The Minnesota Wild got a sample of life without Mats Zuccarello in October. It left a bitter aftertaste.

But as they get into the heart of their December schedule, which has Minnesota at home for seven of its next eight games, they will have to find ways to work around the veteran forward’s absence once again.

At Thursday’s morning skate, before the Wild hosted Dallas, head coach John Hynes confirmed that Zuccarello is out for the foreseeable future with an upper body injury.

After taking a hard open-ice check from Seattle defenseman Vince Dunn in the opening period of the Wild’s 4-1 win over the Kraken, Zuccarello left the game and did not return.

With Zuccarello out of the lineup for all of October, Minnesota won three of its first dozen games. The Wild placed him on injured reserve on Thursday, and Hynes said the timeline is “more than day-to-day” for Zuccarello, who has two goals and 10 assists in 15 games thus far.

“Usually on some certain injuries you have to wait a few days to get a grasp of what it’s gonna be,” Hynes said. “But I would say that it’s definitely not day-to-day.”

Zuccarello is far from the only injury the Wild are dealing with as they return to Minnesota following a four-game western road trip. They also placed defenseman Jake Middleton in injured reserve Thursday, after he also left the Seattle game early with an upper body injury.

They have been without forwards Vinnie Hinostroza and Marcus Foligno since Thanksgiving, and top-line forward Marco Rossi, who has been out for the past month, just returned to practice on Thursday.

“This was his first team skate. I don’t have a timeline on him yet though,” Hynes said of Rossi.

With Zuccarello out, the team loses a productive leader on the ice and in the locker room, and his chemistry with star forward Kirill Kaprizov is the engine that drives much of the Wild’s offense.

Repeating a mantra he has had to deliver too many times already this season, Hynes said the absence means others will need to step up.

“When certain guys come out of the lineup, obviously you miss what they bring. But I think that the guys that are in the lineup have to be able to play to their strengths,” Hynes said. “I think if you can play a strong structured game and you play the way that we want to play, then I think we have enough capable guys that can have good chemistry together and be really effective players.”

When healthy, the Wild’s top line has usually been Rossi at center between Kaprizov and Zuccarello. With two-thirds of them unavailable, Hynes constructed an all-Russian top line with rookie Danila Yurov centering Kaprizov and veteran Vladimir Tarasenko.

To fill the Zuccarello and Middleton roster spots, the Wild on Thursday recalled forward Nicolas Aubé-Kubel and defenseman Matt Kiersted from Iowa of the AHL.

Gus’ two in row

As hot as the start has been for rookie goalie Jesper Wallstedt, Hynes took a pause from the “every other game” rotation on Thursday versus Dallas and started Filip Gustavsson in goal. Gustavsson had backstopped the Monday win in Seattle with 24 saves.

The two goalies had rotated for the previous 14 games. With the Wild playing three games in the coming four days, the coach decided to mix things up.

“I thought (Gustavsson) played well against Seattle. Then we have a travel day and the day off, then get Wally back, practice a little bit today, we’ve got a back-to-back coming up so both guys are going to get in,” Hynes said. “We just felt like it was going to be their rotation, but in certain circumstances would change that. But we’re going to need both guys tonight and over the weekend.”

Gustavsson entered the Dallas game with a 8-8-3 record, while Wallstedt is off to a 8-1-2 start.

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By SAFIYAH RIDDLE

More than 18,000 Amtrak workers will receive a $900 bonus before the end of the year, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced on Thursday evening.

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Funding for the bonuses will come from Amtrak’s executive leadership team bonus packages, the statement said. The federal administration urged executive leadership “to forgo 50% of the bonus packages that would have been paid out under the misplaced priorities of the previous executive bonus structure.”

Amtrak set all-time records for both ridership and revenue in the 2025 fiscal year, according to its annual report, with over $2.7 billion in ticket revenue from 34.5 million riders.

The bonuses were applauded by some unions representing train workers.

“End-of-year bonuses will now go to 18,000 front-line workers rather than being limited to the executive ranks. This long-overdue recognition of the employees who keep the railroad moving is a step in the right direction,” Mark Wallace, the president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen National union, said in a statement.

The announcement comes amid ongoing controversy over the Trump administration’s decision to limit $10,000 bonuses to air traffic controllers and technicians who had perfect attendance during the government shutdown — a measure that rewarded only 776 people, and left nearly 20,000 other workers without the payment.

The disparity was blasted by air traffic controller unions at the time of the announcement in November.

“We are concerned that thousands of air traffic controllers who consistently reported for duty during the shutdown, ensuring the safe transport of passengers and cargo across the nation, while working without pay and uncertain of when they would receive compensation, were excluded from this recognition,” the National Air Traffic Controllers Association union said in a statement.

By JOSH FUNK

The head of the Federal Aviation Administration has not sold off his multimillion-dollar stake in the airline he led since 1999 despite a promise to do so as part of his ethics agreement, according to a Democratic senator.

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In a letter to Bryan Bedford this week, Sen. Maria Cantwell said he vowed to sell all his shares in Republic Airways within 90 of his confirmation but 150 days have now passed. In Bedford’s financial disclosures, he estimated that his Republic stock was worth somewhere between $6 million and $30 million.

Republic completed a merger last month with another major regional airline, Mesa Air Group. Republic’s stock closed Thursday at $19.02, nearly double what it was before the deal was announced in April.

“It appears you continue to retain significant equity in this conflicting asset months past the deadline set to fully divest from Republic, which constitutes a clear violation of your ethics agreement. This is unacceptable and demands a full accounting,” Cantwell said in the letter.

Bedford declined a request for comment, and an FAA spokesperson said he plans to respond directly to Cantwell.

The agency has been in the spotlight since January, when an airliner collided with an Army helicopter over Washington, D.C., killing 67 people. The investigation has already highlighted shortcomings at the FAA, which failed to recognize an alarming number of close calls around Reagan National Airport in the years beforehand.

Then, in the spring, technical problems at the center that directs planes into New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport highlighted a fragile and outdated system relied on by air traffic controllers.

And in the fall, a longstanding shortage of controllers led to thousands of flight cancellations and delays during the longest government shutdown ever as more controllers missed work while going without a paycheck.

Bedford has pledged to prioritize safety and upgrade the nation’s outdated air traffic control system. Congress approved $12.5 billion for that project, and last week the FAA picked the company that will oversee the work.

By JONATHAN J. COOPER

The U.S. Mint unveiled the designs for coins commemorating the 250th anniversary of American independence next year. They depict the founding documents and the Revolutionary War, but so far, not President Donald Trump, despite a push among some of his allies to get his face on a coin.

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The Mint abandoned designs developed during Joe Biden’s presidency that highlighted women’s suffrage and civil rights advancements, favoring classical depictions of America over progress toward a more inclusive society.

A series of celebrations are planned next year under the banner America 250, marking the anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. All U.S. coins show the year they were minted, but those made next year will also display 1776.

Trump, at least for now, isn’t getting a coin

No design was released for a $1 coin, though U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach, whose duties include oversight of the U.S. Mint, serving as a liaison with the Federal Reserve and overseeing Treasury’s Office of Consumer Policy, confirmed in October that one showcasing Trump was in the works. A draft design showed Trump’s profile on the “heads” side, known as the obverse, and on the reverse, a depiction of Trump raising his fist after his attempted assassination, The words “FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT” appear along the top.

By law, presidents typically can’t appear on coins until two years after their death, but some advocates for a Trump coin think there may be a loophole in the law authorizing the treasury to mint special coins for the nation’s 250th birthday.

Neither the Mint nor the Treasury Department responded when asked whether a Trump coin is still planned.

The new designs depict classical Americana

New designs will appear only on coins minted in 2026, with the current images returning the following year.

The nickel, dime and five versions of the quarter will circulate, while a penny and half dollar will be sold as collectibles.

Five versions of the quarter are planned depicting the Mayflower Compact, Revolutionary War, Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution and Gettysburg Address.

The dime will show a depiction of Liberty, a symbolic woman facing down the tyranny of the British monarchy, and an eagle carrying arrows in its talons representing America’s fight for independence.

The commemorative nickel is essentially the same as the most recent nickel redesign, in 2006, but it includes two dates on the head’s side instead of one, 1776 and 2026.

Two collectible coins are planned

A half dollar coin shows the face of the Statue of Liberty on one side. The other shows her passing her torch to what appears to be the hand of a child, symbolizing a handoff to the next generation.

The penny is essentially the same as the one in circulation, which was discontinued earlier this year and will be produced only as a collectible with two dates.

Prices for collectible coins were not released. The Mint sells a variety of noncirculating coins on its website, with a vast range of prices reflecting their rarity.

In honor of the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Marine Corps founding, for example, a commemorative half dollar coin is available for $61, while a commemorative $5 gold coin goes for $1,262. Up to 750,000 copies of the former will be minted, but no more than 50,000 of the latter.

The abandoned designs

Congress authorized commemorative coins in 2021. During the Biden administration, the Mint worked with a citizens advisory committee to propose designs depicting the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, abolitionism, suffrage and civil rights.

Those designs included depictions of abolitionist Frederick Douglass and Ruby Bridges, who was escorted to school by the National Guard at age 6 years amid opposition to racial integration at public schools.

Those designs represented “continued progress toward ‘a more perfect union,’” said Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nevada, quoting a phrase from the preamble to the Constitution.

“The American story didn’t stop at the pilgrims and founding fathers, and ignoring anything that has happened in this country in the last 162 years is just another attempt by President Trump to rewrite our history,” Cortez Masto said in a statement.