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Wild lose Coyle for 3-4 weeks, recall Zucker

charliecoyle3to4getty

The Minnesota Wild announced that they recalled Jason Zucker from the AHL after learning that Charlie Coyle (pictured) will miss three-to-four weeks with a sprained knee.

No doubt, that’s a tough loss for the Wild, who were playing Coyle, 21, as a second-line forward. Some were expecting him to have a breakout sophomore season, which is still possible even though he might not be back until November.

As often happens with sports, one man’s loss is another player’s gain. Zucker, 21, was one of the final cuts for the Wild out of training camp after an up-and-down preseason.

Wild blog Hockey Wilderness surmises that Mikael Granlund might benefit from Coyle’s injury, too:

With Coyle out, This most likely means that Mikael Granlund will be shifted to 2nd line center, and Jason Zucker has been recalled from Iowa. He had been nursing his groin injury until a couple of days ago, so hopefully it will not be an issue. It will be interesting to see what happens once Coyle comes back and who gets shifted back to the AHL.

Granlund, also 21, has been considered a player to watch pretty often lately, so the bright side is that some other young players will get some extra responsibilities.

In the grand scheme of things, the Wild can’t be pleased, though.

Follow James O’Brien @cyclelikesedins