Wild Add Crotty From Ottawa as Gustavsson Stays Sidelined

Minnesota claimed defenseman Cameron Crotty off waivers from Ottawa on Thursday, a quiet move that addresses a real problem. Filip Gustavsson remains on injured reserve, and the blue line behind Quinn Hughes has been thin. The depth chart shows a notable drop-off after Hughes, with Brodin and Spurgeon filling out the top three — Spurgeon himself only recently back from his own IR stint.

Crotty is described in the news as a familiar face returning to the state of hockey, which suggests some prior organizational connection, though the details aren't spelled out. What's clear is the Wild needed another body on the back end, and this is the answer they found on the waiver wire.

The Gustavsson absence is the quieter concern running alongside all of this. Calvin Pickard and Jesper Wallstedt are handling the goaltending, and there's no timeline available on when Gustavsson returns. For now, Minnesota is managing two separate depth questions at once — and Thursday's claim is at least a partial answer to one of them.