Joel Eriksson Ek injury update; Marat Khusnutdinov to make Wild debut
Joel Eriksson Ek is officially day to day with a lower-body injury, according to Minnesota Wild head coach John Hynes.
That's a big sigh of relief for the Wild, who cannot afford to lose their best two-way player as they battle for a wild card spot in the Western Conference playoff race. Entering play Thursday, Minnesota is tied with St. Louis at 71 points, six points behind Vegas for the second wild card.
Eriksson Ek took a shot from Nick Bjugstad in Minnesota's 4-1 win over Arizona on Tuesday. He left the game and didn't return and he's not going to play Thursday when the Wild host Anaheim. His status for Saturday's showdown in St. Louis is unclear.
Without Erikson Ek, Minnesota will debut one of their top prospects, Marat Khusnutdinov. Based on reports from Thursday's morning skate, the Russian rookie will center the third line with Adam Beckman and Freddy Gaudreau on his wings.
Expected Wild lines Thursday against the Ducks:
- L1: Kirill Kaprizov, Ryan Hartman, Matt Boldy
- L2: Marcus Johansson, Marco Rossi, Mats Zuccarello
- L3: Marcus Foligno, Marat Khusnutdinov, Freddy Gaudreau
- L4: Mason Shaw, Jake Lucchini, Vinni Lettieri
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— Minny Hockey (@MinnyHockey) March 13, 2024
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.