Wild dealt mixed bag of injury updates ahead of tonight’s matchup with Columbia
By Colin Gallant, MSN – October 19, 2025
The Minnesota Wild were dealt a piece of good news and a piece of bad news ahead of a trip to Nationwide Arena to play the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Joel Eriksson Ek, who missed the past two games with a broken nose, returned to practice on Thursday and will be an option on Saturday night in Ohio. That’s excellent news for the Wild.
But the squad will be without captain Jared Spurgeon for at least the first half of an upcoming five-game road trip, NHL.com’s Jessi Pierce confirmed.
“Sometimes you go through with the surgeries, and then you go into that major activity, from training camp into the regular season, and the fact that he’s — we’re hopeful that he’s going to be back for the second half of the trip,” said Wild head coach John Hynes.
“Today’s news is really good and talking with ‘Spurg,’ he looks good and sounds good. And so hopefully that’s the plan that’s going to come through.”
Spurgeon was injury-riddled in 2023-24, playing just 16 regular-season games due to hip and back surgery. The hip surgery was February 6; the back surgery, right around a month later.
The veteran remains day-to-day with a lower-body injury; he played in Minnesota’s first two games of the 2024-25 campaign, but didn’t suit up for a 2-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets, nor a 4-1 triumph over the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday.
While Spurgeon missing time again is certainly disappointing, the news was softened by Eriksson Ek returning to practice — albeit in a full bubble. The 27-year-old Swede had surgery on Monday and will keep the full cage on while his nose heals over the next couple of weeks, per Pierce.
“It was just an unlucky play,” Eriksson Ek said on Thursday. “Luck, I don’t think this is lucky but yeah it could have been worse, too, for sure.”
The ailment occurred in a 5-4 loss to the Seattle Kraken on October 12. Defenseman Jonas Brodin, who skipped practice, and forward Marcus Johansson, who missed one game with a lower-body injury, are both expected to play in Ohio on Saturday.
The Wild have dealt with some injury trouble early on, but the squad is still off to a solid start in 2024-25.
Filip Gustavsson’s historic goalie goal was electric for the Wild
Minnesota still hasn’t lost in regulation, putting together a very respectable 2-0-2 record through four games. The highlight was Filip Gustavsson’s incredible goalie goal on Tuesday night against the Blues — the first in the history of the franchise.
Gustavsson’s goal capped off a 4-1 win over the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center—and it turns out that surefire Hall of Famer Marc-Andre Fleury was the one who planted the idea in his head.
Jeff Le-Imagn Images
Gustavsson looks to have quickly bounced back from a disappointing campaign that saw the Wild miss the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. In the early going, he’s amassed a 2-0-1 record with a sparkling 1.66 goals-against average and .948 save percentage.
Gustavsson was one of the league’s best goalies in 2022-23, sporting the second-best save percentage and goals-against average in the NHL. And after a tough 2023-24 campaign, it looks like the 26-year-old is returning to form.
And hat’s just what the Wild need as they look to make a triumphant return to the postseason next April.