Minnesota Wild forward Mats Zuccarello is expected to miss a minimum of seven to eight weeks due to a lower-body injury, the team announced on Tuesday.

Wild general manager Bill Guerin said on Sept. 18 that “something came up,” and he did not know if Zuccarello, 38, would require surgery.

Wild coach John Hynes said having an idea of when Zuccarello would be back is a welcome development.

“It’s basically similar to what (it was) coming into camp,” Hynes said Tuesday. “We knew he wasn’t going to be ready. Now we have an exact timeline of his return.”

Minnesota opens the regular season on Oct. 9 on the road against the St. Louis Blues.

Zuccarello, 38, played in 69 games last season, his fifth with the Wild, and recorded 54 points (19 goals, 35 assists) with 22 penalty minutes and a zero plus-minus rating.

The native of Norway has 690 points (217 goals, 473 assists) and a 53 plus-minus rating in 904 regular-season games for the New York Rangers (2010-19), Dallas Stars (2019) and Wild.

He also has 58 points (19 goals, 39 assists) and a minus-1 rating in 102 playoff games.

–Field Level Media