The Wild have been in this position before, needing to recalibrate after injury subtracted a key player.
Actually, being short-handed is more familiar to the 2017-18 version than operating at full strength.
Never, though, has the circumstance been as grim as this.
Defenseman Ryan Suter suffered a fracture in his right ankle against the Stars on Saturday on the brink of the final week of the regular season, a loss that weakens the Wild's lineup but hasn't diminished the team's spirit as it prepares to continue its push to the playoffs without Suter.
"Every team, they lose good players and then they gotta come out and play," coach Bruce Boudreau said. "We're no different there, so we're going to put our best foot forward and we're going to play."
Suter requires surgery and will miss the remainder of the season, a hole in the lineup that seems difficult to fill considering the 33-year-old logged more minutes than any skater on the team and held responsibilities in every situation. He was injured late in the second period of the 4-1 loss to the Stars after his right foot slammed awkwardly into the boards after he was hit by winger Remi Elie.
"I talked to him on the plane ride home (from Dallas on Saturday) and just told him what a great season he had," center Matt Cullen said. "He's expected to be so good all the time, but I don't think he gets enough credit when he's even better than normal and I think this year he's been exceptionally good both offensively and defensively.
"We've faced a lot of turnover on the back end this year and just the job he's done had been huge for us."
While the team will be unable to produce a stand-in that duplicates Suter's impact, the Wild can try to find a new normal without him _ a process that began Monday against the Oilers in the team's final home game of the regular season.
Matt Dumba and Jonas Brodin were the top duo, Nick Seeler and Ryan Murphy filled out the second unit and newcomer Carson Soucy worked alongside Nate Prosser on the third pairing.
"This is an early dose of adversity for us in what we hope will be a long run," Cullen said. "So we gotta be able to manage it, and we're going to rally around it."
And although this absence is a tough blow to absorb, it hasn't dimmed the eagerness the Wild feels for a potential playoff berth.
"This is the best time of the year," Cullen said. "For sure we feel awful for Ryan, and we're going to miss him. There's no doubt about it. We're going to miss him. There's no replacing him. But this is a time where guys can step up and do something special. So think we all understand that and realize that, but we're awfully excited here going forward. We're going to miss Ryan, but he's going to be here with us and we're going to try our best to have a good run."
