Forward missed 40 of past 43 games, had surgery in January; center missed 21 with lower-body injury
© Getty Images / John Russell/NHLI
By Jessi Pierce
NHL.com Independent Correspondent
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek will each return for the Minnesota Wild against the San Jose Sharks at Xcel Energy Center on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; FDSNNO, NBCSCA).
“We’re hopeful they’re going to play,” Wild coach John Hynes said after the morning skate before each was later activated off injured reserve. “They've got one more skate here, and meet with the trainers and finalize it, and I’ll know for sure then. But we’re hopeful that they’re going to play.”
Kaprizov has missed 28 straight games, and 40 of the past 43, because of a lower-body injury. The forward had surgery in late January and was expected to be out a minimum of four weeks.
He missed 12 games from Dec. 27 to Jan. 20 and returned to play three before he was forced to sit out again. The 27-year-old has not played since a 4-2 win at the Chicago Blackhawks on Jan. 26; at the time, he was tied for fourth in the NHL with 52 points (23 goals, 29 assists) and is plus-19.
General manager Bill Guerin said Jan. 28 that Kaprizov would have surgery to deal with the injury and was hoping he would return before the end of the regular season.
Eriksson Ek has missed the past 21 games with a lower-body injury. The 28-year-old center has 24 points (nine goals, 15 assists) in 42 games this season.
Minnesota (42-29-7) holds the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference, two points behind the St. Louis Blues.
Kaprizov and Eriksson Ek returned to a full practice for the first time March 30.
“If both of them come back, obviously it changes the dynamic of your lines and you have to move some things around,” Hyne said. “I think the most important thing is those guys have been off for a while. They’ve worked hard to get back and we want them to come back and get into the game and bring what they can bring.”
Kaprizov is in the fourth season of a five-year, $45 million contract ($9 million average annual value) he signed with the Wild on Sept. 21, 2021. Selected by the Wild in the fifth round (No. 135) of the 2015 NHL Draft, he has 382 points (183 goals, 199 assists) in 315 regular-season games and 12 points (10 goals, two assists) in 19 playoff games.
Eriksson Ek was a first-round pick (No. 20) by Minnesota at the 2015 draft. He has 294 points (131 goals, 163 assists) in 540 regular-season games and 10 points (six goals, four assists) in 26 playoff games.
“To have those two guys back is huge for our team, emotionally and just on the ice what they can give us,” Minnesota forward Marcus Foligno said. “We know it’s not going to be something where they come back and it’s not going to be a cakewalk; we’ve still got to be tense and still play with that jam.”
To make room on the roster, forwards Brendan Gaunce and Devin Shore were reassigned to Iowa of the American Hockey League.
