The Wild has recalled right wing Christoph Bertschy from AHL Iowa. As I alluded on Twitter and the last blog, something was fishy this morning when coach Bruce Boudreau talked about maybe moving rookie Joel Eriksson Ek to left wing.
My gut says Zach Parise is out tonight. I'm 100 percent positive this isn't a recurrence of last year's back injury but instead a foot injury sustained I believe two games ago in Boston when he blocked a Brandon Carlo shot. He did block a couple in Buffalo, but I think the original injury came in Boston.
I don't think he'll be out long, although the Wild's classifying him as week-to-week. I believe x-rays were negative.
Marco Scandella is also week to week with a lower-body injury, although he was walking really well this morning.
I'd think Bertschy, playing his fourth NHL game, slots into a fourth-line role with Tyler Graovac, which means all the lines will be scrambled tonight with Zac Dalpe likely centering the third line. If I had to guess, this morning's speculation of Eriksson Ek moving up to play with Eric Staal and Charlie Coyle would be what I'd do. That means Mikael Granlund moved back to left wing with Mikko Koivu and Jason Pominville, Nino Niederreiter or Chris Stewart plays the right side.
