The Minnesota Wild placed Connor Dewar on injured reserve and recalled forward Jake Lucchini from the Iowa Wild, the team announced Saturday.
As a requirement for being placed on injured reserve, Dewar has to be out of the lineup for at least seven days. But the center's absence is expected to be a few weeks, according to The Athletic's Joe Smith. The Wild have three games next week before having 10 days off, so the 24-year-old isn't expected to return until after the All-Star break.
Dewar suffered a lower-body injury in the Wild's 6-4 win over the Florida Panthers on Friday night. Dewar, who finished the night with a 5:16 time-on-ice total, didn't return in the game after taking a hip check from Gustav Forsling early in the second period.
Dewar, who has seven goals and nine points in 45 games this season, is one of the Wild's most depended on penalty killers. He has played 93 minutes and 55 seconds on the penalty kill so far this season, which ranks second behind Joel Eriksson Ek at 100:09.
With Freddy Gaudreau (upper-body) also injured, the Wild recalled Lucchini ahead of their clash with the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday afternoon — which concludes the three-game road trip. Lucchini, 28, played four games between his first two call-ups with the Wild this season.
The Wild also recalled Jesper Wallstedt and reassigned Daemon Hunt to Iowa on Saturday after Marc-Andre Fleury suffered an upper-body injury against the Panthers Friday night.
Fleury got hit up high by William Lockwood — who has a hearing today — behind the net early in the first period. Fleury remained in the game until Filip Gustavsson came in relief midway through the second. There was no update after the game on Fleury’s status, but he's presumably going to miss time with the recall of Wallstedt.