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Niederreiter to replace Cooke on Wild’s shutdown line

Colorado Avalanche v Minnesota Wild - Game Three

ST PAUL, MN - APRIL 21: Patrick Bordeleau #58 of the Colorado Avalanche checks Nino Niederreiter #22 of the Minnesota Wild into the boards during the second period in Game Three of the First Round of the 2014 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs on April 21, 2014 at Xcel Energy Center in St Paul, Minnesota. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)

Hannah Foslien

Winger Nino Niederreiter is expected to replace the soon-to-be-suspended-and-probably-for-a-while Matt Cooke on the left side of the Minnesota Wild’s shutdown line. The plan is for the 21-year-old to skate alongside fellow youngsters Erik Haula and Justin Fontaine in Thursday’s Game 4 versus Colorado.

Wild coach Mike Yeo spoke today about the all-important line that helped shut out the Avalanche’s top guns on Monday.

“Adding a guy who can be strong on the puck, who’s responsible defensively and can play a strong two-way game and that was important to us,” Yeo said, per the StarTribune. “Obviously a good challenge for three young kids.”

On Niederreiter, who was traded to Minnesota from the Islanders in June, Yeo added: “What I really appreciate about him is we’ve been able to insert him into different roles. We’ve put him in a scoring role, we’ve put him in a checking role and he’s always sort of adapted. To me, that’s the sign of a good player.”

Related: Yeo asked if Cooke told to ‘target’ Avs, does not like question