As the Minnesota Wild prepare to face what is, on paper anyway, their biggest test of the season so far on Wednesday night, with defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers coming to visit Xcel Energy Center, the home team will be without top-line center Joel Eriksson Ek. It will be without forward Jakub Lauko. It may be without forward Yakov Trenin. It will be without veteran defenseman Jake Middleton. And It will be without top goaltender Filip Gustavsson. So in the face of all of those injuries and the constant lineup changes and line juggling that has occurred as a result, Wild general manager Bill Guerin’s bold move in advance of the Panthers’ visit was to call up forward Brendan Gaunce from their Iowa farm team. If you don’t have the stats from Gaunce’s 177 previous NHL games with Vancouver, Columbus and Boston memorized, that doesn’t make you a bad Wild fan. He is the latest “depth addition” to the team’s roster, joining players like Travis Boyd, Reese Johnson, Mikey Milne, Ben Jones and Devin Shore on the list of call-ups who have filled a hole for a matter of games or a matter of weeks, depending on the situation. Guerin has made two acquisitions of note, both on defense, in recent weeks, picking up Travis Dermott from Edmonton off waivers, and trading with Columbus for highly-touted prospect David Jiricek, before sending the sizable blueliner down to Iowa to hopefully bring his game up to NHL speed. The Wild general manager has not panicked, mortgaged the future, made rash moves or done something eye-popping like trying to land his former teammate Sidney Crosby, who is rumored to be disgruntled and wants out of Pittsburgh. Not only would moves like that be risky and long-term costly for short-term gain, but a glance at the standings shows that at least for now, they are unnecessary. At 20-7-4 entering the Florida game, the Wild are off to a historically hot start, battling Winnipeg and Vegas for the top spot in the Western Conference standings. With a road-heavy early season schedule that saw them play seven consecutive games away from home in late October, the Wild learned how to win in their white sweaters. They are an impressive 12-2-3 as the visiting team, with one road game left before the Christmas break. According to the numbers-crunching website MoneyPuck.com, the Wild’s chances of making the playoffs stood at 84.3 percent as of Tuesday. PlayoffStatus.com has their playoff odds pegged at 93 percent. In non-mathematician’s terms, they’ve built themselves a little bit of cushion in the standings with the Wild’s expectation-defying first month-and-a-half. It’s also clear that Guerin and his team like what they’re developing down on the farm, and remain confident that plugging in a Gaunce here and a Boyd there can get them through current and future rough patches, until the likes of Eriksson Ek and Middleton and Gustavsson are healthy again. “I think we’ve got a lot of good depth. The guys that have come up to help have been great. They’ve got a lot of NHL experience, and they know how to play when needed,” said veteran forward Ryan Hartman, who himself missed five games due to injury earlier this season. “The ‘next man up mentality’ has been good … We’re trying to get through it and keep winning hockey games.” It stands in stark contrast to one year ago, when a brutal October and November performance led to a coaching change, and forced the team to try (and fail) to play catch-up the rest of the season. While acknowledging the strong start, Hartman didn’t want to talk about any “cushion” the team has developed, especially when Christmas presents sit unopened under the tree. “We’re not acting like we’re up and can take our foot off the pedal. We want to extend our lead and keep building in the standings,” he said. “Last season we put ourselves behind early, and it’s so hard to catch up in this league with how good teams are, especially in our division. So we want to keep extending where we’re at, keep climbing, and separate ourselves from the teams below us.” To that end, even with a seemingly ever-growing injury list to go along with their healthy position in the Central Division and Western Conference standings, the Wild do not see these as desperate times. So don’t expect any desperate measures. New Minnesota Wild head coach John Hynes, left, answers questions as Wild general manager Bill Guerin listens during a news conference at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023. Hynes replaces former Wild head coach Dean Evason, who was let go after starting the season with a 5-10-4 record. Hynes coached the Nashville Predators from 2019-2023. (John Autey / Pioneer Press) Related Articles Minnesota Wild | After getting his groove back, Jesper Wallstedt makes Wild season debut Minnesota Wild | World Juniors 2026 tickets go on sale Dec. 26 Minnesota Wild | Vegas rallies to beat Wild and spoil Kirill Kaprizov’s latest show Minnesota Wild | Filip Gustavsson the latest addition to Wild injury report Minnesota Wild | Wild right the ship quickly with matinee win over Philly