Jeremy Lauzon is 29 years old, carries a $4 million cap hit and has spent his career making life unpleasant for opponents. With 2:36 left in the third period on Monday, he dropped the gloves with a 22-year-old playing his second NHL game.
Michael McCarron watched it from the Minnesota Wild bench and didn’t bother softening his verdict afterwards.
“Lauzon, he’s an older guy, he knows Rieger’s a young kid. I didn’t like what he did,” McCarron said, per The Athletic’s Michael Russo.
The criticism carries a little extra weight given where it came from. McCarron and Lauzon were teammates in Nashville for four seasons before both were moved on, Lauzon to Vegas in June 2025 and McCarron to Minnesota in March.
Who is Rieger Lorenz?
Rieger Lorenz had pulled on an NHL sweater for the first time three days earlier in Florida, having been called up from AHL Iowa. The 22-year-old could have waved Lauzon off without a word being said about it. He stayed and traded punches instead, through one of the heavier exchanges of the young season.
McCarron had no complaints about that part.
“At the same time, I thought Rieger did a great job. He stood in there and he’s willing and stand up for himself. He did a great job,” he said.
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Lorenz had a productive night beyond the fight, picking up his first career NHL point with an assist on Danila Yurov‘s goal. Russo noted afterwards that it left him two thirds of the way to a Gordie Howe hat trick.
Both players took five-minute majors, and Minnesota won 4-2. It was a heavy night at Grand Casino Arena in general. Nico Sturm was taken to hospital in the first period after a Jared Spurgeon slap shot caught him on the side of the helmet, and McCarron was the teammate who helped him off the ice.
The Wild are 4-1-1 and play Winnipeg next.
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