The Minnesota Wild have moved star ahead Kirill Kaprizov to long-term injured reserve retroactive to Jan. 26. This transfer will open up extra cap house and roster flexibility, which Michael Russo of The Athletic suggests may point out the return of prime defenseman Jonas Brodin.
Russo shares that Brodin will possible be a part of the group in Boston and put together to make his return to the ice on Tuesday. Brodin has missed Minnesota’s final 12 video games with a lower-body harm suffered after blocking a shot within the group’s Jan. 7 win over the St. Louis Blues. Brodin was positioned on injured reserve 11 days later, then shifted to LTIR on Jan. 28. Tuesday’s recreation in opposition to the Bruins would mark the soonest that he’d have the ability to return.
This information comes as candy and bitter for a Minnesota roster that’s confronted horrible harm luck all season lengthy. Brodin has performed in simply 31 of the group’s 53 video games this season, however he’s continued to carry out as a top-pair choice when he’s wholesome.
He has recorded 4 targets and 16 factors, six penalty minutes and a +10 on the season. He’s additionally blocked 67 photographs, second-most on the Wild behind Jacob Middleton. Brodin has managed top-end stats whereas averaging north of 23 minutes of ice time every recreation. That quantity – like a lot of his stats – ranks second on the protection behind Brock Faber’s near-25 minutes of ice time on common. Brodin shall be launched again to Minnesota’s prime line as quickly as he can deal with it, particularly after a 6-0 trampling courtesy of the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.
However the bitter of the transfer comes by way of an prolonged absence for the Wild’s celebrity. Kaprizov has undergone surgical procedure for his lower-body harm that went effectively, per NHL.com’s Joe Smith. However he’ll now be compelled out of the lineup via the remainder of February, no less than. He has been formally designated as week-to-week, which may stretch his prognosis out even additional.
Kaprizov was the beating coronary heart of the Wild lineup previous to harm. He led the group in targets (23), assists (29) and factors (52) via simply 37 appearances. That’s an 82-game scoring tempo of 115 factors, which might have shattered Minnesota’s earlier single-season scoring report – 108 factors, set by Kaprizov in 2021-22. He additionally earned third spot on that listing with 96 factors in 75 video games final 12 months. Minnesota sits firmly in a playoff spot as February rolls round, giving it the prospect to deal with getting Kaprizov again to full-health earlier than the postseason begins.
