Days after placing blue line anchor Jonas Brodin on long-term injured reserve, the Wild learned Thursday that the team’s other top defenseman, Jared Spurgeon, will be unavailable for a 7 p.m. puck drop against Calgary.

Head coach John Hynes said Spurgeon, who missed the first 14 games of the season because of an upper-body injury suffered in an Oct. 5 preseason game, is day to day with a lower-body injury.

Hynes said the injury “wasn’t directly related” to Spurgeon’s last game, a 3-0 victory at Seattle on Sunday. The team recalled defensemen Dakota Mermis and Daemon Hunt from Iowa on Wednesday, and Mermis will be in the lineup against the Flames at Xcel Energy Center.

“Obviously, you’re missing two big-time forwards from your club, but we talk about depth, and obviously I’m a part of that,” Mermis said. “So, it’s our job to step up and play a big role, and that’s what I plan to do.”

Brodin was averaging a team-high 23 minutes, 59 seconds a game when he was injured on a reckless hit by forward Evander Kane in Edmonton last Friday. At the Wild Foundation Gala on Tuesday, Brodin was wearing a cast on his right wrist.

Spurgeon was averaging 23:14 of ice time since returning to the lineup Nov. 10 in Buffalo. He briefly left the Wild’s 4-1 victory over Chicago on Dec. 3 after appearing to hyperextend his left knee on a check from former Wild forward Ryan Donato but has played four games since. He and Brodin are staples of both of Minnesota’s special teams units.

“Those guys play a lot of minutes, a lot of tough minutes, so obviously we have to step up,” Wild veteran defenseman Alex Goligoski said. “It’s going to be everybody when you lose two of the best players on your team. So, we’ve got to figure it out.”

Briefly

The Wild and assistant general manager Chris O’Hearn “have mutually agreed to part ways,” the team said in a statement. O’Hearn had been general manager Bill Guerin’s salary-cap maven and chief contract negotiator since Guerin joined the Wild in 2019.

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