The Minnesota Wild are getting a veteran presence back on their blueline.
The team announced Tuesday that Zach Bogosian has been activated from injured reserve. In a corresponding move, the Wild have reassigned center Ben Jones to the AHL’s Iowa Wild.
Bogosian will return to Minnesota’s lineup for Tuesday’s game against the Nashville Predators, stepping into a revamped Wild defense corps featuring the newly acquired Quinn Hughes.
Bogosian, 35, has missed Minnesota’s last four games with a lower-body injury. It was the Massena, New York native’s second stint on IR this season, as he also missed a stretch of 16 games from mid-October to mid-November with a lower-body injury.
In 17 games played this season, Bogosian has a goal and an assist while averaging about 15 minutes of ice time.
He is in the second season of a two-year, $2.5 million deal with the Wild. Last season, he put up four goals and 12 assists for 16 points in 81 games, while averaging just under 16 minutes of ice time.
Minnesota acquired Bogosian from the Tampa Bay Lightning for a seventh-round pick in the early portion of the 2023-24 season. He played 61 games for the Wild that season, notching three goals and 11 assists for 14 points while averaging just over 18 minutes of ice time.
Bogosian has played for five different franchises over his 18-year NHL career. Notably, he is one of just two remaining active NHLers that played for the since relocated Atlanta Thrashers. He also won a Stanley Cup with the Lightning in 2020.
Jones, 26, has gone pointless in 20 games for Minnesota this season. In 48 career NHL games, he has yet to register a point.
After playing Nashville on Tuesday, the Wild will begin a seven-game, post-holiday road trip against the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday.