There are five weeks remaining until the NHL playoffs begin. The Wild, after trade deadline moves, were aiming to use the next month to fine-tune for the postseason.
As it turns out, that road to the playoffs might be rocky.
All-Star winger Kirill Kaprizov, who had a hand in 41% of the team's goals this season, will be out three to four weeks after suffering a lower-body injury in Wednesday's victory in Winnipeg.
The Wild announced that timeline Thursday and recalled forward Sammy Walker from their minor league affiliate in Iowa.
Kaprizov, who has 39 goals and 35 assists in 65 games, is 17th in the NHL with 74 points. The 25-year-old Russian set Wild records in all three scoring categories last season with 47 goals and 61 assists for 108 points.
The Wild, after finishing fifth in the league in scoring in 2021-22, are 25th in the NHL this season with 179 goals. Still, they are in second place in the Central Division and have a 10-point cushion over ninth-place Calgary in the Western Conference playoff race with 17 games remaining.
Kaprizov's injury came during the third period Wednesday. While protecting the puck, he was the victim of a clumsy check by 6-7 Jets defenseman Logan Stanley. Stanley fell on top of Kaprizov and the Wild's leading scorer did the splits.
No penalty was called, and Kaprizov's left leg appeared to bend awkwardly. He took a few moments to gather himself before rejoining play and eventually skating gingerly to the bench.
"He stopped and I tried to finish my check on him," Stanley told the Winnipeg Free Press. "I wasn't expecting him to go down. It's just an unfortunate play."
The Wild return to practice Friday in St. Paul before flying to San Jose for Saturday night's game against the Sharks. The one constant in coach Dean Evason's lineup has been a first-line pairing of Kaprizov with right winger Mats Zuccarello, who has a team-leading 39 assists. The center on the top line, Ryan Hartman, missed 21 games earlier in the season because of an injury.
Evason must now juggle his forward combinations without Kaprizov, who has missed only two games since he made his NHL debut for the 2020-21 season, when he won the Calder Trophy as the league's rookie of the year.
Walker, a 23-year-old former Gophers center, has 24 goals and 20 assists in 50 games for Iowa. He has played in six NHL games this season and has one goal. A seventh-round pick by Tampa Bay in 2017 out of Edina High School, he chose not to sign with the Lightning after four seasons with the Gophers and got a two-year, entry level deal with the Wild last summer.
Winger Brandon Duhaime (upper body) and defenseman Jonas Brodin (lower body) are also sidelined for the Wild, who picked up forwards Marcus Johansson, Oskar Sundqvist and Gustav Nyquist at the trade deadline. Nyquist will miss most of the rest of the regular season because of a shoulder injury.
Kaprizov's scoring impact can't be overstated. With 113 goals and 120 assists for 233 points in 201 games, he is the only player in team history to average more than a point a game. His 74 points this season are already seventh best in Wild history and he set team records for consecutive games with goals (7), assists (9) and points (14) as well.
Now the Wild — who have won nine of their past 11 games despite scoring only 25 goals in that span — must find a way to generate offense without him.
