Wild place defenseman Jake Middleton on long-term IR, add Travis Dermott

The Minnesota Wild have placed defenseman Jake Middleton on long-term injured reserve, the team announced on Friday. That means he'll miss a minimum of ten games and 24 days, though it could be much longer. Head coach John Hynes described it as a "week-to-week" absence.

Middleton injured his finger when he was struck by a puck less than a minute into Thursday night's 7-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers in St. Paul. It's believed that he'll undergo surgery to address the injury.

It's a tough blow for the Wild, who have already been playing without Joel Eriksson Ek, Mats Zuccarello, and Jonas Brodin recently. Middleton is one of their best defensemen and had been playing on the top pair with Brock Faber in Brodin's absence.

The Wild are hoping to get Brodin and Zuccarello back soon, but they'll likely need to add a left-shot D-man in case Brodin isn't ready to return for this weekend's games against the Philadelphia Flyers and Vegas Golden Knights at Xcel Energy Center. Declan Chisholm and Jon Merrill are currently their only healthy left-shot defensemen, and their depth in that area was depleted when they traded Daemon Hunt to the Blue Jackets for David Jiricek recently.

Update: The Wild claimed left-shot D Travis Dermott off waivers from the Oilers on Friday. The former Toronto second-round pick has 62 points in 339 career regular-season games with four teams. He turns 28 this month.

Minnesota (19-6-4) still ranks second in the NHL standings in points percentage despite Thursday's ugly loss. The Wild will look to bounce back and continue what has been an outstanding start to this season. They have four games remaining in a five-game home stand, including games on Saturday and Sunday.

Middleton, 28, is in his seventh NHL season. He has 13 points (5 goals, 8 assists) this season, which had him on pace to cruise past last season's career-high of 25 prior to this injury. He also has 76 blocks, 42 hits, and leads all NHL skaters with a +22 rating. Middleton was traded to Minnesota from the San Jose Sharks in March 2022.