Wild defenseman Greg Pateryn out long term due to injury.

The National Hockey League is set to begin Phase 3 of its planned return to play but teams are quickly learning that there are going to be a number of bumps in the road. We have seen two players announce that they are opting out of the league's return to play and earlier today it was reported that Lightning forward Steven Stamkos has been sidelined with an injury, and now the Minnesota Wild are the latest team to take a hit in that regard.

According to a report from the Minnesota Wild's department of public relations the team has lost defenseman Greg Pateryn due to what they have called an "upper body injury." The news has of course raised a great deal of speculation regarding a potential diagnosis involving COVID-19, however I must stress that there has been no credible report suggesting that this is the case and thus far it is only baseless speculation. 

The Wild defenseman has been ruled out "indefinitely" and the team has thus far provided no indication of when he might recover from the injury he has suffered. Given that we have no other details regarding the nature of this injury it is impossible to speculate on when Pateryn might return, but given the upcoming Stanley Cup Playoffs "indefinitely" certainly makes it sound like the Wild do not expect him to return this season.

Pateryn was in the midst of his second season with the Minnesota Wild after signing a a three-year, $6.75 million contract with the organization as a free agent on July 1st of 2018. Pateryn had appeared in just 20 games with the Wild this season, as well as 1 game with the team's American Hockey League affiliate the Iowa Wild, due in part to a surgical procedure he underwent back in October of 2019. We hope he makes a full recovery from whatever is ailing him and look forward to seeing him back on the ice as soon as possible.