Minnesota Wild Activate Jake Middleton
Nobody really knows how they are doing it, but despite critical injury after critical injury, the Minnesota Wild keep on winning, at least to a degree where they remain the 3rd best team in the Western Conference, with 54 points, even without superstar Kirill Kaprizov in the lineup now for two weeks.
Jake Middleton activated for the Minnesota Wild vs St. Louis Blues
But on Tuesday, we got huge news regarding the blue line. After missing nearly a month with a broken finger that required surgery, the Minnesota Wild leading shot-blocker Jake Middleton — who was having the best season of his career before injury — has been activated off long-term injured reserve.
Joe Smith of The Athletic reported that Middleton was skating well in practice, Monday. So much so that you couldn’t tell he’d been out a month with a broken finger. He reportedly delivered a check on teammate Matt Boldy and was “stickhandling as he usually does.”
The #mnwild has activated defenseman Jake Middleton from Long-Term Injured Reserve and reassigned forwards Travis Boyd and Brendan Gaunce and defenseman Carson Lambos to the @IAWild.
— Minnesota Wild PR (@mnwildPR) January 7, 2025
Jake Middleton moving around well in his first practice back #mnwild pic.twitter.com/BnEkaBjHee
— Joe Smith (@JoeSmithNHL) January 6, 2025
This is a huge boost for a Wild blue line that is now without Middleton’s normal defensive partner, Jared Spurgeon, who was placed on injured reserve Monday, where he is expected to stay for two or three weeks.
What are Wild getting back with Middleton’s return?
Spurgeon is tied with Jonas Brodin for second on the team in shots blocked with 47, but neither come close to Middleton’s team-leading 65, despite him missing 11 games. The Wild are 6-5-0 in their games without Middleton patrolling the blue line, but they’ve won five of their last six, despite missing their superstar and Hart Trophy candidate, Kirill Kaprizov.
The big surprise for Minnesota has been the continued offense coming from the blue liners despite the loss of Middleton, who led the team’s defensemen in points with 11 before getting hurt.
Since then, Brodin has picked up five points to lead Wild defensemen, Declan Chisholm has contributed three points, Brock Faber and Zach Bogosian have added two each, and Jon Merrill has one.
Related: Minnesota Wild Upgrade Contract of AHL Goalie Due to Quiet Jesper Wallstedt Injury
The surprise addition of Middleton to a blue line that was effective in upsetting the entries of the highest shot volume team in the NHL (Carolina) should make for an even more stifling defense, too.
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