Wild’s Mats Zuccarello to miss at least 7-8 weeks with lower-body injury
The Minnesota Wild announced on Tuesday that winger Mats Zuccarello is expected to miss at least seven to eight weeks with a lower-body injury.
Injury Update: #mnwild forward Mats Zuccarello is expected to miss a minimum of seven to eight weeks with a lower-body injury.
— Minnesota Wild PR (@mnwildPR) September 30, 2025It’s unclear what caused Zuccarello’s injury, but it’s kept him sidelined for the entirety of training camp. His current timeline for return is late November, which means he’ll be projected to miss somewhere close to 20 games to start the season.
Zuccarello continues to produce at a high rate while in the Wild’s top six, as he had 19 goals and 35 assists for 54 points in 69 games in the 2024-25 season. It’s not quite at the 60-80 point pace he’s put up in his prior three seasons, but still excellent production for the 38-year-old winger.
However, Zuccarello has struggled to drive play in recent seasons, something that should be expected at his age. In the last three seasons, his -0.013 5v5 regularized adjusted plus minus expected goals for per 60 minutes and 0.046 5v5 RAPM expected goals against per 60 (per Evolving Hockey) fall under what should be expected from a top-six forward.
Zuccarello is in the final year of a two-year contract with a $4.125 million cap hit, and is set to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. While retirement is also a possibility at his age, there have been no signs that that is the case for him.
With Zuccarello out of the lineup, it’s expected that 2022 19th-overall pick Liam Ohgren will slot into the top six, likely alongside Joel Eriksson Ek and Vladimir Tarasenko. Ohgren spent most of the 2024-25 season in the AHL with the Iowa Wild, where he had 19 goals and 18 assists for 37 points in 41 games. However, he did get into 24 NHL games, where he had two goals and three assists for five points.
The Wild will resume preseason action on Tuesday when they host the Winnipeg Jets at 7 p.m. CST. Minnesota is currently 1-2-1 through four exhibition matches. They’ll kick off their regular season on Thursday, October 9th at 7 p.m. CST when they visit the St. Louis Blues.