Wild place Vladimir Tarasenko on injured reserve

The Minnesota Wild have placed forward Vladimir Tarasenko on the injured reserve due to a lower-body injury, the team announced on Thursday. 

The move is retroactive to Nov. 14, instead of his last appearance, which came on Nov. 11. He has missed the Wild’s three NHL regular-season games already, but due to the retroactive move, he could be available for Friday’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. 

However, moving his injury classification to the injured reserve indicated his absence could be further than just a few days. Tarasenko suffered the injury in practice on Nov. 14, but was on the ice on Tuesday before leaving early. 

Other Wild players currently on the injured reserve are stars Marco Rossi and Ryan Hartman, as well as Zach Bogosian and Nico Sturm, with the latter pair potentially approaching a return in the near future. 

The 33-year-old Tarasenko has two goals and 10 points in 18 games this season, and has skated on a second line with Matt Boldy and Joel Eriksson Ek. Through his first 18 games, he has averaged 15:18 of ice time.

Last season, he played 80 games with the Detroit Red Wings, scoring 11 goals and 33 points with an average of 14:47 of ice time per game, nearly 30 seconds less than he is currently playing with the Wild. 

In his career, he has 306 goals and 672 points, most of which came during his time with the St. Louis Blues from 2012-13 to 2022-23. 

The Wild picked up a 3-2 shootout win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday night, and currently sit fifth in the Western Conference Central Division with a record of 10-7-4 and 24 points, which is tied with three others within the Central. 

They return to action on Friday against the Penguins, before facing the Winnipeg Jets, the Chicago Blackhawks, Colorado Avalanche and Buffalo Sabres to end November.