As they have done all season, the Wild played a crucial game Saturday without two of their best players, top-line center Joel Eriksson Ek and shutdown defenseman Jonas Brodin, both out with lower body injuries.

More bad injury timing for Minnesota, which had captain Jared Spurgeon for only 16 games and already has lost key players such as Brodin, Kirill Kaprizov, Mats Zuccarello, Matt Boldy and Filip Gustavsson for long stretches this season.

The Wild on Saturday coughed up a pair of one-goal leads, one in the third period, in a 5-4 overtime loss to St. Louis that dealt their postseason hopes a serious blow. Minnesota has just 11 regular-season games left and doesn’t play again until Thursday against San Jose at the X.

The good news is coach John Hynes thinks he could get Eriksson Ek and Brodin back for that one.

“I’m hoping so, yeah,” he said. “There’s obviously a lot of time between that, but it’s trending that way. I can’t guarantee anything, but I’m hopeful for that.”

Eriksson Ek went through a full practice on Friday, and there was a chance he could have played on Saturday, when the Wild had a chance to pass St. Louis into ninth place in the Western Conference. Instead, they fell three points behind.

“He wasn’t ready to be able to play tonight,” Hynes said. “He did practice yesterday and went through some things, but there’s a different level of skating and practicing readiness versus game readiness.”

Eriksson Ek hasn’t played since a 4-1 victory over Arizona on March 12. Brodin was injured in last Tuesday’s 4-0 victory at Anaheim, where he landed awkwardly after being thrown to the ice by Ducks winger Alex Killorn.

Long wait

Any NHL team would be glad to have four straight days off, especially this late in the season. The Wild have time to rest and heal, but they’re also idle while their closest competitors for the West’s two wild card spots are active.

St. Louis, Vegas and Los Angeles will each play once during that stretch, each time a chance to bury Minnesota deeper in the standings.

“I mean it’s still on us, you know?” said rookie center Marco Rossi, who scored two goals on Saturday. “Like, four days off can be huge for us. We get away from hockey, a free mind, and then coming back we know what’s on the line.”

Rossi, 22, now has 20 goals in 70 games his first full NHL season.

“If we would have won the game it would be different,” he said. “Yeah, it’s nice. I try to help the team.”

Leddy hits 1,000

St. Louis defenseman Nick Leddy, the former Gopher who was picked 16th overall by the Wild in the 2009 entry draft, played his 1,000th NHL game in the Blues’ victory Saturday.

“There’s not many guys that accomplish that,” teammate Pavel Buchnevich said. “It’s a huge accomplishment, and I know for him to be home and to get a win, it’s a very special night for him.

Leddy, 33, had the second assist in Jordan Kyrou’s game-tying goal in the third period. An Eden Prairie native, Leddy bought a suite for about 30 friends and family members for the game.

“A little more expensive, but it’ll be a special moment,” Leddy told reporters Friday. “I think it will be nice. A lot of people made trips to come and watch a game, and I’m very grateful for that. Definitely feel the love and I really appreciate it.”

Leddy received a nice ovation from the crowd when the Wild announced his feet during a break in the first period.

Briefly

The Wild on Saturday signed Riley Heidt to a three-year, entry-level contract that starts with the 2024-25 season. Heidt, 18, has 34 goals and 114 points in 65 games with Prince George of the major junior Western Hockey League. Minnesota selected him in the second round of last summer’s entry draft.

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After slipping last season, the Gophers defense is simplifying its scheme this spring under new coordinator Corey Hetherman.

Minnesota’s defense fell from a top 10 unit in points and total yards allowed in 2022 to outside the top 55 in both categories last season, and defensive coordinator Joe Rossi left for the same job at Michigan State.

Head coach P.J. Fleck said the longevity of Rossi leading the defense (since late 2018) led to more responsibilities and tweaks for experienced players, but it became too much at points last season given the rash of injuries at linebacker.

“There’s so much information that players have to master and learn with the defensive scheme,” said Hetherman, who was linebacker scoach at Rutgers the last two seasons. “How do you go about making sure they’re getting clear, concise information that can ultimately help them?

“… Now, if you can put those techniques into different calls, the guys aren’t doing a lot of things. And that’s where I feel like the guys can now play fast.”

Linebacker Cody Lindenberg, who only played in four games last season, is healthy and adjusting to a new coordinator and position coach in Hetherman. The linebacker group has gone out to dinner.

“It really allows us to play fast,” Lindenberg said. “As soon as you got to think about something and have to slow down half a second, that’s the step that is going to slow you down from making that play.”

Hetherman has a serious demeanor. “It’s hard to get him to smile,” Fleck said. “But he does. I do everything I can to find a way to get him to smile.”

Splash play

The biggest play of Saturday’s practice came from safety Jai’Onte McMillan, who intercepted a pass from Max Brosmer.

The 5-foot-10, 195-pound transfer from Texas Christian impressed cornerback Justin Walley in the weight room.

“He’s a dog,” Walley said of McMillan. “We was maxing on weights a couple of weeks ago and he’s strong, fast, physical, and all those traits carry over on defense.”

Johnson to center

Center has been locked down by John Michael Schmitz and Nathan Boe for the last five seasons. Now sophomore Greg Johnson has moved in from guard, where he played 11 games as a true freshman in 2023.

“He saw an opportunity when he first showed up and worked and made dang sure he was going to earn an opportunity on the field as a true freshman, which hard to do, especially in the Big Ten,” said Quinn Carroll, who is transitioning from tackle to guard.

On the other side of the ball, Jalen Logan-Redding took snaps at tackle instead of end, where he primarily played last season.

Injury update

The Gophers had a handful of players sidelined Saturday. Most notable absences were receiver Daniel Jackson, linebacker Devon Williams and tight end Jameson Geers.

Fleck said none of those players will be out long-term.

Receiver Jaylen Varner and guard Tyler Cooper got hurt during the practice.

Briefly

Brosmer has been elected a team captain after only three months with Minnesota. … True freshman QB Drake Lindsey had a nice throw down the middle of the field to tight end Nathan Jones for a long completion. …. Look for the Gophers to add a bridge backup QB in the NCAA transfer portal this spring. That addition would be behind Brosmer and ahead of Lindsay on the depth chart. … Former Gophers cornerback Jalen Myrick, who played at the U from 2013-16 and briefly for the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2017, has returned to the U as an intern this spring. He was an assistant coach at Division II Winona State for the last two seasons. … Jordan Nubin has switched numbers from 30 to 27, which his older brother Tyler wore at the U. It’s a special number for their family, with their late uncle Steve King wearing it at Michigan in the 1990s. Tyler, a coveted NFL draft prospect, watched the U practice Saturday.

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FORT MYERS, Fla. — It’s become a running bit over the years: when Twins manager Rocco Baldelli sits down to meet with the media for the first time each spring, he’s greeted with a question about who his Opening Day starter will be.

Both manager and question-asker know the query won’t yield an answer as Baldelli has always chosen to wait until late in camp to proclaim his Opening Day starter publicly.

Not this year.

This year, there wasn’t even a need to ask the question. Everyone involved knew who the honor would be bestowed upon — Pablo López.

After his last scheduled start of spring was rained out on Friday, López instead got his final tune-up by throwing four innings in a minor league game on Saturday afternoon. The next time he pitches in a game will be March 28 at Kauffman Stadium against the Kansas City Royals. It’s the second time he’s drawn the Opening Day assignment in as many years.

“It’s an incredible honor,” he said. “It being my second one, it feels just like my first one. I think I’m going to be just as excited, as anxious, as nervous but all in a good way, on a positive note to just be grateful (and) cherish every single moment of it because it is truly special.”

While last year there was a question as to who would get the ball on Opening Day — veteran Sonny Gray, who ended up as the Cy Young Award runner up, had a strong case, as well — the Twins opted for López, for whom they had recently traded AL batting champion Luis Arraez.

In the year that followed, López became an All-Star for the first time, threw nearly 200 innings, finished tied for third in the majors with 234 strikeouts, did not miss a start and pitched the Twins to their first playoff win since 2002. Along the way, the Twins rewarded him with the richest contract they’ve ever given to a pitcher, signing him to a four-year, $73.5 million extension to keep him in Minnesota through 2027.

The trust the Twins have placed in him is not lost on the 28-year-old.

“As starters, we are always trying to set the tone. You get to set the tone for the inning, to have the bullpen follow what you’ve been doing. So, I think Opening Day is just the same thing, just for the bigger picture,” López said. “You’re trying to set the tone for the season. You’re trying to let everyone see what the Minnesota Twins as a pitching staff is all about.”

What López is all about is showing up each day, making sure he’s better than the next.

He hasn’t detailed specific goals for the upcoming season, instead focusing his sights on finding ways to be better — be better as a teammate, as a pitcher, as a player and as a friend, he said.

“He’s our ace for a reason,” shortstop Carlos Correa said. “He’s got nasty stuff and he showed last year that he’s one of the best pitchers in baseball. He’s going to build upon that this year and cement himself as one of the best pitchers in the game.”

And that starts on Thursday.

“The body definitely feels ready, the mind definitely feels ready,” López said. “I’m excited to get out there.”

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As for the futures of Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and coach Kevin O’Connell, it’s probably in their best interest to trade up for a premier quarterback in next month’s NFL draft.

The Vikings have the Nos. 11 and 23 overall picks in the draft. It’s become obvious they plan to use those picks to move up to get a top QB. It’s also obvious they’re targeting either of picks Nos. 3, 4 or 5 to get either Drake Maye from North Carolina or J.J. McCarthy from Michigan. To get up to No. 3, though, the Vikings might also have to include their first-round draft pick in 2025.

It’s probable that the Bears will take Caleb Williams from USC or Jayden Daniels from LSU with the No. 1 pick, and that Washington will take whomever the Bears don’t take with the No. 2 pick. The Patriots have the No. 3 pick, the Cardinals No. 4 and the Chargers No. 5.

Williams and Daniels are out of reach for the Vikings.

>> McCarthy last week had dinner with the Giants’ front office and toured the team’s facilities, per Bleacher Report, and was to meet with Washington officials in Ann Arbor, Mich. Washington has the No. 2 pick in the draft, the Giants No. 6.

>> Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell probably can buy themselves more time in Minnesota if they can get the right QB in the draft. If not, it’s probably bad news for them after next season, which will be their third with the Vikings. Both have four-year contracts.

Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins speaks during a news conference after an NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefs, Sunday, Oct. 8, 2023, in Minneapolis. The Chiefs won 27-20. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

>> The way it looks now, with the recent departures of Kirk Cousins and Danielle Hunter, the only way next season becomes truly meaningful is if the Vikings can get their quarterback of the future in the draft and if he shows promise when he gets a chance to play. The Vikings’ goal for next season has to be to build around a young QB and prepare for 2025.

The Vikings are not going to build around Sam Darnold, 26, the $10 million QB they signed as a one-year bridge for 2024. Darnold will start the season with hopes the rookie can replace him at some point.

>> Another potential free agent bridge starter for the Vikings was Gardner Minshew, 27, but he signed a $25 million ($15 million guaranteed) two-year deal with the Raiders.

>> The Vikings would not trade up in the draft for QBs Bo Nix from Oregon or Michael Penix from Washington. Penix has had two ACL and two shoulder surgeries. Nix actually could slip into the second round with Penix.

>> The Vikings drafting a QB will be very affordable for three years, allowing the team the anticipated $150 million deal for receiver Justin Jefferson.

>> By signing Cousins, the Falcons next season will be favorites to win the NFC South. If Atlanta decides after two years to part ways with Cousins, who turns 36 in August and is recovering from Achilles surgery, he still would get $100 million of the $180 million, four-year contract he signed.

>> It will be easier for Cousins to win in the NFC South than it would have been with the Vikings in the NFC North, which has Lions, Packers and Bears considered better bets.

>> Backup Cowboys’ QB Trey Lance from Marshall, Minn., because he’s unproven, was too risky for the Vikings to consider. Justin Fields, traded by the Bears to the Steelers, is more a runner than passer and wouldn’t at all fit in O’Connell’s offense.

>> Twenty NFL veteran QBs already have changed teams this offseason, ex-LA Times reporter Pete Donovan points out.

>> Former Twin Johan Santana this month turned 45, meaning he’s immediately eligible, as a 10-year veteran, to begin collecting a major league pension of $103,000 annually for the rest of his life. If he waits until age 62, his annual pension will be $275,000 for the rest of his life. Santana, who was paid nearly $162 million during a 12-season career, will delay on collecting his pension.

>> Baseball’s major league minimum salary this season is $740,000. In 1969, it was $10,000.

>> The Twins have never had an official field captain, but it still looks like Royce Lewis, 24, would fit such a role. He delivered five grand slams during the first 66 games of his big league career, not including a grand slam in spring training the other day.

This is a 2023 photo of center fielder Byron Buxton of the Twins baseball team. This image reflects the Twins active roster as of Friday, Feb. 24, 2023, in Fort Myers, Fla., when this image was taken. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Meanwhile, Lewis’ over-under for home runs this season is 25.5, per BetOnline.ag. For teammate Byron Buxton, 24.5. For Dodger Shohei Ohtani, 40.5; Yankee Aaron Judge, 44.5.

>> The Triple-A Saint Paul Saints have planned to work out at CHS Field, weather permitting, on Thursday morning.

>> St. Paul’s John Hughes (“The Amazing Hondo”) was commissioned by Nebraska men’s basketball coach Fred Hoiberg to perform “Magic with the Message” at the Cornhuskers’ team dinner prior to the Big Ten tournament. Nebraska then bounced Indiana 93-66.

>> Gophers coach Richard Pitino’s NCAA tournament New Mexico (26-9) men’s basketball team defeated Bloomington Jefferson grad Brian Dutcher’s San Diego State (24-10) team 68-61 in the Mountain West tournament last week. Ex-Gopher Jamal Mashburn Jr. scored 21 points for the Lobos.

>> Former Gophers men’s basketball players this season: Mashburn averaged 14.1 points for New Mexico; Tre’ Williams 8.7 for Tulane; Jamison Battle 15 for Ohio State; Ta’Lon Cooper 9.9 for South Carolina; Treyton Thompson 4.5 for Stetson; Jaden Henley 8.6 for DePaul.

Gabe Kalscheur is averaging 3.5 points for the G League Iowa Wolves; Marcus Carr 11.6 points for Bnei Hertzeliya in Israel.

>> Ex-Gophers coach Dan Monson, 62, fired by Long Beach State after 17 years but allowed to continue coaching through the end of this season, won the Big West tournament to qualify for the NCAA tournament.

“Surreal,” Monson texted. “Hard to wrap my head around the entire week.”

Don’t expect this season to be Monson’s last as a coach.

>> No doubt Brian Dutcher would have been a strong consideration for the Michigan job had he not agreed to a $900,000 raise from the Aztecs the other day.

>> New tight ends coach for the Washington Commanders is David Raih, the former St. Thomas Academy multi-sport star.

>> The Catholic Athletic Association’s 75th anniversary dinner that includes honoring Joe Mauer and Hannah Brandt on April 15 at the University of St. Thomas is a 500-ticket sellout.

>> The Football Film Federation conference, honoring NFL video legends from the Cowboys, Bears and Raiders, will be April 27-29 at Mall of America.

>> Condolences to the family of Eric Cornfield, the former Stillwater hockey star and Gophers co-captain who died the other day at age 59 from cancer.

>> Former St. Paul Academy and Carleton College baseball player Peter Albrecht is main news anchor at WKRG-TV, the CBS affiliate in Mobile, Alabama.

>> En route toward the end of a esteemed baseball coaching career, the Gophers’ John Anderson is doing fine.

“I’m in a good place,” he said. “I’ve got a really good group of guys to coach, fun to coach. They want to learn and grow.”

>> The Twins have the 15th-best farm system among major league baseball’s 30 clubs, per mlb.com. The Orioles are No. 1.

>> Twins Brad Buetow — the former Gophers men’s hockey coach — and Bart Buetow — the Gophers’ all-time overall leading letter winner with nine over three sports — at age 73 are doing well in real estate in Colorado Springs, Colo. Brad recently underwent prostate cancer treatment and is doing well.

“Life’s good,” he said.

Don’t print that

>> Potential wild card fallback move for the Vikings in next month’s NFL draft: Arizona picks a QB the Vikings wanted at No. 4 and the Vikings subsequently trade their No. 23 pick to the Cardinals for QB Kyler Murray, 26.

This is a 2022 photo of Kyler Murray of the Arizona Cardinals NFL football team. This image reflects the Arizona Cardinals active roster as of Monday, June 13, 2022 when this image was taken. (AP Photo)

>> Kirk Cousins’ new team, Atlanta, could either be the Vikings season-opening game or a prime TV game. Meanwhile, the Cowboys, who have hired Mike Zimmer as defensive coordinator, could play at Atlanta, which would be interesting because Zimmer and Cousins despise each other.

>> Gophers insiders say it could cost $400,000 a year in name, image and likeness (NIL) compensation to retain freshman basketball star guard Cam Christie.

>> To make an event appearance, NIL minimum fees for Minnesotans on Wisconsin’s NCAA tournament basketball team: Jack Janicki (redshirt) from White Bear Lake, $185; Nolan Winter from Lakeville North, $184; Tyler Wahl from Lakeville North, $125; Steven Crowl from Eastview, $55.

>> Illegal cash stipends have been going to college players for years. Now, with NIL, it’s become legal.

Michigan and Ohio State, which pay players the most money among Big Ten basketball schools, are expected to win, which is why they recently fired their head coaches.

>> There’s been whispering about reducing Williams Arena seating capacity (14,625) to about 10,000. The Gophers men’s team this season averaged 8,139 spectators, 12th in the 14-team Big Ten.

>> A little birdie says Twin Byron Buxton’s spring training resurgence is due to an off-season medical procedure that cleared up a lingering knee issue.

>> Ex-Twin Miguel Sano, 30, batting .182 with three home runs and 16 strikeouts in 44 at-bats in spring training with the Angles while playing first base, has an outside chance to make the major league roster. If not, he could end up with the team’s Triple-A Salt Lake Bees.

>> There’s a chance that 6-foot-9, 321-pound Joe Alt, the former Totino-Grace and Notre Dame left tackle, could be blocking for Aaron Rodgers next season for the Jets, who have the No. 10 pick in April’s draft.

>> Caleb Williams, the 6-2 Macalester College grad who scored 41 points against the Gophers in an exhibition game last fall, then 51 against Concordia Moorhead, entered the NCAA transfer portal and has heard from a myriad of Division I schools, including Cal-Davis, (which he recently visited), Tennessee-Chattanooga, St. Thomas, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Boise State, Wyoming, Loyola-Chicago and Iona.

He has not hard from the Gophers.

>> Nolan Groves, the 6-5 Orono junior whose half-court, second-overtime buzzer-beater propelled the Spartans into the 3A state basketball tournament with an 86-84 victory over Benilde-St. Margaret’s, is a 4.0 student who has Stanford, Northwestern, Virginia, Iowa, Clemson and St. Thomas on his recruiting trail. Groves this season scored 52 points against St. Louis Park and 53 against Cooper.

>> Creighton-bound 6-9 Jackson McAndrew from Wayzata is a cinch to be this season’s Minnesota Mr. Basketball.

>> Gophers commit Issac Asuma from Cherry (30-2 entering Saturday’s 1A state championship game), is a 6-2 physically strong, pass-first point guard whose brother, Noah, also has the Gophers interested.

>> The Gophers also are interested in Cretin-Derham Hall sophomore shooting guard Jojo Mitchell, who is 6-2 but plays like he’s 6-8.

>> State 3A champion Benilde-St. Margaret’s 6-1 Olivia Olson, who is a McDonald’s All-American guard and Minnesota’s best senior girl’s basketball player, is headed for Michigan.

>> The NFL Network plans to televise more than 30 Arena Football League games this season, including five of the upstart Minnesota Myth’s home games. The first home game will be May 5 at Target Center.

Rickey Foggie (Courtesy photo)

The Myth, coached by former Gophers QB Rickey Foggie, opens its 10-game season in the 16-team league on April 27 in Nashville. Thirty-five players, including former Gophers QB Demry Croft, former Iowa Barnstormers QB Zach Reader and another QB, Dominick Hobdy, will compete in training camp April 1 at North St. Paul High. The team will include a 21-player active roster with three inactive players.

Female Melissa Strother, who played soccer at Azusa Pacific University and has five years of indoor football experience, will try out as kicker.

Players are to receive $1,000 per game, housing and meals, and incentive bonuses.

Foggie, 58, who is from South Carolina, starred for Lou Holtz with the Gophers in 1984-85.

“The best thing I’ve taken from coach Holtz is to be prepared mentally and physically for every situation,” Foggie said. “I never thought I’d get the opportunity to coach in this state.”

>> The first-year Professional Women’s Hockey League Minnesota team, which in January in St. Paul set an American women’s hockey game attendance record (13,316) that has since been broken (13,736) in a neutral site game between Boston and Ottawa in Detroit, aims to regain the record on April 27 against Boston at Xcel Energy Center in the final regular season game.

Salaries for the PWHL Minnesota 25-player roster range from $35,000 to slightly above $80,000.

>> Wishing the best for popular former Gophers-Timberwolves assistant Jimmy Williams, who faces serious health challenges near Tampa, Fla.

>> Frank Mach, the former University of St. Thomas athletics director under whom the school became a national Division III sports power by hiring coaches Mark Dienhart, Steve Fritz, Ted Riverso, Tom Kosel, Terry Abram and Joe Sweeney among others, died at age 90 last week.

>> Four high-powered Minnesota marketing-public relations executives — Billy Robertson, Patrick Klinger, Bob Hagan and Scott R. Erickson — have formed Ignitor Partners, a local and national marketing sports communications firm.

>> Pro Football Hall of Fame Vikings coach Bud Grant had six assistants. Next season, Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell will have 26 assistants.

>> A Saturday-Sunday, four-tickets plus housing package for the Masters tournament at Augusta National in two weeks is on the market for $24,000.

Undated courtesy photo, circa June 2017, of Will Frisch of Stillwater, one of the finalists for Pioneer Press Baseball Player of the Year. (Courtesy of Tim Frisch)

>> Plans are for Cubs’ minor league Will Frisch, 23, the former Stillwater pitching star with a fastball that topped 99-mph until nerve replacement surgery in January, to return to live pitching in June.

>> Gophers football followers will be allowed to view a second spring practice only if they are members of the university’s NIL collective, which is interesting in that Minnesota is a tax-supported public institution supposedly open to all.

>> Top five fruits consumed by the Twins and staff during spring training, per the team: pineapples, 2,752 pounds; bananas, 1,240 pounds; watermelons, 660 pounds; strawberries, 552 pounds, cantaloupes, 450 pounds.

Overheard

>> Kirk Cousins, 35, on Jan. 8, 2024: “I would like to retire as a Viking.” Cousins on March 12: “If I play at the level I expect to play, I can retire as a Falcon.”

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