Minnesota Wild Leave Injured Stars at Home for Road Trip
The Minnesota Wild are in San Jose, CA this weekend — about five to six hours north of the devastating wildfires that are blazing around the Los Angeles area that forced Vikings vs Rams to be moved to Arizona — where they will play the Sharks on Friday night before hitting Vegas on their way home for a Sunday night matchup vs the Golden Knights.
After that, the Wild will have a two-day break, before they are back in St. Paul on Wednesday for game 45 vs the Edmonton Oilers. Unfortunately, we found out on Friday afternoon that Minnesota will go on their short West Coast weekend road trip without their injured superstar Kirill Kaprizov (lower-body).
Minnesota Wild will travel without Kirill Kaprizov, Jonas Brodin and Brock Faber
Kaprizov has been out of the lineup since he left early in the Wild’s Christmas Eve 1-0 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks. Staying home with Kirill will be two of Minnesota’s best and most reliable defenders, Jonas Brodin (lower-body) and Brock Faber (upper-body), who are dealing with injuries of their own.
#mnwild heading into back to back in San Jose/Vegas shorthanded. Kirill Kaprizov, Jonas Brodin + Brock Faber did not make the trip due to their injuries.
— Joe Smith (@JoeSmithNHL) January 10, 2025
Faber and Brodin were both knocked out of the Minnesota Wild lineup during a 6-4 victory over the St. Louis Blues on January 7. Faber took a high elbow in the first period, and was never seen again.
Brodin blocked a shot late in the 3rd period. He stayed on the ice for the final seconds of that win, but missed the Wild’s 6-1 loss vs Colorado two nights later. Now, it appears he will miss at least two more, an unfortunate reality for a blueline already missing captain, Jared Spurgeon.
Big test Friday night for limping Wild
Since Kaprizov left the lineup, the Minnesota Wild have gone on a hot streak, winning six of eight games, if you include their victory over the Blackhawks the night he left with an injury. And without three of their best defenseman vs the Avalanche, Minnesota looked way better than the 6-1 final score suggests.
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Given that context, it’s important for the Wild to get off to good start tonight, in San Jose. They’ve proven over and over again that they have the depth and coaching to get passed debilitating injuries.
Now, can they keep a bad Sharks team off the scoreboard during the first 10 minutes, and hopefully pot a goal or two themselves? If so, it’ll probably be a pretty good Friday night out west.
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