Minnesota Wild head coach Dean Evason told reporters on Friday that he believes the hit injured Kirill Kaprizov should be reviewed by the NHL.
“We certainly didn’t like the hit,” Evason said according to Jessi Pierce of NHL.com. “Thought it was an unnecessary hit on a vulnerable player. I hope [the NHL] looks after it.”
Kaprizov was injured in the second period of the Wild’s win over the Boston Bruins. While skating in his own end, Kaprizov was tripped by Burins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk before being sent head-first into the boards by Trent Fredric.
Kaprizov needed help to get to the locker room an did not return to the game.
Kirill appears to hurt his leg after getting tangled up, and needed help heading into the locker room. pic.twitter.com/L96x6ZjYUa
— Hockey Wilderness (@hockeywildernes) January 7, 2022
“We don’t believe that was a hockey play,” Evason continued. “The puck’s sitting there, they can grab the puck, instead they chose to finish a guy that was in a vulnerable position with his back to us and we lost a great player in our league because of it.”
The injury is the latest in a string for the Wild, who have been without Joel Eriksson Ek, Jared Spurgeon, Cam Talbot and others in recent weeks.
Hearing #mnwild defenseman Jonas Brodin, who blocked a third-period shot from point-blank range, didn’t practice today and is seeing the doc. Doesn’t sound good.
So add Brodin to Kaprizov, Eriksson Ek, Spurgeon, Talbot, Greenway, Bjugstad and Duhaime
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) January 7, 2022
Kaprizov has been ruled out for Saturday’s game against Washington but his injury comes ahead of a lull in the schedule. The Wild won’t play again until they host the Anaheim Ducks on Jan. 14.
Although he believed the break would help, Evason remained hopeful but not optimistic about Kaprizov’s timetable to return.
“You’ve got a guy as gritty and determined as he is, if he can’t play, then, no, we’re not optimistic at all,” Evason said via Pierce. “Like I said, the nice thing is we’ve got a week to heal up.”
