Segment 4: Who should be available on the Calgary Flames, Ottawa Senators and San Jose Sharks? Jared Spurgeon [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjAzNzI0NjQ1MzgyMzAxNTg2/usatsi_22080752_168400847_lowres.jpg] Jared Spurgeon The Minnesota Wild will be without their captain on the ice for the rest of the season as they try to climb back into the playoff race. Jared Spurgeon has left hip surgery scheduled for Feb. 6 and back surgery about four weeks later, the team announced Thursday. While he won't be back in 2023-24, the team said he is expected to fully recover by training camp ahead of 2024-25. Spurgeon missed about a month of action to begin the season with an upper-body injury. He then missed seven games in December with a lower-body injury. The 34-year-old last played on Jan. 2 against the Calgary Flames and played 20:15 of ice time, a drop from the 25 minutes of action he skated in each of the prior two matchups. In 16 games, Spurgeon had five assists, 29 blocked shots and 23:20 of ice time per game. Last season, the Edmonton native had 11 goals, 23 assists and 34 points in 79 games. This is Spurgeon's 14th season playing for the Wild after being drafted in the sixth round, 156th overall, by the New York Islanders in 2008. He hasn't played fewer than 39 games in any season before this one or fewer than 50 matches in an 82-game campaign. His career totals include 110 goals, 274 assists and 384 points in 867 outings. The 5-foot-9 Spurgeon spent most of his minutes this season on the right side of a pairing with 6-foot-3 Jake Middleton. The latter practised alongside 21-year-old rookie Brock Faber on Thursday, according to Dylan Loucks of THN's Minnesota Wild site [https://x.com/DylanLoucks4/status/1747658959454949717?s=20]. Faber's averaging 24:47 of ice time per game, taking on important responsibilities on the penalty kill and power play. With Spurgeon on long-term injured reserve and not returning to the lineup this season, the Wild and GM Bill Guerin now have extra cap space to try to fill his lost on-ice presence during their push for the playoffs. PuckPedia has the Wild with $5.125 million in current cap space, and the Wild are eight points behind the Nashville Predators in the second Western Conference wild-card spot. Guerin told reporters during his mid-season press conference on Monday [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/minnesota-wild/news/wild-gm-bill-guerin-confident-team-can-overcome-first-half-struggles-i-expect-us-to-compete-for-a-playoff-spot] he still expects them to compete for a playoff position. For more Minnesota Wild coverage, check out THN's Minnesota site at THN.com/minnesota [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/minnesota-wild/].
