Bill Guerin on Joel Eriksson Ek: 'He's injured'

Originally posted on Bring Me The News | By Joe Nelson | Last updated Dec 4, 2024 2:53 PM ET

It's not all sunshine and rainbows for the NHL-leading Minnesota Wild.

Sure, at 17-4-4 they lead the NHL with 38 points and Kirill Kaprizov is a bonafide MVP candidate, but the injuries are mounting and the last thing Minnesota needed was the injury suffered by top-line center Joel Eriksson Ek during a 3-2 overtime win over Vancouver Tuesday night.

How injured is Eriksson Ek?

"He's injured," general manager Bill Guerin told Chad Hartman on WCCO Radio Wednesday afternoon. "I know exactly what's wrong with him, I know exactly what's going on but I'm not going to tell you. I'm not going to put it out on the radio before anybody else knows and before our PR staff knows or anything like that."

Is he worried that Eriksson Ek's injury could be long term?

"No," Guerin answered.

Eriksson Ek suffered the injury early in overtime when there appeared to be knee-to-knee contact with a Vancouver player.

https://t.co/bD3YXu6Vze pic.twitter.com/QCZnTHWmJp
— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) December 4, 2024

Eriksson Ek going down follows a wave of injury-related roster moves earlier Tuesday when the Wild moved forward Mats Zuccarello to long-term injured reserve while placing defenseman Jonas Brodin and forward Jakub Lauko on short-term injured reserve.

Guerin wasn't in the the mood to share much, but he did say Eriksson Ek, Brodin and Lauko are "not going to play the next games, that's for sure."

The Wild have since confirmed that Zuccarello, Eriksson Ek and Brodin are "week-to-week" while Lauko is considered "day-to-day."

#mnwild Injury Updates:

Jonas Brodin is week-to-week with an upper-body injury.

Joel Eriksson Ek is week-to-week with a lower-body injury.

Jakub Lauko is day-to-day with a lower-body injury.

Mats Zuccarello is week-to-week with a lower-body injury.
— Minnesota Wild PR (@mnwildPR) December 4, 2024