The Minnesota Wild have had a great start to their season despite facing many injury issues to different stars on their team. They have struggled with missing players but found ways to persevere and succeed, and they have already been doing so for nearly two weeks since Mats Zuccarello was injured.
They’ve been playing without Jonas Brodin off and on all season, but now he’s listed as week-to-week on injured reserve. Jakub Lauko was also added to that list, but he’s day-to-day. Zuccarello was put on long-term injured reserve, which is no surprise given his recovery from surgery.
Now to the biggest news, Joel Eriksson Ek was injured towards the end of their win over the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday evening, Dec. 3, and the following day was listed as week-to-week with a lower-body injury. These injuries are hard on the Wild’s roster, with Eriksson Ek probably being the hardest to overcome. In this article, we’ll look at who the team needs to step up, starting with Yakov Trenin.
Wild Need More From Trenin
While Trenin has done his job defensively on the penalty kill and throwing hits, he hasn’t produced the way they hoped on the offensive side. He’s not the fastest skater and hasn’t been able to make up for that just yet. However, this would be a perfect time for Trenin to find his scoring game with two of their top forwards missing.
He has only one assist in 25 games played and 17 shots on goal. He’s never been a big producer, but his pace this season is slower than the last few seasons, and it’s unclear why. He struggles to stay in the play and often gets turned around. However, in an article published by The Athletic’s Michael Russo recently about Trenin, head coach John Hynes believes in his abilities.
“I’m not even going down the road with him with the scoring. I think that there’s a little bit of sentiment now on that. This guy kills penalties; he’s big, he’s physical, he plays hard. If he had 2 or 3 points, no one would be talking about that. And he could, for sure. But I think he’s a reliable two-way player, he brings a lot to our team, and I think that when it does go in for him, there’s going to be more. You look at his point totals throughout his career. He’s a guy that will get them, but the value that he brings to the team is big,” said Hynes in their postgame media availability after their win over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday, Nov. 21 (from ‘Yakov Trenin has been advertised for Wild, except scoring: ‘I want to have points,’’ The Athletic, 11/22/2024).
Hopefully, he can step up and get that goal to spark more while these players are out. His team could use the boost in offense while they get through these injuries.
Wild’s Khusnutdinov Too Quiet
Marat Khusnutdinov has made an impression on and off this season with flashy moves but has not scored any goals. He’s assisted on two goals in 22 games played this season but has not scored any goals. He missed a few games recently due to an injury and has only been back for one game, but he looked rusty.
The Wild need him to figure out how to harness his bits of flashy play and turn them into goals consistently. It’s important to remember that he’s still in his first full season in the NHL, and it takes time to adjust and find his play. In his rookie debut, he showed a lot of confidence and didn’t hesitate, but this season, he’s playing more carefully.
He needs to find that confidence again and force it into his game. Of course, coming back from an injury can cause a player to play differently, but hopefully, after a game or two more, he’ll find that game again because his team needs it.
Wild Expect More Out of AHL Players
With all of these injuries, the Wild have had to call up players from the Iowa Wild in the American Hockey League (AHL), and instead of calling up the same player each time, they’ve been rotating different players in. Michael Milne, Liam Öhgren, Travis Boyd, Ben Jones, and Devin Shore all had turns.
Jones and Shore have been up the last few games and have had several scoring chances, but unfortunately, none have gone in yet. The Wild need whoever is in the lineup at the time to step up and contribute to the best of their abilities. While this is always an expectation, it’s even more so now when missing pieces are key to the lineup.
Related: David Jiříček Brings Size & Youth to Wild Defensive Core
Hopefully, whoever the Wild put onto the roster these next few weeks will be able to produce some needed offense and physicality if they’re on the fourth line. These next few weeks will be tough, but if the Wild have quality efforts from their AHL players, it will help them get through.
Wild Need Everyone
Many would probably think Kirill Kaprizov should be at the top of the list, but he’s already stepped up a lot this season, and it’s expected that he’ll continue to do so all year. If the Wild expect to get through these next weeks without some of their top players, they’ll need players who’ve been quiet this season to step up and help the others produce. Hopefully, everyone on the team can find another level to their game, and the quiet players, and they’ll succeed.
