Not only did the Wild lose 7-4 in a very ugly game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday, but they also lost Matt Boldy to an injury when he left the game in the third period with about ten minutes left.
Leafs defender Morgan Rielly hit Boldy in the left shoulder and sandwiched him along the boards. The 22-year-old forward immediately fell to the ice and eventually skated off on what was about a 15 second shift holding his right shoulder.
The Maple Leafs regathered the puck on a breakout, entered the zone and ten seconds later Rielly set up Calle Jarnkrok to make it 5-3 with 10:06 left in the third.
After the hit, Boldy got up holding his right shoulder and skated to the bench. Marco Rossi hoped over the boards but at that time the Leafs had already capitalized on the 5-on-4 chance.
Leafs scored 30 seconds later, got another minutes later, and walked away with a 7-4 win over the Wild who shot themselves in the foot with bad defensive play.
Unfortunately for the Wild, they don't have much relief in terms of cap space to call up a player to replace Boldy. Which means they can't call up Sammy Walker or Adam Beckman to fill that spot as of now.
They could call up one of either Vinni Lettieri, Jujhar Khaira, Nic Petan, or Nick Swaney. But with Dakota Mermis already called up and currently sitting out as a healthy scratch, they would have to send him down to recall a forward.
With how bad the Wild's defense played in the 7-4 loss, Minnesota would probably not want to send down Mermis but rather play him. This means the Wild would play the Montreal Canadiens with 11 forwards and seven defenders and just double shift some forwards.
After scoring a goal against the Leafs and having a goal waived off against the Florida Panthers, maybe the Wild elevate Rossi to play with Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello which would more Ryan Hartman to the second line with Marcus Johansson and Joel Eriksson Ek.
But the Wild will probably just keep Hartman with Kaprizov and move Freddy Gaudreau up to the second line with Johansson and Ek. They would also move Brandon Duhaime or Pat Maroon up to the third line to play with Rossi and Marcus Foligno.
Regardless, this is a big loss for the Wild especially if Boldy is out long-term. The way he held his shoulder and skated to the bench right away could be something to worry about.