ST. PAUL, Minn. — So injury-riddled throughout last season, the Minnesota Wild’s new campaign is already off to a precarious start.

Mats Zuccarello was already out until November after surgery on a lower-body injury, and now center Nico Sturm — the offseason pickup intended to help cure the Wild’s ills in the faceoff circle and on the penalty kill — is sidelined for what’s expected to be a “significant amount of time.”

Coach John Hynes didn’t offer a specific timeline Wednesday, but league sources told The Athletic that Sturm is expected to undergo surgery for a back injury that has been ailing him since the first practice of training camp.

This is a significant hole in the lineup because Hynes planned to deploy Sturm in a variety of ways beyond his fourth-line role.

“You have to divide up the responsibilities,” Hynes said. “Seeing Marco (Rossi) in camp, Marco has taken a step. He’s a top-four penalty killer right now. I think that helps ice time. (Joel Eriksson Ek) is obviously going to be in those situations.

“We’ve got an injury to one of our centermen, but we’ve got three veteran centers. This is a great opportunity for Ryan Hartman to step up and be the guy we need him to be — to either not put some guys in certain situations but also be a guy we can count on night in and night out, shift in and shift out, regularly to help us win games.”

Hunter Haight, 21, was recalled in Sturm’s absence and is set to make his NHL debut on the fourth line unless something changes. His parents, Steve and Amy, and girlfriend, Brie, will be in attendance for the game. Liam Ohgren and Vinnie Hinostroza will likely be on his wings, which means Danila Yurov’s NHL debut appears to be on hold.

Talk about a roller coaster of emotions for Haight, who was the final cut of training camp. Monday, Haight was going to dinner with AHL Iowa teammates when Iowa general manager Matt Hendricks called with the good news.

Haight was excited and looked comfortable in Wednesday’s practice. He had terrific chemistry last season in Iowa with his now-NHL linemate Ohgren.

“I think I’m ready,” Haight said. “It’s just … I’m excited. … It’s always an opportunity when you’re here. I’ve got to take full advantage of it and try to do what I can to help the team.”

There’s no doubt president of hockey operations and GM Bill Guerin will be paying attention to whether Haight can fill Sturm’s shoes. If not, they’ll need Yurov, who wasn’t nearly as good at center in training camp as he was at wing, to move to the middle, or they’ll need to look to Iowa or make a trade.

The Wild checked in with free agent Jack Roslovic this week, but even though he remains unsigned to start the season, he thinks he can sign for more money than Minnesota was willing to pay him.

He would have had a chance to fit into the lineup on any line between 2 and 4 and play center or wing, so we’ll see if that ever changes.

#mnwild lines

Kaprizov-Rossi-Boldy
Foligno-Eriksson Ek-Tarasenko
Trenin-Hartman-Johansson
Ohgren-Haight-Hinostroza
Yurov

Middleton-Faber
Buium-Spurgeon
Bogosian-Jiricek
Brodin-Hunt

— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) October 8, 2025

Hynes didn’t commit to the exact lineup in St. Louis, but judging by line rushes, Hynes saying Ohgren would play and Haight’s parents flying to St. Louis, by process of elimination, Yurov’s NHL debut will wait.

Hynes had said Monday that Yurov and Ohgren likely would not play in the same lineup initially.

“I’ve talked with Danila,” Hynes said. “He’s learning every day. He’s getting better. He’s going to be a good player. We believe in him as a player. I think coming in sometimes to ‘first games,’ we’re going to have to make choices. I think when you have the possibility of some of the younger guys around, there’s other guys (to choose from). Hunter has played in the American League. He’s played in North America. He scored 20 goals last year. Ohgren has been up and down. He’s got some experience.

“It doesn’t mean that Danila is not going to play. We may make the decision to go with guys who have more North American experience, and then we’ll go there. There’s lots of games coming, so we’ll just get the lineup that we feel comfortable with and gives us the best chance to win against St. Louis.”

Brodin closer

Defenseman Jonas Brodin practiced in a regular jersey Wednesday, indicating he could undergo full contact — the next step in his return to game action. Whether that will be in Thursday’s opener remains to be seen.

“I don’t have an answer for you yet,” Hynes said.

John Hynes and Jonas Brodin wrapping up a long conversation. Regular colored sweater for Brodin pic.twitter.com/VfzzQVoGIf

— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) October 8, 2025

Brodin had offseason surgery on an upper-body injury but has been skating with the group since captain’s practices. He’s been working his way up to different levels of physical contact in practices.

When Brodin is back, Hynes indicated — at least at the start — he’ll probably keep rookie Zeev Buium with captain Jared Spurgeon. So it would be Brodin with Zach Bogosian or David Jiricek, or perhaps Jake Middleton will go to the third pair and Brodin will play with Brock Faber.

“They’ve been a good pair and worked well,” Hynes said of Buium-Spurgeon. “Zeev continues to progress and show what he can do. He understands the other parts of the game too.”

Hunt excited to be back

Each time Daemon Hunt, a third-round pick by the Wild in 2020, has walked into the dressing room the past three days, he has smiled simply because he can’t believe he’s back after being blindsided by last November’s trade to the Columbus Blue Jackets in the Jiricek deal.

“It’s like a full-circle moment,” said Hunt, who was claimed off waivers Friday. “But it’s kind of funny, just like a little six-month vacation in Columbus and Cleveland and then back. I wasn’t sure if anyone was going to claim me. It was my first ever time on waivers. There’s always that chance. Lucky enough, it was Minnesota again.”

Daemon Hunt looking comfortable in #mnwild colors pic.twitter.com/ODcZeZ3GYu

— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) October 6, 2025

Hunt, who is not expected to play in St. Louis, was picked up to give the Wild left-shot defenseman depth with Brodin’s status uncertain. Initially, the Wild will have to carry eight defensemen because they can’t just send Hunt to waivers since they prevented him from clearing. If they were to put him back on waivers, Columbus could grab him and send him directly to Cleveland as long as no other team attempted to pick him up.

“I need to be very good. I need to be very dialed,” Hunt said. “But I’m excited for this opportunity, that Billy brought me back and they believe in me. I’m just going to play as hard as I can, compete as hard as I can every day because life in the NHL is very good and I believe I can play in the NHL. I just need to find that consistency, and it starts with the first game here.”