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NHL injury roundup: Coyotes lose Hjalmarsson, Wild without Zuccarello

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Nathan MacKinnon and the Avalanche travel to Pittsburgh to go head-to-head against Sidney Crosby and the Penguins on Wednesday night. Coverage begins at 6 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

Checking in on some significant injury news around the NHL at the start of the week...

Coyotes lose Hjalmarsson

One of the biggest issues for the 2018-19 Arizona Coyotes was a season-long run of injuries to some of their most important players.

The 2019-20 season does not seem to be getting off to a better start.

The Coyotes announced that veteran defender Niklas Hjalmarsson is going to be sidelined indefinitely due to a lower-body injury. The Athletic’s Craig Morgan reported that Hjalmarsson suffered a cracked fibula when he blocked an Erik Johnson slap shot over the weekend and is expected to be sidelined for approximately three months.

He exited that game after playing just four minutes and did not return. In four games this season he has one goal for the Coyotes.

Zuccarello to miss Wild’s road trip

The Minnesota Wild are off to a miserable start this season, losing each of their first four games heading into Monday afternoon’s game against the Ottawa Senators. That game is the start of a three-game road trip this week and they will have to play all of it without the services of free agent signings Mats Zuccarello.

The Wild announced on Monday that Zuccarello did not make the trip with the team and will be sidelined all week due to an unspecified lower-body injury.

Signing Zuccarello was one of the final moves made by former general manager Paul Fenton this summer. It added another player over the age of 30 on a long-term contract to a team that already has too many such players, but it at least seemed like a short-term upgrade to a roster that needed more offense. So far, though, it has been a slow start for both sides. In his first four games with the Wild Zuccarello has yet to record a point, has just three shots on goal, is a minus-6, and was playing just 14 minutes per game.

MORE:
Your 2019-20 NHL on NBC TV schedule

Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.