By Jordan Long
The Minnesota Wild are 39-24-7 for a total of 85 points, 3 better than the Colorado Avalanche for 3rd place in the Central Division. The Wild are going to miss a large part of their offense, at least from the blue line. Defenseman Jared Spurgeon is out at least one month because of a partial right hamstring tear. He suffered the injury Tuesday night against the Colorado Avalanche.
Spurgeon is one of the Wild’s top defensemen. He plays on the power play and full-strength situations. On full strength, Spurgeon checks opponents off the puck to end scoring chances. He also block shots. When Spurgeon skates the puck into the offensive zone, he feeds his teammates for them to score or fire it from the point. Spurgeon has scored 9 goals and 28 assists so far this year.
On the power play, he is the quarterback who sets up the play. Spurgeon can shoot the puck and those can be tipped in or have rebound opportunities. Spurgeon scored 3 goals and added 10 assists with the man advantage.
With him out the lineup this is a big loss. The Wild are in a battle to make the playoffs. They are 3 points ahead of the Ducks who sit outside the wild-card spots. If Spurgeon can’t play the rest of the season, other defensemen are going to need to step up their play. All of them must replace his production.
The Wild are hoping Spurgeon is back for the postseason. That may be difficult for him depending how his hamstring heals. The Wild have recalled Ryan Murphy from the American Hockey League to add depth. He appeared in 9 games this season but isn’t a scorer like Spurgeon is with 1 goal and 1 assist. He should stay with the Wild as long as Spurgeon is out of the lineup.
The Wild have work to do to make the playoffs. They should still be able to contend. If they don’t hopefully they won’t look back at the Spurgeon injury as the reason they didn’t make it.
How do you think the injury to Jared Spurgeon will hurt the Wild’s chances of making the postseason?
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