Mats Zuccarello takes a puck to the groin.Mats Zuccarello (Photos via NHL)
Minnesota Wild star forward Mats Zuccarello suffered an injury (in the cup area) so painful-looking that his teammates thought he lost one of his testicles.

Mats Zuccarello left last Thursday’s home game against the Montreal Canadiens (a 3-0 Minnesota shutout victory) after taking a puck to the area that we’ll just say is protected by one’s jock strap.

Zuccarello suffered the injury after taking a puck to the area. He underwent surgery on a “lower-body injury” and was placed on the injured reserve. There’s no clear timeline on when he’ll return.

According to Mats Zuccarello’s teammate, Marcus Foligno, the veteran forward’s injury is a ruptured testicle. Foligno stated, however, that Zuccarello’s injury isn’t quite as bad as they feared:
“We thought he was going to lose one nut, but it survived…Poor guy got hit where the sun don’t shine and ruptured his testicles, so. He’s doing good, the jock has a massive dent in it.”

Thanks for sharing that, Marcus. And we’re glad to hear that everything is just fine on Zuccarello’s end.

The Wild are one of the biggest surprise teams of 2024-25 thus far, with a 12-3-3 record heading into tonight’s road contest against the Edmonton Oilers. Zuccarello is a key reason why, with six goals and 14 points through his first 16 games.

The 37-year-old Zuccarello is in his sixth season with the Wild. In 340 games with the franchise, he has 90 goals and 295 points. This included a career-high 79-point season in 2021-22.

Mats Zuccarello Is In Year One Of A Two-Year Extension

Last year, Zuccarello signed a two-year contract extension with the Wild worth a bargain $8.25 million. The contract carries the former New York Rangers star under contract through 2025-26.

The Wild have been a consistent playoff team, making it all but twice (2018-19 and 2023-24) since the 2012-13 campaign. But they only have two playoff series wins to show for it, with the last victory coming in 2015.

There’s good reason to think this year’s Wild could be different, though. Along with their stud group of forwards, Brock Faber is coming into his own as a superstar blueliner, and goalie Filip Gustavsson is playing like a Vezina candidate.