Matt Cullen received some bad news this week. His brother, Mark, who is playing in the Florida Panthers organization, injured his Achilles during pre-camp agility drills. Mark had surgery on Tuesday to repair the damage.

“He’s pretty down, but he’ll definitley be back this year,” Matt said via text before the Wild’s exhibition game against St. Louis on Friday. “I think it’s a four-month recovery, give or take a few weeks.”

Mark Cullen, 31, has played in 32 games for Chicago and Philadelphia. He has not played in the NHL since he logged three games with Philly during the 2006-07 season.

Mark suffered a cancer scare in 2003, when he was diagnosed with malignant melanoma. He had 15 lymph nodes removed and has been cancer-free since.