ST. PAUL — The Minnesota Wild will be without their captain and No. 1 blueliner in Jared Spurgeon on Thursday night when the Wild and Florida Panthers both open up their season at Xcel Energy Center. Spurgeon suffered an upper-body injury in Chicago in the Wild’s fifth preseason game when he went into the boards awkwardly due to a check from Chicago forward Reese Johnson. “It’s crappy, obviously,” head coach Dean Evason told the media on Oct. 6. “We’re very disappointed, clearly, but it happens. Hopefully he’s back sooner than later. He’s a quick healer, and like I said, it’s disappointing obviously, but crap happens.” Fortunately for the Wild, Spurgeon wasn’t placed on long-term injured reserve, meaning he’s not expected to be out of the lineup for 10 games, or 24 days. That means if Spurgeon doesn’t return later this month, he should be back in the beginning of November. Why can the Wild finish in the top-3 in a more competitive Central? Following the season opener against the Panthers, the Wild will face the Leafs, Canadiens, Kings, Blue Jackets, Oilers, Flyers, Capitals and Devils during the month of October before playing the Devils again on Nov. 2. So Minnesota plays its first nine games over 21 days. Regardless of when Spurgeon does play his first game this season, the Wild's blueline is going to need to pass a significant test and step up in his absence, plain and simple. Alex Goligoski is taking Spurgeon’s spot alongside Jake Middleton, while the other two pairs of Jonas Brodin with Brock Faber and Jon Merrill with Calen Addison remain intact. “Losing a guy like Jared obviously sucks,” Middleton told the media. “You can’t really replace a guy like him. But fortunately, the organization has seven good defensemen, and even more down in Iowa that are going to be able to help us out.” The Wild will be relying on three players in Goligoski, Calen Addison and Jon Merrill who were scratched a combined 59 times during the regular season last year. Part of that was due to the arrival of John Klingberg at the trade deadline. Goligoski didn’t make an appearance in the playoffs in April and was scratched 36 times over the course of the regular season. Addison was scratched down the stretch, which resulted in him sitting out 19 of the Wild’s final 29 games. Merrill played in two of six playoff games, getting scratched four times and three of the last 13 regular season contests. But Evason and the Wild have confidence in them. “There were situations dictated by people who were here,” Evason said. “(Those) people aren’t here, so we feel very comfortable with the people you’re talking about, that they can play the game and play it very well — within the structure of the way the Minnesota Wild play.” Now it’s their opportunity to silence the critics and pass the test in a bigger role without Spurgeon, the Wild’s two-way gem. “Obviously no one’s going to replace Spurge in this room or on the ice. So it’s going to be a group effort from the rest of us D and forwards,” Goligoski told the media. “Everybody’s going to have to pull a little extra weight.” REQUIRED READING • Kirill Kaprizov named alternate captain [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/minnesota-wild/news/wild-announce-kirill-kaprizov-as-new-alternate-captain] • Wild top prospect, Marat Khusnutdinov, traded to HC Sochi [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/minnesota-wild/news/report-wild-top-prospect-marat-khusnutdinov-sent-to-hc-sochi] • Wild extend Ryan Hartman [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/minnesota-wild/news/wild-sign-ryan-hartman-to-three-year-extension], Marcus Foligno [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/minnesota-wild/news/wild-sign-marcus-foligno-to-a-four-year-extension] and Mats Zuccarello [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/minnesota-wild/news/wild-sign-mats-zuccarello-to-two-year-contract-extension] • 'His speed and shot are elite': Hunter Haight strives to be 'a name they need to talk about' [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/minnesota-wild/features/his-speed-and-shot-are-elite-hunter-haight-strives-to-be-a-name-they-need-to-talk-about] THN.com/Free [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjAwNjEyMTE2NDA1NjkxNzY4/my-thn-ad-banner-1500x150.jpg] THN.com/Free
