Wild place leading scorer on IR

The Minnesota Wild have placed their leading point scorer, Mats Zuccarello, on injured reserve with an upper-body injury. This will hold the 36-year-old winger out for at least one week, although the team’s recent designation of Zuccarello as "week-to-week" suggests that he might be out for longer. Zuccarello has 28 points in 28 games this season, including a team-leading 22 assists.

Zuccarello is continuing to excel offensively with Minnesota, after recording 67 points in 78 games last season and a career-high 79 points in 70 games in 2021-22. The Wild brought in Zuccarello ahead of the 2019 NHL Trade Deadline, dealing two conditional draft picks to Dallas that would ultimately turn into a 2019 second-round pick and a 2020 third-round pick. Minnesota signed Zuccarello to a two-year, $8.5M contract extension in September, carrying the winger through the 2025-26 season.

Minnesota is getting back on track under new head coach John Hynes, winning eight of the 11 games they’ve played under the new brass. This hot streak has been manned by Minnesota’s youth, with Brock Faber scoring six points, Marco Rossi scoring seven points and Matt Boldy scoring 10 points since Hynes took over. This includes Boldy’s seven goals in his last 11 games, tied for the third-most in the league since November 28th.

Vinni Lettieri slotted into the lineup to fill in for Zuccarello on Tuesday night and looks to remain on the ice as the Wild don’t currently have any extra forwards on the roster. The team could also turn towards a minor league call-up, with Nic Petan, Jujhar Khaira and Samuel Walker all having slotted into the NHL lineup at some point this season.