The Minnesota Wild have announced forward Joel Eriksson Ek and defenseman Jared Spurgeon will miss tonight’s (Oct. 15) game against the St. Louis Blues. Eriksson Ek is sidelined due to a broken nose, while Spurgeon is dealing with a lower-body injury. Both players last appeared in Minnesota’s Oct. 12 matchup against the Seattle Kraken but were unavailable on Oct. 14 against the Winnipeg Jets.
INJURY UPDATE: Joel Eriksson Ek (broken nose) and Jared Spurgeon (lower-body) will not play tonight.
— Minnesota Wild PR (@mnwildPR) October 15, 2024
Spurgeon, 34, has been the Wild’s captain since Jan. 3, 2021, and has played all 869 of his NHL games with Minnesota. Although drafted by the New York Islanders, he signed with the Wild on Sep. 23, 2010. In his absence, Declan Chisholm is expected to step into the lineup on defense.
Eriksson Ek, selected in the first round of the 2015 NHL Draft, has played in 500 regular-season NHL games. Known as one of the league’s top two-way forwards, he has finished top-10 in Selke Trophy voting for four consecutive seasons. With him missing a second straight game, Marco Rossi, Ryan Hartman, Marat Khusnutdinov, and Frederick Gaudreau are likely to share center duties.
The Wild plan to go with 11 forwards and seven defensemen tonight, with Daemon Hunt stepping in for the injured Marcus Johansson. As a result, Minnesota will have no healthy scratches for the game, as Eriksson Ek, Spurgeon, and Johansson are all out, though none have been placed on injured reserve.
Unfortunately for the Wild, they will be facing the Blues in their home opener. St. Louis has started strong, with a 2-1-0 record and 11 goals, the second-highest in the Central Division. Minnesota’s defense will need to step up in the absence of these key players.
