14th against the New York Islanders, a game in which he did play the full 60 minutes.

  • The Minnesota Wild could be due to get a couple of key pieces in the lineup in time for their playoff series against the St. Louis Blues. As The Athletic’s Michael Russo reports, both Mats Zuccarello and Marcus Foligno practiced this morning for the Wild (link). Zuccarello has done well to stay healthy for a majority of this season, however he has not played since April 22nd after suffering a lower-body injury.  Foligno on the other hand was only injured on Friday night against the Colorado Avalanche, the Wild’s final game of the season. As encouraging as the news is, the Wild have not confirmed whether either player will be available for Game 1 on Monday night. Having both players in the lineup is crucial for the Wild, as both earned career-highs in points this season, with Zuccarello ranking third on the team in points and Foligno considered one of the better two-way players in the sport.
  • According to Sportsnet’s Mark Spector, Edmonton Oiler’s defenseman Darnell Nurse was on the ice practicing this morning (link). The star defenseman had been injured in the Oilers April 22nd game against the Colorado Avalanche and has not played since. This news is definitely encouraging for Edmonton, but according to Derek Van Diest of Postmedia, Nurse was still non-committal about whether or not he’d play in Game 1 Monday night (link). While much of the attention in Edmonton goes to Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, and for good reason, Nurse is an essential component for the Oilers, logging 25 minutes per night on the backend, contributing shutdown defense to go along with quality offensive production.

Central Notes: Zuccarello, Borowiecki, Matteau, Reichel

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Wild winger Mats Zuccarello was a late scratch for their game in Ottawa tonight with what the team revealed (Twitter link) was an upper-body injury.  Michael Russo of The Athletic adds (via Twitter) that the injury is not believed to be too serious.  The 34-year-old is well on his way to a career year with 52 points in just 41 games, good for second on the team in scoring behind Kirill Kaprizov.

More from the Central:

  • The Predators announced (Twitter link) that defenseman Mark Borowiecki is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury and didn’t play tonight against Florida. The veteran – who recently signed a contract extension – has played in 41 games this season, recording just two assists but has 137 hits and a league-high 103 penalty minutes.
  • The Avalanche activated winger Stefan Matteau and assigned him to AHL Colorado, per a team release. The 27-year-old was recalled to the Avs back in October but suffered a lower-body injury in his first game and has been out since then.  Matteau’s assignment clears another $750K off Colorado’s books, a small bit of savings towards their trade deadline spending.
  • While Lukas Reichel is currently up with the Blackhawks, they’re expected to send the rookie down before their next game on Friday, relays Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times. The 19-year-old has certainly held his own in his first four NHL contests but if Chicago can limit him to nine or fewer NHL appearances this season, he won’t burn the first year of his entry-level contract and it appears that the team is preferring to give him a few short stints rather than one extended stretch to get to that threshold.

Snapshots: Paquette, Zuccarello, Canadiens Quarantine

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The Montreal Canadiens are absolutely ravaged at the moment by injuries and COVID, and bad turned to worse today when forward Cedric Paquette didn’t finish Saturday’s game against the Florida Panthers due to a neck injury, per TVA’s Renaud Lavoie. Montreal dressed just 11 forwards and five defensemen for that game, a 5-2 loss. They had just three players dressed with a cap hit greater than $1MM, with the majority of their lineup filled out by rookies and AHL call-ups. Paquette played a third-line role, centering Lukas Vejdemo and Alex Belzile. Paquette’s only played in 18 games this season, missing some time due to injury and suspension, but he only has one assist while averaging 9:11 per game. More injury news is certainly concerning for the 28-year-old Paquette, who signed a one-year deal with Montreal this offseason.

More notes from around the league on the first day of 2022:

  • With the Minnesota Wild missing captain Jared Spurgeon from tonight’s Winter Classic due to a lower-body injury, The Athletic’s Michael Russo tweets that right wing Mats Zuccarello will serve as the third alternate captain for the outdoor spectacle. Matt Dumba and Marcus Foligno are healthy and will serve as the other two alternates, as per usual. Zuccarello fought back from an early-season injury to have one of the most productive starts of his career, posting 24 points through 24 games. The Norwegian winger will likely reprise his role on the team’s top line, playing alongside Kirill Kaprizov and Ryan Hartman.
  • The Canadiens aren’t playing again until January 12th at the earliest as their entire upcoming four-game homestand is postponed. The team won’t complain due to the aforementioned excessive amount of lineup absences, but now, head coach Dominique Ducharme says that a five-day quarantine for the entire team upon their return to Montreal is possible and will be discussed. While it won’t affect their playing schedule, it could give a chance for players to stay healthy and help their lineup get back to having experienced NHLers in the mix.

Injury Notes: Zuccarello, Joseph, Kase

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Minnesota Wild right wing Mats Zuccarello was absent from Sunday’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning with an upper-body injury. While the Wild were able to take the game with a 4-2 win, Zuccarello’s great performance so far this season (16 points in 16 games) means they’ll want him back as soon as possible. Head coach Dean Evason said after the game that Zuccarello’s got a “nasty injury” on his bottom hand. Zuccarello will try to practice during the Wild’s optional skate tomorrow, but Evason offers no guarantees.

More injury news from around the league:

  • Mathieu Joseph of the Tampa Bay Lightning sustained an injury and did not return to today’s game against Minnesota. Joseph had been playing in the team’s top six along with Alex Killorn and Anthony Cirelli and had seven points in 19 games. It’s a tough blow to a team that’s already missing Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point up front. It’s unknown if Joseph will miss how much, if any, time.
  • Ondrej Kase isn’t returning for the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight, but head coach Sheldon Keefe assures that his absence is more precautionary in nature. An upper-body injury to Kase is concerning considering his concussion history, but Keefe said today “There’s no clarity on that right now. But that has not been designated as the case.” Kase’s been working out on his own without practicing with the team.

Central Notes: Strome, Byram, Zuccarello

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It wasn’t all that long ago that Blackhawks center Dylan Strome was viewed as a potential centerpiece player when he was drafted third overall by Arizona back in 2015.  Even as recently as 2019-20 when he had a good season with Chicago, he still looked like a part of a longer-term core in Chicago.  But since then, he has struggled mightily and it doesn’t appear as if other teams around the league believe he could rebound as Mark Lazerus of The Athletic reports (subscription link) that they haven’t been able to get a team to meet their asking price of a mid-round draft pick for Strome’s services.  The 24-year-old has just a goal and two assists this season in 12 games while being a frequent healthy scratch.  His AAV of $3MM is problematic while a $3.6MM qualifying offer looms large as well.  If a mid-round pick isn’t feasible, it appears that interim GM Kyle Davidson will need to consider some retention to try to find a new place for Strome to play.

Elsewhere in the Central:

  • The Avalanche will be welcoming back defenseman Bowen Byram tonight, notes Adrian Dater of Colorado Hockey Now. The sophomore was off to a strong start to his season with eight points in 11 games while logging nearly 20 minutes a game before suffering an upper-body injury a little over two weeks ago.  Despite being IR-eligible, Byram has remained on Colorado’s active roster so no move to free up a roster spot will be needed.
  • While Wild winger Mats Zuccarello left Friday’s victory over Winnipeg after taking a slash in the hand, head coach Dean Evason told reporters including Dane Mizutani of the Pioneer Press that his absence was precautionary and that he could have returned if needed. However, Sarah McLellan of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune relays (Twitter link) that the veteran was absent from practice today which could call into question his availability for Sunday’s game versus Tampa Bay.

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