Mats Zuccarello was unexpectedly scratched from the Minnesota Wild lineup due to personal reasons, not injury-related. This decision left the team with 11 forwards and seven defensemen for their game. Zuccarello's absence led to lineup changes, with Frederick Gaudreau taking his place on the forward lines and Dakota Mermis stepping in as the seventh defenseman. Despite missing the warmups, Zuccarello was present at the arena before the game but had to attend to a sudden personal matter, as explained by coach John Hynes.
Hynes says Zuccarello was in the meetings and at arena before the game and suddenly something personal came up about an hour before game that he had to attend to. Guerin talked to him after game and everything is OK now thankfully, Hynes said
John Hynes said everything is good with Mats Zuccarello now. Had personal matter he was dealing with tonight but was around team. Good news #mnwild
#mnwild officially announce Zuccarello is out (personal reasons). Mermis would be in as seventh defenseman
#mnwild name Zuccarello a scratch
Mats Zuccarello a scratch for the Wild tonight. Must be dealing with some type of injury.
#mnwild name Zuccarello a healthy scratch. So he is out. #mnwild
Mats Zuccarello and Marcus Johansson (lower-body injury) scratched. Dakota Mermis is in the lineup, so 11 forwards and seven defensemen for the #mnwild.
Not injury related for Zuccarello. Personal reason. https://t.co/uJUrzpUm7p
Zuccarello won't play tonight for #mnwild
So....as it sits per rushes in warmups you're looking at: Kaprizov-JEEk-Boldy Hartman & Rossi Duhaime-Dewar-Gaudreau Shaw-Lucchini-Lettieri Middleton-Faber Brodin-Chisholm Merrill-Bogosian https://t.co/7Uxc4riaiO
Mats Zuccarello wasn't skating line rushes during the #mnwild's pregame warmup, so the team had just 11 forwards. Frederick Gaudreau was with Brandon Duhaime and Connor Dewar. Also a change on defense: Jonas Brodin with Zach Bogosian and Jon Merrill alongside Declan Chisholm.
#mnwild lines: No Zuccarello in warmups, but no fill-in on 2nd line so could still be in Kaprizov-Eriksson Ek-Boldy Hartman-Rossi - Duhaime-Dewar-Gaudreau Shaw-Lucchini-Lettieri Middleton-Faber Brodin-Chisholm Merrill-Bogosian Gustavsson
No Mats Zuccarello during warmups. In our chat with Hynes he mentioned there was a game-time decision with a player injury that just popped up. Looks like we found the winner. #mnwild https://t.co/V7uUg70pTj