The Wild placed defenseman Marco Scandella on injured reserve today with a lower-body injury sustained Tuesday against the Pittsburgh Penguins and recalled Gustav Olofsson.
Scandella will at least miss tonight's game in Boston and Saturday's against Nashville and would be eligible to come off in time for next Wednesday's game against Vancouver.
But coach Mike Yeo didn't seem overly convincing this will end up being a short-term thing for Scandella, who has three goals and three assists in 15 games, is plus-2, has 24 shots and ranks third among Wild defensemen in average ice time per game (20:02)
Yeo said the Wild will get back to Minnesota and "figure that out."
"He's a huge part of our defensive group, a huge part of our defensive game, but the execution part of it, his skating ability, his play on the special teams, there's going to be a lot of opportunity there for somebody else to step in and take advantage of it," Yeo said.
Nate Prosser and Christian Folin will take on third-pair duties for now, unless Olofsson plays tonight and makes his NHL debut.
Tough loss for a Wild team that's already depleted because of some bug going around and missing forwards Zach Parise, Justin Fontaine and Tyler Graovac.
"Every team goes through injuries, and good teams can get through them kind of unharmed," said defenseman Ryan Suter, who leads the NHL in average ice time (27:26) and is tied for fourth among NHL defensemen with 15 points. "Everyone's going to have to play more and play harder. He's a tough guy to fill in for. It's a challenge. For me, it just makes me focus that much more and I'm sure for the other guys too."