Wild’s Spurgeon Out 2-3 Weeks After Injuring L’Heureux Pivot

WASHINGTON — Minnesota Wild captain Jared Spurgeon was expected to miss two to three weeks with an apparent right leg injury after he was knocked down on the legs by Nashville’s Zachary L’Heureux earlier this week, who was suspended three games for his actions.

General manager Bill Guerin called Spurgeon “week to week” without going into further details about the injury beyond confirming that surgery would not be required.

“It’s not as bad as we originally thought,” Guerin said Thursday before his team played at the Washington Capitals. “It’s still bad enough because he’s not in our lineup… And obviously it’s not good for our team.”

Spurgeon’s right leg bent awkwardly as he crashed into the boards after having his skates taken out from under him and shoulders pushed back by L’Heureux early in the second period of the teams’ game Tuesday. L’Heureux was ejected with a game suspension and forfeits $13,490 in salary as part of the suspension after having a disciplinary hearing with the NHL’s Department of Player Safety.

Guerin said he was “not happy” with the piece. Although this is L’Heureux’s first suspension in the NHL, he was involved in nine incidents at the junior level and two more in the American Hockey League. That history cannot be factored into Player Safety’s decision.

“It’s not for me to answer that,” Guerin said. “It’s a matter for the league. The league has their process and they handled it. We live with that. At the end of the day it doesn’t get our player back. That’s what gives me sleep at night is they get their player back. for three games. Ours is out two to three weeks.”

Minnesota has been without defenseman Jake Middleton for nearly a month since taking a puck off his right hand. Leading scorer Kirill Kaprizov is also day-to-day due to a lower-body injury.

Middleton could return as early as next week. The Wild have no interest in rushing back Kaprizov, an MVP contender who tied for fourth in the league with 23 goals and eighth with 50 points entering Thursday’s games.

“We don’t want him to come back and push through,” Guerin said. “He could, but it could make something worse. We need him for the long haul. We don’t just need him for a few games in January. We need him to get healthy and feel better, so we try to do the right thing and just look at it from a long view.”

Spurgeon faces another extended absence a year after season-ending hip and back surgeries. Those injuries limited him to 16 games last season.

“It’s unfortunate because it’s something you obviously think would be preventable, but it’s the game so you get hurt,” coach John Hynes said. “Spurgy is a mentally tough guy. He’s going to make sure he’s ready to come back as soon as he can.”

Spurgeon, 35, was playing well before getting hurt this time around, posting four goals and nine assists for 13 points while skating nearly 21 minutes a game.

“It’s brutal,” said teammate and fellow defenseman Brock Faber. “He’s going to come back from it stronger than ever. That’s who he is. That’s what he does. There’s no doubt in our minds that he’s going to get through this.”

Hynes and the coaching staff cautioned that they don’t want Faber, Jonas Brodin and others on the blue line to overcompensate and take on too much while Spurgeon is unavailable.

“Those guys just have to keep doing what they’re doing,” Hynes said. “Spurgy’s not with us, but nobody’s going to replace him, so everybody has to play their role. Brodin and Faber don’t have to do anything different because Spurgeon’s out. They’re still playing huge minutes. They’re still playing important situations. They just have to do their job.”