ST. PAUL, Minn. — Travis Dermott watched Thursday night’s Edmonton Oilers blowout of the Minnesota Wild from Xcel Energy Center, then hopped on the Oilers charter and landed in Alberta’s capital city at 1:30 a.m. MT.
At noon MT Friday, Dermott was claimed off waivers by the Wild. In less than an hour, Dermott frantically packed and was in a car headed back to Edmonton’s airport for a flight to Denver first then another that would land him back in the Twin Cities just before midnight Friday night.
At 1 p.m. Saturday, exactly 24 hours after the Wild plucked him from the Oilers, Dermott is expected to play his first game in a month when the Wild try to avoid regulation losses for the first time this season when they drop the puck against the Philadelphia Flyers.
But this is how desperate the Wild were for a left-shot defenseman.
With Daemon Hunt now playing in Cleveland after being traded to Columbus last month for right-shot defenseman David Jiricek, the Wild’s injury to Jonas Brodin coupled with Jake Middleton suddenly being sidelined long-term following what league sources said was surgery Friday on at least a broken finger, the Wild were put in a position where they needed an NHL body that could play the left side.
In fortunate timing, Dermott was placed on waivers Thursday by Edmonton after playing only 10 games this season and none since Nov. 19. After getting the X-ray results for Middleton, Wild president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Guerin gave Oilers GM Stan Bowman a heads-up that he may have to put in a claim for Dermott.
The Wild were 31st on the waiver priority list, so the team was actually on pins and needles Friday that they’d nab Dermott knowing there were other teams, like the New York Rangers, that could have use for a left-shot D.
“Jake has been playing incredibly well, and he’s a big part of the team,” Guerin said Friday. “And, yeah, it’s disappointing. But it’s part of the game, and you have to do certain things to cover for guys. It’s not a season-long injury, but it’ll be significant time. And, yeah, it’s disappointing. But we picked up Travis today, and he’ll help. And he’s been a good player in the league for a long time now. He’s got over 300 games in the league, and he’ll help.”
He’ll have to quickly shake off the rust. The Wild’s left-shot defensemen next to Brock Faber, Jared Spurgeon and Zach Bogosian are suddenly Dermott, Declan Chisholm and Jon Merrill.
Guerin did tell The Athletic that first-round pick Carson Lambos is playing much better in Iowa and his NHL debut may not be too far off.
But to say depth is being strained is an understatement.
The good news is the Wild hope Brodin, who has missed eight games with an upper-body injury, is closing in on a return.
The Wild wouldn’t yet pronounce Brodin ready to return against the Flyers. In fact, considering the Wild play at 5 p.m. Sunday against the Vegas, it’s unlikely the Wild would want Brodin coming back for back-to-back games. So if he’s actually going to return this weekend, Sunday’s game makes the most sense.
“I’ve seen him play since he was in Junior,” Guerin said of Dermott. “He brings good energy. He can skate well, he can move pucks. We really like him. (Assistant coach) Jason King had him for a short time (in Vancouver). I think he’s going to adapt well to the way we play.
“I think just being a good skater and puck move, he’s been in the league long enough where he can adjust quickly. He’s played in several different systems and stuff. So I think he’ll be able to pick it up and just help us in that way.”
Middleton was placed on long-term injured reserve. That means he has to miss 10 games and 24 days, whichever is longer. Since 10 games from now is less than 24 days, the soonest Middleton is eligible to return is 12 games from now, Jan. 7 against St. Louis.
However, it sounds like Guerin expects him to be out longer.
“I don’t think it’ll be (February or March),” he said, before adding sarcastically, “I’ve got to go back in my medical notes. See the history on these types of things. I don’t even want to guess. It’s probably week to week. That’s what I would guess, yeah.”
Here is Jake Middleton’s injury. His night ended 37 seconds into his first shift. Struck on hand by one of the NHL’s hardest shooters pic.twitter.com/CmLT5RdQQ3
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) December 13, 2024
It is amazing how injuries are piling up with Brodin, Mats Zuccarello, Joel Eriksson Ek and now Middleton.
These are all significant players who play significant roles, and sometimes timing is everything. It was not a good night to be playing the Oilers when you’re without your top checking center and most mobile defenseman, then lose Middleton one shift into the game.
But like Brodin, Zuccarello, who has also been on LTIR, is close to returning — maybe as soon as Saturday’s game against the Flyers.
“Listen, it’s not a great spot,” Guerin said. “It’s kind of funny, the last couple of years it seems like it hasn’t been one injury, get a guy back, another injury. It’s like all at one time. That’s not great, but hopefully we’re getting guys back in the very near future and they can start to help and we just move on.”
Fortunately for the Wild, they have put a lot of points in the bank — the second-most in the West. Middleton, who leads the NHL with a plus-22, is a mammoth loss though. He leads the Wild’s defensemen with five goals, ranks second with 13 points and may be the biggest character in the dressing room, so his loss will be felt in more areas than the ice.
“Look, there’s nothing we can do,” Guerin said. “I can be as concerned as I want, it doesn’t change anything. … I can’t control that, the players can’t control, the coaches can’t. The only thing we can control is our attitude, how we prepare for games, our confidence and you know what, we go out and try to win games. That’s it. There’s nothing else we can do. I just don’t like seeing our players hurt.”
The unfortunate part of the Wild being stuck in LTIR is it stops the ability to accrue cap space for a potential trade deadline addition and could cause a cap overage that will lower the Wild’s cap ceiling next season, especially with Faber and Marco Rossi on pace to hit performance bonuses.
Asked if he thinks this will hurt his trade deadline plans to possibly add a top-six forward, Guerin said, “Yeah, I mean, it probably will. And again, that’s just one of those things. We can’t control it. We’ve been doing our best to build up cap space as we go along. But things happen and we can’t necessarily control it all the time. We’ll see what we can do though. That’s a couple months away. So we’ll see.”
(Photo of Jake Middleton: Matt Blewett / Imagn Images)
