The Minnesota Wild’s depth will be tested for the next few weeks as injuries are causing a couple of frontline players to miss some significant time.
The Star Tribune’s Michael Russo reports Wild forward Justin Fontaine will miss four to six weeks with a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee.
Additionally, Russo notes Tyler Graovac will miss at least six weeks after he underwent surgery Tuesday to repair his bilateral core muscle.
“Knock on wood, luckily we’re pretty healthy everywhere else, but obviously those are a couple of big injuries,” Wild coach Mike Yeo told reporters on Tuesday.
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Fontaine sustained the injury last week on a knee-to-knee hit from Chicago’s Andrew Desjardins. Despite injuring Fontaine on the hit, Desjardins was not suspended by the NHL.
“With Fonzie, I thought that line with him, Thomas [Vanek] and Charlie [Coyle], that was really starting to come along. They were creating a lot of offense for us and producing for us on a nightly basis,” Yeo said.
Graovac’s injury goes back to early in the year. Russo says he aggravated a preseason injury during the Wild’s opener on Oct. 8.
The injuries will create an opportunity for Minnesota native Jordan Schroeder. The Wild brought him up from their AHL team, the Iowa Wild. Yeo said they will need him to contribute.
“It’s always, ‘What have you done for us lately?'” Yeo said. “That line is not a checking line. That is a line that we need him to create offense. For sure, they have to be reliable defensively, but they have to find a way to produce.”
