The Minnesota Wild, in desperate need of wins, will be playing without forwards Zach Parise and Jason Zucker when they face the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday.
Parise will not be traveling with the team on their two-game road trip. He’s been sidelined with an upper-body injury that was presumably acquired during Tuesday’s game against the New York Islanders. He didn’t speak with media following the game and was instead with trainers. He’s officially considered day-to-day.
Zucker, who took a shoulder to the head and then hit his head on the ice during Sunday’s Stadium Series game, was placed on injured reserve with a concussion Wednesday. Though coach John Torchetti told media Tuesday that Zucker didn’t have a concussion, there were few who saw the hit and believed that it could be anything but a concussion.
With Zucker on IR, he will miss at least the next three Wild games and is not traveling with the team on the road trip.
In response to the IR designation the Wild have recalled Jordan Schroeder from the Iowa Wild. After showing flashes of a solid two-way game last year, Schroeder hasn’t been as good when he’s been given NHL time, scoring just a single goal through 13 games with the Wild.
Minnesota has been reluctant to call up unnecessary players due to a difficult cap situation, but the loss of Parise puts the Wild in a spot where they needed to bring someone else into the fold. Schroeder should be getting a shot to prove he deserves some more NHL time. He’s likely to get at least two games, and will be playing for Torchetti for the first time at the NHL level. Torchetti has coached Schroeder with AHL Iowa previously.
#mnwild has placed Jason Zucker on IR and recalled Jordan Schroeder from @iawild. @TOTALLUXURYLIMO I-35 Report: https://t.co/gXDssuxVvE
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) February 24, 2016
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Dustin Nelson is the News Editor for The Hockey Writers. He’s a contributor to Hockey Prospectus, Hockey Wilderness, and writes a column for Rotowire. He’s also written for Gone Puck Wild, Wild Xtra, InDigest, Electric Literature, The Rumpus, Tiny Mix Tapes, Prefix Magazine & other publications. Have a tip? Email him at dlukenelson[at]gmail[dot]com.
