Wild activate Jared Spurgeon off injured reserve

The Minnesota Wild are welcoming their captain back into the fold.

On Tuesday, the Wild announced that they have activated defenseman Jared Spurgeon off of injured reserve.

In a corresponding move, the Wild have assigned forward Tyler Pitlick to their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate Iowa Wild.

Spurgeon, 36, has missed Minnesota’s last five games, and was also out for a four-game stretch with an upper-body injury earlier this season. In 10 games played so far, the Edmonton native has a goal and four assists for five points while averaging about 20 and a half minutes of ice time.

Last season, Spurgeon notched six goals and 16 assists for 22 points in 79 games while averaging about 19 and a half minutes of ice time. He then put up no goals and an assist while averaging a tick over 21 minutes in 11 playoff games.

Selected by the New York Islanders in the sixth round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, Spurgeon did not sign his entry-level deal with New York and instead signed with Minnesota after his five-year junior career with the Spokane Chiefs of the Western Hockey League (WHL).

Spurgeon is now in his 17th NHL season, all with the Wild. He ranks second in games played on Minnesota’s all-time list with 1,022, just six games back of Mikko Koivu. He also ranks third on the Wild’s all-time scoring list with 443 points.

He is in the final season of a seven-year, $53.03 million contract.

Pitlick, 35, has gone scoreless in 12 games played for Minnesota this season. The Minneapolis, Minnesota native has played for nine different teams over parts of 12 seasons in the NHL.

Minnesota kicks off a three-game road trip against the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday before visiting the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday.