Wild Call Up Two Intriguing Youngsters, Add to IR Again

Currently the Minnesota Wild own a 20-9-5 record. They have scored 11 goals in their past two games, and are coming off a shutout against the Washington Capitals on Tuesday.

But the Wild’s strong play of late stretches beyond the two games they’ve had superstar defenseman Quinn Hughes on roster, following the league-rattling blockbuster completed by president of hockey operations Bill Guerin over the weekend.

In fact, the Wild ride into tonight’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets riding a five game winning streak. Go back further, Minnesota is 13-2-1 in their last 16 games, going all the way back to mid November.

Even more impressive, they continue to win despite a seemingly never-ending list of injuries up and down the roster. Most recently, the Wild have been winning without Jonas Brodin and Jacob Middleton on the blue line, not to mention no Mats Zuccarello opposite Kirill Kaprizov.

Blue line injuries force Minnesota Wild to shuffle

Unfortunately, news on the injury front did not get better Thursday, when the MN Wild placed Brodin on injured reserve to make room for incoming call-ups from Iowa.

According to Michael Russo (The Athletic), the shuffling today could lead to the NHL debuts of young defensemen, Carson Lambos or David Spacek. Both prospects have been called up before, but neither got to log their first NHL ice time.

Finally, Carson Lambos’ NHL debut could be coming. Recalled with Daemon Hunt hurt. Jonas Brodin placed on IR to make room, but Brodin can be activated anytime he’s ready to return because it’s retroactive. Wild now down Brodin, Middleton, Bogosian and Hunt on back end

— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) December 17, 2025

Believe David Spacek has been called up for #mnwild. So this is Lambos and Spacek’s second career callups. If either plays tonight, it’ll be their NHL debuts

— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) December 18, 2025

Carson Lambos was the Wild’s first round pick (26th overall) in 2021. Across 26 AHL games this season, he has two goals and three assists, with a -3 (+/-).

David Spacek was a fifth round pick in 2022. While he has yet to score in 26 games for Iowa this season, Spacek has tallied 11 assists, with a -5 (+/-).

Guerin and Hynes were hoping to ride Brodin’s injury out without a stint on IR, but the lower-body injury Hunt suffered Tuesday in DC is forcing their hand.

Wild roster crunch could affect further trade plans

What the Minnesota Wild have accomplished over the last month-plus, given the extent of their injury issues, is worthy of applause. But at some point, you can’t keep overcoming all of these health issues.

Even with the monster roster Guerin has built, the Wild need to get healthy for their Quinn Hughes gamble to pay off. It’s quite possible Billy isn’t done dealing yet either. Unfortunately, their mounting injuries could affect those plans too.

With 7 injuries and all the minor leaguers up, #mnwild now have 29 players on payroll and no more room for additions. If they don’t start to get some guys back and reassign some guys, this could really affect trade deadline plans

— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) December 18, 2025