The Minnesota Wild have been climbing their way back into the playoff race over the past couple of weeks with the help of their entire roster. However, that success hit a major speed bump with the news that Joel Eriksson Ek was injured in their win over the Arizona Coyotes. He left the game after a check into the boards by Nick Bjugstad, according to The Athletic’s Joe Smith in his key takeaways following the game (from ‘Wild’s Eriksson Ek injured: Key takeaway vs. Coyotes,’ The Athletic, 03/13/24).
According to Smith’s X account, head coach John Hynes did not provide updates after the game, which is a bit ominous. Usually, coaches will say if a player is fine or if they need further evaluation. Hopefully, if he is injured and has to miss time, it’s minor because he was injured last postseason, and the Wild were pretty lost without him.
Even if Eriksson Ek is out, the Wild have to stay composed and work through it if they hope to make the postseason. Their top line must find a way to work without him being the glue in the middle. Up until this point, he had played in every game this season, and hopefully, this is a big false alarm.
However, if it’s not, the Wild must be careful with Eriksson Ek’s return to the game and make sure he doesn’t come back before he’s ready. Not to keep bringing up the past postseason, but his absence from the lineup left a big hole. He also attempted to return to play, but his broken leg wouldn’t hold up.
Eriksson Ek’s effort motivated his team, but his absence and several other mistakes were too much for them to deal with. That wasn’t the only factor causing them to fail, but it was a big contributing factor. That’s why his possible injury means so much to this lineup, without him, it’ll be a bigger hill to climb to make it into the postseason. Hopefully, this was all just precautionary, and he will make a full return next game on Thursday, March 14. If not, the Wild have some decisions to make.
