Jared Spurgeon

You have to be able to... reasonably navigate the infirmary in order to have successful seasons.

And you've got guys on this roster that really have some extensive history, whether it be Jonas Brodine, whether it be Jared Spurgeon, whether it be Zach Bogosian.

Ole Mata's got some injuries in his past.

Quinn Hughes has been dinged up a couple of times.

You're going to have to lean on him.

You're going to have to lean on Quinn.

You're going to have to lean on Jared Spurgeon, Jonas Brodine, which, as I said in segment one, you're kind of opening them up then to potential injury risk.

You're going to have to lean on everybody to try to – fill that void.

Who's going to step up? We've also got some aging defensemen out there, too.

Jared Spurgeon, Bogosian.

Now you're going to be really relying on your young guys.

So Spachek wanted an opportunity.

The trickle down of everything is so massive here because of the loss of this guy.

And Kirsten, you're exactly right.

Like, OK, so the pairing is going to be Jared Spurgeon and Quinn Hughes, which we saw a little bit.

It wasn't great, but we saw a little bit last year.

Now, as far as the on ice time is concerned, obviously Quinn Hughes is going to take a large amount of ice time himself.

And... we will see an uptick in, for sure, Jonas Brodine and Jared Spurgeon.

Those two will certainly take some of those minutes that are not going to be filled by Brock Faber.

They'll certainly be asked to fill a good amount of minutes between the two of them.

But as far as some of the... options go, what do the pairings look like with Brock Faber not in the lineup? So of all the pairings that the Minnesota Wild used last year, the numbers, and I took all of them just to try to get kind of an idea as to what is going to work the best and what are some things that should be stayed away from.

And I focused on the ones, obviously, of the players that are still here because Jake Middleton, not here anymore.

But you look at, I think, the most likely is Quinn Hughes and Jared Spurgeon.

That is probably your most likely opening night top pairing with Brock Faber out.

But the key depth pieces have got to stay healthy as well.

We're talking the Bermuda Triangle of injuries on this Minnesota Wild roster, that being Jared Spurgeon, Jonas Brodine, and Jewel Erickson-Eck.

For the Minnesota Wild to get to where they want to go, Those three need to play big roles in what happens.

You've got to be able to get through the season with Kirill Kaprizov, with Matt Boldy, with Quinn Hughes, and with Brock Faber, with them in tow.

Do you know who

that means is in the top six in Minnesota as they pull up the lines? Who? So you got your top pair, Quinn Hughes and Jared Spurgeon.

That's fine.

Third pair, Damon Hunt and Zach Bogosian.

forget, you know, you look at their team.

Without him, Jared Spurgeon's got to move up now.

Right.

And

So, you know, I think that, you know, i-in these situations, particularly with an injury like that, I think it is important to make sure that the guys understand, you know, what's going on, and I thought Billy did a great job at that.

What, what did you see last season, uh, for the short stint that Spurgeon played with, with Hughes?

I thought it was pretty good.

Um, right off the top of my head, I don't, I don't remember.

So, um, you know, when, when a player like that comes out, on the ice part of it, guys have to be able to, to step up and, and make sure that no one's trying to take his place.

It's just making sure that the responsibilities and the minutes are divided up, and you do it by a group effort.

Spurgeon will take his power play?

Yes.

Instead, it is one in which...

It looks like Quinn Hughes will start the season on Thursday night in Nashville playing with Jared Spurgeon.

So your thoughts about this unwanted news, one of the Wilds' best players, Brock Faber, out indefinitely on the injured, reserved, fractured skull.

Yeah, I'll echo your points first about the person, Brock Faber, than the player, because it's, I mean, it sucks.

But now it's something where they had tried previously, I think, with mixing up those defensive lines a little bit because at a certain point, I think we saw last year, you can't just have those two guys locked in you know, on that top pairing, regardless of the situation, everything.

But now you're forced to do that.

So Jared Spurgeon is going to step in.

You got to hope that his capabilities can keep up with Quinn Hughes and are able to read and how, you know, Brock Faber was able to kind of stay up with the motor.