Jared Spurgeon out for the remainder of 2023-24 season: How does this impact the Wild?
The Minnesota Wild will be without their captain and top defenseman Jared Spurgeon for the remainder of the 2023-24 season, the team announced late Thursday afternoon.
Spurgeon, who has been injured since Jan. 2, is out for the season and is scheduled to have left hip surgery on Feb. 6. Then, about four weeks later, the 34-year-old will have back surgery, according to the team statement.
The Wild expect Spurgeon to be fully healthy when training camp begins next season in September.
Spurgeon’s last game came against the Calgary Flames at home in the first contest of the calendar year.
Spurgeon has missed the past seven games since and has only played 16 games all season due to injury. The right-shot blueliner suffered an upper-body injury in the Wild's final preseason road game against the Chicago Blackhawks on Oct. 5. That injury kept him out of the lineup for about a month as he missed the first 13 games of the season.
Spurgeon made his regular-season debut in the Wild's loss in Buffalo on Nov. 10. Spurgeon played just 13 contests including that one before leaving the lineup again in December with a lower-body injury — which caused him to miss seven more games.
Spurgeon returned to the lineup in the Wild's loss in Winnipeg on Dec. 30 and played a total of three games over four days before being sidelined again after a loss at home to the Flames on Jan. 2.
The Wild are without their captain Jared Spurgeon for the remainder of the season.
Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports
Spurgeon finishes his injury-riddled season with five assists and a +5 rating across 16 games, where he averaged 23 minutes and 20 seconds per game. He scored 11 goals and 34 points with a +32 rating across 79 games last season.
This is a huge loss for the Wild and leaves them with a massive hole on their blueline. Spurgeon, an analytics darling, is reliable in all situations and is their best all-around defenseman.
Given the Wild's playoff aspirations, it wouldn't be surprising if they look to trade for a pending unrestricted free agent defenseman to bolster their blueline after losing one of their most important players. With Spurgeon on long-term injured reserve, the Wild can now go above the cap by $7.575 million, his average annual value.
The Wild currently sit in seventh place in the Central Division with a 18-20-5 record and are eight points behind the Edmonton Oilers and Nashville Predators, who hold the first and second wild-card spots, respectively.
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