TAMPA, Fla. — Jared Spurgeon tried.
He really did.
In a season full of injuries, the Minnesota Wild captain exhausted all his options, treatment-wise, for back and hip issues that president and general manager Bill Guerin said have lingered for months. But on Thursday, Minnesota finally announced what had become inevitable: Spurgeon’s season is over, with separate back and hip surgeries to be scheduled.
Guerin said Spurgeon will be back by September, so he’ll be ready for next season, but “no one is as frustrated as him.”
“Mentally, it’s been a really tough year, for sure,” Spurgeon told The Athletic. “I’ve been grinding through the injuries for a while, and injections and treatment weren’t helping. So I’m excited to get things fixed and feel healthy again.”
Spurgeon is already on long-term injured reserve, so the Wild are able to exceed the salary cap by his $7.575 million hit. Guerin will likely explore acquiring a defenseman now without giving up top assets (like a first-round pick) in return. It would make sense that the incoming defenseman would be a pending unrestricted free agent so that the Wild wouldn’t have to re-sign him and could conceivably flip the player again before the March 8 trade deadline if they turn into sellers. Minnesota has lost nine of its last 11 games after a loss to Tampa Bay on Thursday and is eight points out of a wild-card spot.
The Wild don’t want to blow all the cap space on one player because they’ll need some of Spurgeon’s LTIR room for minor-league call-ups and minor-leaguers currently on the roster.
Guerin said the trade market is an option he’s going to explore.
“We’ve got a lot of defensemen here,” Guerin said. “We’ve got six guys playing well right now, two guys in the stands right now that have played well and contributed. Whether we use that (trade market) or not is TBD. We’ll see. We could. I just don’t know yet.”
The Wild’s third pair is currently Dakota Mermis and rookie Daemon Hunt, both left shots. The two “guys in the stands” are veteran defensemen Alex Goligoski (who has played over 1,000 games) and Jon Merrill. You have to wonder what they’re thinking with Guerin indicating he could explore trading for a D-man with them spending the last few games in the press box.
The problem the Wild are likely to find on the market is that there are not a lot of great options, especially at the price point Guerin is willing to pay (he’s not interested in dealing first-round picks, and it also would be tough to deal second-rounders). So, Sean Walker will be too expensive, and same with Chris Tanev and Noah Hanifin.
One of the more intriguing names is a familiar one: Matt Dumba. The former longtime Wild defenseman checks a lot of the boxes as a pending UFA with not a bad cap hit ($3.9 million) and with familiarity with the team and the area. The Coyotes, however, are ahead of the Wild in the standings and are battling for a playoff spot, so they may not even be sellers. And, wouldn’t it be something if the same defenseman Minnesota struggled to move for years would all of a sudden be too pricey for the Wild in a deal?
Marco Scandella, a 6-foot-3, 220-pound left shot, could be available and is an option. So might be Alexandre Carrier from the Predators, someone coach John Hynes should be familiar with. Erik Johnson, 35, another right shot, is a pending UFA with the Sabres.
Guerin wouldn’t exclusively be looking for a right shot and said taking on a player with a little term isn’t out of the question. Right now, he’s got to decide if he’s comfortable rolling with a third pair of Mermis and Hunt (or putting Merrill/Goligoski back in).
Mermis’ bad turnover at his own blue line quickly led to the Lightning’s third goal in Thursday’s game.
“Mermis has been here for most of the year and played really well,” Guerin said. “He just competes hard and works his ass off. Hunt is getting a good chance here, a…
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