Wild forward Jason Zucker undergoes surgery for fractured fibula, could miss six weeks

The Minnesota Wild are going to be without forward Jason Zucker for some time.

The Wild announced that Zucker will make a full recovery after undergoing successful surgery to repair a fractured right fibula on Friday. He is expected to miss four to six weeks as he recovers.

Zucker suffered the injury in last Sunday night’s tilt against the Chicago Blackhawks. Chicago defenseman Brent Seabrook attempted to dump a puck into the Minnesota zone, but his hard shot struck Zucker in the leg. After heading to the bench and walking off the injury, Zucker incredibly returned to the ice and finished the game with an assist in 16:33 of ice time.

This is obviously a massive blow for the Wild. Zucker currently ranks second on the team, behind only Eric Staal, with 24 points in 34 games this season. He’s played an integral role in generating quality scoring chances for the Wild all season, and his absence could very well have a significant impact on Minnesota’s offense.

Of course, the Wild could also continue to net eight goals a game like they did against the Arizona Coyotes Thursday night (without Zucker), but that’s quite unlikely.

Zucker joins Mikko Koivu, Joel Eriksson Ek and Greg Pateryn on the list of key Wild players who remain out of the lineup as they recover from various injuries. It’s unclear when Koivu, Eriksson Ek or Pateryn will be back in action.