Minnesota Wild captain Jared Spurgeon's season is over. On Thursday, the team announced that Spurgeon will undergo season-ending hip surgery on Feb. 6, and he should be back in time for the start of the 2024-25 season.
Spurgeon missed the start of this season due to injury, and he only played 16 games after returning. In that time, the veteran defenseman recorded just five assists. Spurgeon's last game was a 3-1 loss to the Calgary Flames on Jan. 2.
This was Spurgeon's 14th season with the Wild, and he has developed a reputation for being an elite defensive defenseman. Spurgeon is great at thwarting opponents' scoring chances before they even get started, and the Wild will sorely miss that skill the rest of the way.
The Wild have had poor injury luck this season, and that's a big reason why the team is eight points out of a playoff spot despite entering the year with postseason expectations.
With Spurgeon sidelined for the rest of the season, expect rookie defenseman Brock Faber to get even more responsibility than he's already gotten. Faber is a Calder Trophy candidate, eating nearly 25 minutes per night, so he and veteran Jonas Brodin will be called upon to shoulder a lot of the defensive burden in Minnesota.
