Jared Spurgeon is out the rest of the season for the Minnesota Wild because of a left hip injury and a back injury.
The 34-year-old defenseman is scheduled to have hip surgery Feb. 6 and back surgery approximately four weeks after that.
The Wild captain is expected to be ready for the start of training camp next season.
"It’s really difficult,” Minnesota coach John Hynes said. “No. 1, for ‘Spurg,’ you never want to see someone have to go through that. But I think overall down the road, it’ll be really good for him. He battled his way through it [but] he couldn’t make it any further, so [we] wish him the best in the surgeries, recovery, and look forward to seeing him around the rink."
Spurgeon, who has missed 27 games because of injury this season, has not played since Jan. 2 and was placed on long-term injured reserve Monday. He has five assists in 16 games.
Selected by the New York Islanders in the sixth round (No. 156) of the 2008 NHL Draft, Spurgeon has 384 points (110 goals, 274 assists) in 867 NHL games, all with Minnesota, and ranks fourth on the Wild all-time scoring list.
He also has 29 points (eight goals, 21 assists) in 67 Stanley Cup Playoff games.
The Wild have had injury issues all season. Defenseman Jonas Brodin returned Jan. 8 for the first time since sustaining an upper-body injury Dec. 18. Forward Kirill Kaprizov (upper body) and goalie Filip Gustavsson (lower body) each missed seven games before returning against the Arizona Coyotes on Jan. 6.
Minnesota (18-21-5), which is seventh in the Central Division, has lost five of its past six games (1-4-1), including 7-3 at the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday.
"Obviously he's our captain, right? But you know there's a lot of leaders,” Wild defenseman Brock Faber said. “He's the leader, obviously. The person he is, the leader he is, and that aside the player he is. It's going to be a great loss, but again that means ... we've had guys fall throughout the year, and that means guys have to step up. So, again, obviously it [stinks] and it's horrible, but at the same time we've got to step it up."
NHL.com independent correspondent Corey Long contributed to this report
