Wild defenseman to have MRI, avoided ACL injury

Wild left-shot defenseman Jonas Brodin will undergo imaging on Wednesday to determine the extent of a lower-body injury he sustained in Tuesday’s 4-0 win over the Ducks, The Athletic’s Michael Russo reports. 

The belief is that Brodin has avoided an ACL tear in his right knee, which folded awkwardly when Ducks winger Alex Killorn delivered a late shove along the boards. Killorn was not penalized for the play, and he will not face supplemental discipline.

While Brodin may not be out months, it’s certainly possible his 2023-24 campaign may be in jeopardy with only a few weeks left on the regular-season schedule if imaging reveals a mid-grade injury of any kind. 

The blue-liner, who’s now in the third season of a seven-year, $42M extension, missed 17 games earlier this season with an upper-body injury.

The injuries have limited Minnesota’s top shutdown man to 51 games on the season, although he’s looked no worse for wear when in the lineup. 

Brodin has seven goals and 23 points through 51 games, the highest points-per-game pace of his 12-year career, as well as a team-leading +17 rating. 

He hasn’t overtaken the No. 1 role vacated by captain Jared Spurgeon’s season-ending injuries, however. That honor has gone to rookie Brock Faber, who’s well on his way toward a top-two finish in Calder Trophy voting with 38 points in 69 games while averaging 25:06 per contest — the most for a rookie since ATOI began being tracked in the 1997-98 season.

Now 30, Brodin remains a core on-ice and off-ice component to this Wild club, and any absence is a gigantic blow to their chances of capturing a playoff spot. 

The Wild are hot — 6-2-2 in their past 10 games — but only have a roughly 1 in 5 chance of catching the Golden Knights for the second wild-card spot, per MoneyPuck, a number that certainly drops without Brodin and Spurgeon in the fold.

With Brodin likely out for Wednesday's game against the Kings at a minimum, one of Alex Goligoski or Dakota Mermis will slide into the lineup after serving as healthy scratches against Anaheim. 

Mermis is much more probable, as the 38-year-old Goligoski has been a scratch in 19 straight games dating back to Feb. 7 against the Blackhawks. Mermis has been a healthy scratch for five straight.