Wild captain Jared Spurgeon’s scary injury will sideline him for two to three weeks

WASHINGTON, DC – Wild captain Jared Spurgeon avoided a season-ending injury when he was hit by Nashville’s Zachary L’Heureux, but Spurgeon won’t be back anytime soon.

He will be out two to three weeks, President of Hockey Operations Bill Guerin announced, with a lower-body injury that will not require surgery.

“It’s not as bad as we originally thought,” Guerin said. “It’s still bad enough because he’s not in our lineup.”

His right leg bent awkwardly during the high-speed collision, and Spurgeon was helped off the ice with his right skate lifted. L’Heureux was handed a one-match suspension and on Thursday the NHL suspended the rookie for three games.

Although L’Heureux has previously been disciplined in his career, including in the American Hockey League, he had never been fined or suspended by the NHL and was therefore a first-time offender.

“The league has their process and they handled it,” said Guerin, who mentioned he was “not happy” with the play. “We live with that. In the end, it doesn’t get our player back. This is what makes me lose sleep at night because they get their player back after three games. Ours is out two to three weeks.”