Wild place Mats Zuccarello, Jake Middleton on injured reserve
A couple of names are going to be off the Minnesota Wild roster for a little bit.
On Thursday, general manager Bill Guerin announced that forward Mats Zuccarello and defenseman Jake Middleton have been placed on injured reserve with upper-body injuries. In response, the team has called up forward Nicolas Aube-Kubel and defender Matt Kiersted from its American Hockey League affiliate, the Iowa Wild.
We have recalled forward Nicolas Aubé-Kubel and defenseman Matt Kiersted from the Iowa Wild and placed defenseman Jake Middleton (upper body) and forward Mats Zuccarello (upper body) on Injured Reserve More information » bit.ly/4abjJHS
Both Zuccarello and Middleton played in the Wild’s last game against the Seattle Kraken this past Monday. Zuccarello exited the game early after taking a hard hit from Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn. The 38-year-old registered just 5:32 of ice time across six shifts. Middleton’s last shift came late in the second period. He notched an assist on Joel Eriksson Ek’s goal earlier in the frame, helping Minnesota grab a 4-1 win. Middleton posted 16:34 of ice time in the victory.
With both players’ placement on IR retroactive to Dec. 8, neither will be able to return to action until Dec. 16, when the Wild hosts the Washington Capitals.
It has been a tough start for Zuccarello this season. The Norwegian star started the 2025-26 campaign on non-roster injured reserve, not making his season debut until early November thanks to a lower-body injury that he suffered prior to training camp.
In 15 games, Zuccarello has scored two goals and 10 assists for 12 points.
Middleton has appeared in 28 of Minnesota’s first 30 games this year, missing time due to an illness last month. So far, the 29-year-old has posted six assists and a plus/minus of +2 while averaging just over 18 minutes of ice time per game.
Aube-Kubel has scored five goals and eight assists for 13 points this season in Iowa. Last season, he played in 22 games with the Buffalo Sabres and New York Rangers, scoring a goal and an assist. Kiersted has posted three points with the AHL’s Wild thus far. He played two games, posting an assist, with the Florida Panthers in 2024-25.
The Wild (16-9-5) sits third in the Central Division, and are scheduled to host the second-place Dallas Stars on Thursday night.