The Minnesota Wild announced today, that young forward Luke Kunin will be sidelined possibly until the start of next season with an anterior cruciate ligament tear.

NEWS: #mnwild forward Luke Kunin suffered an ACL tear in his left knee Sunday. Kunin is expected to return to play in approximately 7 months → https://t.co/LvOlz1b18q pic.twitter.com/DsA2wQdnf5

— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) March 5, 2018

Luke Kunin Injured

The injury occurred during Sunday’s game against Detroit Red Wings. Kunin is expected to have surgery to repair his knee in the coming weeks.

Initially signed by the Wild in the first round, 15th overall of the 2016 NHL draft. Kunin tallied his first career NHL goal against the New York Islanders to become the first player in team history to score his first career NHL goal shorthanded. However, the American has not had the opportunity to really shine in the NHL so far, playing only 19 career games,  including only two since his most recent call-up. So this will be particularly devastating for the 20-year-old rookie.

So far in his first NHL year, he has scored two goals and two assists for four points. He also added 13 minutes in penalties. His possession numbers were 48.5 percent Corsi and a relative Corsi of 0.4.

What This Means for the Future

With age on his side, he will likely recover well but will be a disappointing rookie campaign for the American native.

The Wild will need to find an alternate replacement to inject speed into the bottom six. Kunin had size and pace to give the oppositions defence pause.  And although the Wild have managed to place third in the Central Division thus far without him, they will need to create more depth to maintain it. Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche have been performing consistently of late, and are still in the race to knock them off.

The Wilds next game is against the Carolina Hurricanes Wednesday night.

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