Minnesota Wild captain Jared Spurgeon out 2-3 weeks after getting injured on slew-foot

WASHINGTON (AP) — Minnesota Wild captain Jared Spurgeon is expected to miss two to three weeks with an apparent right leg injury after getting slew-footed earlier this week by Nashville’s Zachary L’Heureux, who was suspended three games for his actions.

General manager Bill Guerin called Spurgeon “week to week” without going into further specifics about the injury other than confirming surgery will not be required.

“It’s not as bad as we originally thought,” Guerin said Thursday before his team played at the Washington Capitals. “It’s still bad enough because he’s not in our lineup. ... And, obviously, that’s not great for our team.”

Spurgeon's right leg bent awkwardly when he crashed into the boards after having his skates taken out from under him and shoulders pushed backward by L’Heureux early in the second period of the teams' game Tuesday. L’Heureux was ejected with a match penalty and loses $13,490 in salary as part of the suspension after having a disciplinary hearing with the NHL's Department of Player Safety.

Guerin said he was “not happy” with the play. While this is L’Heureux's first suspension in the NHL, he was involved in nine incidents at the junior level and two more in the American Hockey League. That history cannot be factored into Player Safety's decision.

“That’s not for me to answer that,” Guerin said. “That’s a question for the league. The league has their process, and they handled it. We live with that. In the end it doesn’t get our player back. That’s what makes me lose sleep at night is they get their player back in three games. Ours is out two to three weeks.”

Minnesota has been playing without defenseman Jake Middleton for almost a month since he took a puck off his right hand. Leading scorer Kirill Kaprizov is also day to day with a lower-body injury.

Middleton could return as soon as next week. The Wild have no interest in rushing back Kaprizov, an MVP candidate who ranked fourth in the league with 23 goals and eighth with 50 points going into Thursday's games.

“We don’t want him to come back and push through,” Guerin said. "He could, but it could make something worse. We need him for the long haul. We don’t just need him for a couple games in January. We need him to get healthy and feel better, so we’re trying to do the right thing and just look at it from the long point of view.”

Spurgeon is facing another extended absence a year after season-ending hip and back surgeries. Those injuries limited him to 16 games last season.

“It’s unfortunate because it’s something obviously you think would be preventable, but it is the game, so you get hurt,” coach John Hynes said. “Spurgy’s a mentally tough guy. He’ll make sure that he’s ready to get back as soon as he can.”

Spurgeon, 35, was playing well before getting injured this time, putting up four goals and nine assists for 13 points while skating nearly 21 minutes a game.

“It’s brutal,” teammate and fellow defenseman Brock Faber said. “He’s going to come back from it stronger than ever. That’s how he is. That’s what he does. There’s no doubt in our minds that he’s going to get through this thing.”

Hynes and the coaching staff cautioned that they don't want Faber, Jonas Brodin and others on the blue line to overcompensate and take on too much while Spurgeon is unavailable.

“Those guys just have to continue to do what they do," Hynes said. "Spurgy’s not with us, but no one’s going to replace him, so everyone has to play their role. Brodin and Faber don’t have to do anything different because Spurgeon’s out. They still play huge minutes. They still play important situations. They’ve just got to do their job.”

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Minnesota Wild athletic trainer John Worley talks to defenseman Jared Spurgeon after sustaining an injury during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Nashville Predators Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)

Nashville Predators left wing Zachary L'Heureux, left, is brought to the penalty box by linesman David Brisebois (96) during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Minnesota Wild Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in St. Paul, Minn. L'Heureux was assessed a major and a match penalty for slew footing against Minnesota Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)

Minnesota Wild athletic trainer John Worley, right, helps defenseman Jared Spurgeon off the ice after an injury during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Nashville Predators Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)

NEW YORK (AP) — Days after Nicolás Maduro’s arraignment on drug trafficking charges, a squabble has erupted over who gets to represent the former Venezuelan president in the high-stakes case.

Defense attorney Barry Pollack, who sat with Maduro in court, accused lawyer Bruce Fein of trying to join the case without authorization. Fein, an associate deputy U.S. attorney general during Ronald Reagan's presidency, said he was asked by a judge on Friday to let Maduro settle the dispute.

Fein told Manhattan federal Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein that “individuals credibly situated” within Maduro’s inner circle or family had sought out Fein’s assistance to help him navigate what the lawyer called the “extraordinary, startling, and viperlike circumstances" of his capture and criminal case.

Fein said in a letter to the judge that he'd had no telephone, video or other direct contact with Maduro, who is being held at a federal jail in Brooklyn. But, Fein wrote, Maduro “had expressed a desire" for his "assistance in this matter.”

The dispute first came to light on Thursday when Pollack asked Hellerstein to rescind his approval for Fein to join Maduro’s legal team. Pollack said that Fein was not Maduro’s lawyer and that he had not authorized Fein to file paperwork telling the judge otherwise.

Pollack was the only lawyer representing Maduro on Monday as the deposed South American leader and his wife, Cilia Flores, pleaded not guilty to charges alleging he worked with drug cartels to facilitate the shipment of thousands of tons of cocaine into the U.S. Two days earlier, U.S. special forces seized Maduro and Flores from their home in Caracas.

In a written declaration to Hellerstein, Pollack said he attempted to contact Fein by telephone and email to ask him on what basis he was seeking to enter his appearance on behalf of Maduro and what authorization he had to do so.

“He has not responded,” Pollack said.

Pollack said he spoke to Maduro by phone on Thursday and confirmed that Maduro "does not know Mr. Fein and has not communicated with Mr. Fein, much less retained him, authorized him to enter an appearance, or otherwise hold himself out as representing Mr. Maduro.”

Pollack said Maduro authorized him to ask Hellerstein to modify the court docket so that it no longer showed Fein as representing Maduro.

Fein, in his response Friday, told the judge he doesn't dispute or question the accuracy of Pollack's assertions. Instead, he suggested that Hellerstein question Maduro in private to “definitively ascertain President Maduro's representation wishes,” including whether he wants to be represented by Pollack, Fein or both.

“Maduro was apprehended under extraordinary, startling, and viperlike circumstances, including deprivation of liberty, custodial restrictions on communications, and immediate immersion in a foreign criminal process in a foreign tongue, fraught with the potential for misunderstandings or miscommunications,” Fein wrote.

In this courtroom sketch, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, left, and his wife, Cilia Flores, second from right, appear in Manhattan federal court with their defense attorneys Mark Donnelly, second from left, and Andres Sanchez, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

FILE - Barry Pollack arrives for opening arguments for the extradition of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange outside Belmarsh Magistrates' Court in south east London, Feb. 25, 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File)

FILE - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro raises up his closed fists during a news conference at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, July 31, 2024, three days after his disputed reelection. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)