Wild defenseman Daemon Hunt makes his NHL debut in Washington

WASHINGTON – Daemon Hunt started the Wild's road trip on standby.

By stop No. 2, the defenseman was upgraded to the lineup.

Hunt made his NHL debut Friday in the 3-2 shootout loss at Washington, becoming the latest Wild prospect to get an opportunity to showcase his development.

"A lot of emotions but definitely a bit relieved, like, the stress of just, am I going to play, am I not going to play," Hunt said after he took five shifts and skated 4 minutes, 12 seconds in front of his parents, Renee and Doug, who had been attending Wild games since Hunt was called up to join the Wild. "A lot of excitement obviously."

Hunt, 21, was beckoned from the minors Monday to give the Wild an extra skater before their upcoming trip.

That's also how Dakota Mermis found himself on the roster before injury ushered Mermis into action, the defenseman scoring two goals in his first five games of the season.

But another deficit to the blue line isn't how Hunt ended up playing.

After an ugly 6-2 loss the night before at Philadelphia, the Wild felt their forwards could handle the workload if they went with an extra defenseman in place of a 12th forward because "we didn't show up for the majority of that hockey," coach Dean Evason said.

Jujhar Khaira, who had logged a game-low 8 minutes, 5 seconds, was scratched, but Evason said the decision wasn't performance-based.

"Nope," Evason explained, "because we'd sit the whole team and in particular our top guys. We would be sitting them first. So, no, it had nothing to do with that. We just wanted to get a switch."

A third-round draft pick by the Wild in 2020, Hunt is in his second pro season.

He had two goals and nine assists through 59 games with Iowa in the American Hockey League last season, and that's where he returned after a hit in the Wild's first preseason game ended his training camp early.

"It definitely was frustrating, but that's over and done with," Hunt said. "I had no side effects with my concussion there. I'm ready to go now."

On the plane ride from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., after Thursday's game is when Hunt found out he'd be suiting up Friday, a head nod from assistant coach Bob Woods relaying the news.

"Growing up and watching [Alex Ovechkin] every day of my life, especially in warmups, looking across and seeing him there, it's really special," Hunt said. "I really just tried to enjoy the game as much as I could, but it was pretty awesome seeing Ovi over there."