The Minnesota Wild are likely heading to the playoffs, but their top defenseman won’t be coming along.
The Wild announced that Ryan Suter, who was injured in Saturday’s 4-1 loss to the Dallas Stars, will have surgery to repair a fracture in his ankle and is done for the season.
Here's the Ryan Suter injury, right foot into the boards pic.twitter.com/M01fUoI6Fh
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) April 1, 2018
Suter had already set a career-high with 45 assists and tied his career-high in points with 51. He was also a force on the power play with 23 power-play points.
Production aside, Suter also commanded a ton of minutes at 26:46 per game, second highest in the NHL.
The Wild are currently third in the Central Division with 96 points and would play the Winnipeg Jets in the first round if the playoffs started today.
No matter how you look at it, it’s a huge blow to the Wild’s aspirations in the playoffs, even with the pending return of Jared Spurgeon.
Scott Billeck is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @scottbilleck