The Minnesota Wild got their captain back on Tuesday, activating defenseman Jared Spurgeon off injured reserve.
To make room on the roster, the Wild sent forward Tyler Pitlick to their American Hockey League affiliate, the Iowa Wild.
Spurgeon, 36, had been sidelined for Minnesota’s last five games. He also missed a four-game stretch earlier this season because of an upper-body injury. Through 10 appearances, the Edmonton native has one goal and four assists for five points while logging about 20 and a half minutes per night.
Last season, Spurgeon finished with six goals and 16 assists for 22 points in 79 games, averaging about 19 and a half minutes of ice time. In the playoffs, he added no goals and one assist across 11 games while playing a tick over 21 minutes a night.
The veteran blue liner was originally selected by the New York Islanders in the sixth round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, but he never signed with them. Instead, after a five-year junior career with the Spokane Chiefs of the Western Hockey League, he joined Minnesota.
Now in his 17th NHL season, all with the Wild, Spurgeon sits second in franchise history with 1,022 games played, just six behind Mikko Koivu. He also ranks third on the team’s all-time scoring list with 443 points.
He is in the final season of a seven-year, $53.03 million contract.
Pitlick, 35, has gone scoreless in 12 games for Minnesota this season. The Minneapolis native has played for nine different teams over parts of 12 NHL seasons.
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Riley Mercer finished with 22 saves for Iowa, while Matt Murray stopped 24 shots for Milwaukee in a game that followed an all-too-familiar script for the Wild on the road. Felix Nilsson later added a power-play goal that pushed the Admirals further ahead, leaving Iowa with little margin for error and even less time to find a response. [Read more 🡒]