Justin Fontaine Injured, Will Miss Opener

The Wild announced today that presumed fourth line forward Justin Fontaine will miss at least a couple weeks, including the season opener, due to a lower body injury.

The time table isn’t entirely clear for his return, but he’s expected to miss the Wild’s season opener against Colorado on October 9 in St. Paul. An article at the Star Tribune quotes Mike Yeo as saying that the injury is “nothing serious that we wouldn’t expect him to be completely fine afterward. It’s just going to take a little time.”

Fontaine’s absence for the final two preseason games and the start of the regular season opens up a spot for another forward to crack the lineup. Barring a surprising roster spot grab by a player currently in Iowa (some will be called up for Thursday’s game), that leaves three open spots on the roster to be grabbed by one of five forwards: Jason Zucker, Cody Almond, Michael Keranen, Stephane Veilleux, and Brett Sutter.

Smart money says that Jason Zucker is one of them. Michael Keranen has maybe been the most impressive of the remaining four offensively, but his inclusion may depend on how the Wild view him currently. If they think he’s a player that they’ll sign to a new contract and who could continue to develop, they may send him to Iowa where he’ll get good minutes and some power play time. Keeping Cody Almond would give them a winger who can slot into center.

It’s an unfortunate situation for Fontaine, who has had a very good camp and is looking to prove he can be an impact player in his sophomore year. On the upside, we inflate the value of opening night, if all is as the team has said it is, Fontaine should be back in the lineup and at the end of the day he’ll have just missed a couple of games.