Minnesota Wild center Mikko Koivu out for season with torn ACL
The Minnesota Wild lost their third straight game Tuesday night, and they’ve now lost center Mikko Koivu for the season.
The Minnesota Wild lost their third straight game Tuesday night against the Buffalo Sabres, 5-4 in a shootout. To make matters worse, center Mikko Koivu was injured in the first period after what appeared to be a knee-on-knee collision with Sabres winger Tage Thompson.
Koivu was seen on crutches after the game, and on Wednesday afternoon it was announced the Wild captain will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL and meniscus in his right knee.
Koivu will finish the season with 29 points (sixth on the team right now, eight goals and 21 assists) in 48 games, with a plus/minus of -2. His average ice time (18:18 per game) is third-most among Minnesota’s forwards, and he leads the team in face-off percentage (54.6).
In a corresponding move, center Joel Eriksson Ek has been called up from the Iowa Wild in the AHL to take Koivu’s place. The former first-round pick (20th overall in 2015) has seven points (two goals, five assists) in 36 games with the Wild so far this season.
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With 57 points in 53 games, Minnesota currently holds the first Wild Card spot in the Western Conference. They’re three points behind the Dallas Stars for the third place in the Central Division, and three points clear of the second Wild Card Vancouver Canucks.
As the trade deadline approaches on Feb. 25, Wild general manager Paul Fenton will have to decide which direction to go. There’s a good case right now for being a buyer, and five of the team’s next seven games (through Feb.19) are at home.
That near-term stretch stands to dictate the trade deadline path for the Wild, though Fenton showed he isn’t afraid to break up the long-standing core of the team after sending Nino Niederreiter to Carolina Hurricanes in mid-January.
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Koivu is leaving a void behind for the Wild, in ways seen as a reliable player on the ice and in ways not seen “in the room” from a leadership standpoint.
But he’s not so great a player that his absence can’t be overcome in a broader sense, and maybe something will finally click for Eriksson Ek with a renewed opportunity.