The Minnesota Wild had to play without Jared Spurgeon for the first month of this season due to injury, and now they'll have to overcome another setback on the blue line.

Jonas Brodin will miss significant time due to an ailment, reports The Athletic's Michael Russo. Edmonton Oilers forward Evander Kane hit Brodin from behind Friday night. The Wild rearguard left the game and didn't return.

The Wild consider him week-to-week for the time being, the club announced later Saturday.

The NHL’s Department of Player Safety internally discussed whether to suspend Kane, but it ultimately determined Brodin shoulder-checked before the hit, which in the league's view left him defenseless as he skated toward the boards, according to Russo.

George Parros, the head of the department, reportedly issued Kane a warning that will be placed on his record. Parros spoke to Kane and Oilers GM Ken Holland on Saturday, per Russo.

Brodin's prolonged absence is a major blow to the Wild. He leads Minnesota in average ice time this season at 23:59 and has chipped in one goal and eight assists over 25 games.

The smooth-skating Swede boasts stellar underlying numbers as well. The Wild have controlled 56.26% of the expected goals and 55.38% of the scoring chances at five-on-five with Brodin on the ice in 2023-24, according to Natural Stat Trick.

He's in his 12th campaign with Minnesota, the club that drafted him 10th overall in 2011.

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Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Joseph Woll is sidelined week-to-week with a high ankle sprain, the team announced Saturday.

Woll sustained the injury on a seemingly innocuous play in Toronto's 4-3 win against the Ottawa Senators on Thursday. He stopped 29 of 31 shots prior to exiting the contest.

Woll had started five consecutive games before sustaining the injury. The 25-year-old has an 8-5-1 record with a .916 save percentage in 15 appearances this season.

Ilya Samsonov - the Maple Leafs' starter last year - has struggled in the early going, losing the starting job to Woll in recent weeks. The 26-year-old is 4-1-3 on the campaign with a career-low .878 SV% in 10 games. He's been unavailable to back up the past two games due to an illness.

Martin Jones relieved Woll on Thursday, stopping nine of 10 shots to secure the win. The veteran netminder has played sparingly with the AHL's Marlies, posting an .870 SV% in five contests. He had a 27-13-3 record and an .887 SV% last season with the Seattle Kraken.

"Tough blow for our team, tough blow for Joseph," head coach Sheldon Keefe said, according to the Toronto Sun's Terry Koshan. "But a tremendous opportunity here now for the other two guys, Samsonov in particular."

Maple Leafs defenseman Timothy Liljegren has been out since Nov. 2, also due to a high ankle sprain.

Toronto faces the Nashville Predators on Saturday.

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Weekend sized show today, as the Canucks bounce back versus the Wild and try to get back-to-back wins vs Carolina on Saturday. Matt and Blake recap the Thursday game and preview the Hurricanes, along with a breakdown of some of the pleasant surprises so far this season. With Shohei Ohtani watch on, we get into some of the more amusing reports on the pursuit of the Japanese phenom.

Frank Corrado stops by for his weekly visit and the lowdown on how Andrei Kuzmenko is complicating life for his teammates on the forecheck. Plus, Frank’s thoughts on which right-shot defencemen are available and ready to help a team like Vancouver.  

Rink Wide: Vancouver host Jeff Paterson joins for his post-game synopsis as well.

It’s Friday, so that means we hear from you with another edition of “To the People We Go." Presented by Applewood Auto Group.

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The St. Louis Blues dealt defenseman Robert Bortuzzo to the New York Islanders for a 2024 seventh-round pick, the club announced Friday.

Bortuzzo, who turns 35 in March, had played for the Blues since 2014-15 when they acquired him in a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Islanders needed defensive depth after placing blue-liner Ryan Pulock on injured reserve earlier Friday. They've also been without rearguards Adam Pelech and Sebastian Aho since Nov. 24 due to ailments of their own.

Bortuzzo largely fulfilled a supporting role in St. Louis, but he did help the Blues win the Stanley Cup in 2019. However, the veteran has been limited to four games this season due to injury.

He last played on Nov. 18, logging 12:59 of ice time in a 5-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings.

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It appears Tony DeAngelo's second stint in Raleigh could be short-lived.

The Carolina Hurricanes have been shopping the 28-year-old defenseman for over a month, The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun reports.

DeAngelo signed a one-year, $1.675-million deal with the Hurricanes as a free agent in the summer. He enjoyed a career year with Carolina in 2021-22, racking up 51 points in 64 games, but was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers the following summer. The Flyers bought out the final year of his contract after a poor campaign, making him a free agent.

The 2023-24 season hasn't been kind to DeAngelo. He's failed to carve out a consistent role on Carolina's deep blue line, as he's averaging a career-low 16:11 per contest and has frequently been a healthy scratch. DeAngelo's tallied one goal and six assists in 16 games.

The Hurricanes have five defensemen carrying a $4-million cap hit or greater, leaving only one spot up for grabs most nights. DeAngelo has proven to be a defensive liability, while his main competition for the No. 6 defenseman role, Jalen Chatfield, has been solid. Here's a look at their on-ice five-on-five numbers this season, per Natural Stat Trick.

The Tampa Bay Lightning drafted DeAngelo in the first round in 2014. He's tallied 206 points in 356 career games between the Arizona Coyotes, New York Rangers, Hurricanes, and Flyers.

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