Wild to ask Kaprizov to change his ways, Faber's return, plus redemption vs. L'Heureux?

ST. PAUL, Minn. — There were so many Wild players on the ice Friday at TRIA Rink before the team departed for a two-game trip to Nashville and Colorado that it resembled the final days of training camp.

You half expected John Hynes to announce final cuts afterward.

But what a welcome sight to see the injury-riddled Wild, who have dropped three of four games behind a mishmash blue line and without their superstar, with 25 players on the ice. Hynes said it was especially beneficial for having a competitive practice with game-like situations.

Players also loved it because, as Marcus Foligno joked, less reps.

The good news? Defenseman Brock Faber and winger Jakub Lauko will return Saturday night against the Predators.

The half-good/half not-so-good news? Star Kirill Kaprizov and captain Jared Spurgeon, who took part in their first full practices since each was hurt last month, did not travel but are expected to skate on their own while the team is gone and practice again next week with returns on the horizon, perhaps as soon as Thursday’s home game against Utah.

The bad news? Jonas Brodin (lower body) and Marcus Johansson (concussion) haven’t started skating, although Brodin sounds close.

“We have another good practice day (Wednesday) before you get into that next stretch of games with Utah, so I think the schedule lends itself where these guys can get back,” Hynes said. “We’re not overloaded with games right now. But all things are trending in the right direction.”

Foligno said it’s nice that there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel.

“Last game (against Edmonton) I think it showed a little bit,” Foligno said of the Wild’s lack of depth in being unable to pull off a win during a second consecutive tied third period. “As of late, we’ve been in some tight games and (our injured) guys can pull you through, right? So, you get guys like Fabes back. Kirill out there. Spurgey out there, Lauko back, it’s huge for our team, huge for just the momentum of our group, a little bit to just lift up some spirits and hopefully we take it on the road with us.”

While it sure feels like the Wild are getting closer to becoming a healthy team, even Lauko, who has missed 15 consecutive games and 21 of the past 24, said nobody should jump for joy yet considering how decimated the Wild have been since November.

“It’s been kind of like the standard now that one guy gets healthy, another one gets injured,” said Lauko, before voicing displeasure with Connor McDavid getting away with elbowing Johansson in the head. “We all saw what happened with JoJo. It was B.S. If it would have been the other way, probably JoJo would be getting death threats, I would say. So, I don’t know. I didn’t like it. I think everyone who is not biased towards any team should see it wasn’t the right play.”

Here’s the run of injury updates, with Kaprizov being the most interesting:

Wild to implore Kaprizov to change his ways

One of the more impressive things about Kaprizov is nobody works harder. He’s the stereotypical first on the ice/last off the ice star, but the last off the ice sometimes is the issue with him. He’ll often spend 30, 45, 60 minutes on the ice after practice, even on game days. There are times when the Wild have to drag him off.

The Wild will be asking Kaprizov, who has been the past 10 games with a lower-body issue that has required lots of treatments, procedures, trips to specialists and pushed-back timetables, to start toning it down in order to stay healthy.

“That’s one of the things we’re talking about with him, when he moves on, have a plan,” coach John Hynes said. “I think he does have to get what he needs that he feels prepared to play, but as the season goes on, sometimes you’ve got to cut some things back. It’s like practice, right? Sometimes you cut it back or sometimes you get a few more days off later in the year, so that’s certainly a topic of discussion.”

Like the fans, Hynes never expected Kaprizov’s day-to-day injury to turn into four weeks Monday since he last played.

“It’s one of those things where you go through, you have to evaluate in the beginning and then you start working on some things and then it stagnates or (get) a different opinion,” Hynes said. “So, it’s taken a little bit longer than I think he or we thought originally, but it’s progressing in the right direction.

“It hasn’t been a setback. I would say it’s taken a little bit longer in the recovery process of pushing it and then see how it reacts to that, and then pushing it further and see how that reacts. Sometimes you do that and then you’re like, ‘OK, you might need an extra day or two of rest before you push it again.’ So it’s not necessarily setbacks, as it is just the protocol of coming back with certain types of injuries.”

Frankly, Kaprizov probably could have taken Friday off.

He apparently came down with the Wild’s stomach bug that has been circulating of late, but after being cleared to finally practice, nothing was going to keep him off the ice.

“The timeline has kept getting pushed back,” Hynes said. “I think that’s a little bit frustrating in my conversations with him because he wants to play. But also at the same time, it’s not like he’s being held back and we’re not letting him play. It’s in concert with the player. He feels good, but not ready yet. So our job is to help prepare him, and I’m assuming, I’m hopeful, that will be at some point next week.”

Faber on return

With Faber back in the fold, he was paired with Jake Middleton on Friday with Declan Chisholm skating alongside Zach Bogosian and Jon Merrill with David Jiricek.

He missed his first four games of his NHL career after taking a shot to the chin from St. Louis’ Jake Neighbours on his first shift on Jan. 7. He played a few shifts after before pulling himself from the game midway through the first period.

“It was a weird situation. Something I’ve never really experienced before,” Faber said of sustaining a concussion. “It moved by quick, but just not being able to control it or do anything about it was different for me.

“I tried to take a few shifts after it happened, and I just felt far from normal, so I thought it was a smart thing to do. I’ve been hit like that a thousand times before, and one just caught me a little different.”

Neighbours isn’t known to be a dirty player and Faber doesn’t blame the Blues forward whatsoever. It was just a check that went wrong.

“It definitely wasn’t intentional, I don’t think,” Faber said. “I’m frustrated with myself, really. I caught a puck and I really exposed my neck and my head, and that happens, right? I take pride in trying to protect myself and stay healthy and stay away from hits like that. When it happens, I look back on it and I definitely had my head exposed. It’s just kind of a bang-bang play. I’ve been hit like that so many times where you just never know. It’s just one of those things that happens, and I’m healthy now and I’m glad to be back.”

Lauko glad to be back

One reason why the Wild are being so cautious with Kaprizov is to avoid a Lauko situation. Lauko thinks he returned too soon from a groin injury and ended up aggravating the injury and causing another issue.

“I might have overestimated myself a little bit, and I underestimated the injury,” he said. “So it just happened again, and I had a little bit of a different issue as well. So, yeah, definitely, it’s been a long time. I was getting a little sick of just lifting, lifting, and just seeing everything from far away. So I’m happy to be part of the team, to go on a trip again and hopefully get some games.”

Lauko skated on the fourth line in Friday’s practice with Marat Khusnutdinov and Devin Shore, who was recalled again Friday – one day after Liam Ohgren and Brendan Gaunce. Kaprizov being placed on LTIR is how the Wild, at the cap ceiling, were able to afford all three.

He’s excited to play a couple Central Division foes, although he said kiddingly of Monday’s matinee in Denver, “I don’t think there’s anything worse than a 1 p.m. game in Colorado. Especially for my lungs, it’s not gonna be easy.”

Ohgren getting second-line duty 

With no points in eight games earlier this season, Ohgren was given a prolonged stint in Iowa to discover his game and gain some confidence. He not only returns to Minnesota more confident after 12 goals and 23 points in 25 games, he’ll get a spot on the second line with Johansson injured.

“For sure it feels good,” the 20-year-old said after Friday’s practice. “I think I missed that when I was up for the first time. I didn’t have that confidence, really, so it was great to be down there, playing a lot of minutes — PP, PK, everything. And obviously to score some goals and throw up some points.

“I think I’m more ready for (an elevated role) now than I was before. If I get that chance, I’m looking forward to that and I would enjoy it. I think I’m ready for it.”

Hynes said, “Liam has played well. I think he’s getting his game in order. He’s playing important minutes, I think he’s been able to use his offensive talent and speed, and his overall game has improved which is what we needed from him. So now he’ll get a good opportunity here.”

Hynes and Gustavsson meet for pep talk

After allowing 19 goals in his past four starts, Filip Gustavsson got an on-ice check-in from Hynes that lasted more than 15 minutes Friday. This has been the most difficult stretch of the season for Gustavsson, who had been putting up Vezina Trophy-like numbers. Of course, a lot of his struggles of late come behind an injury-riddled blue line that had been missing their three top defensemen.

“He’s in a good spot, to be honest with you,” Hynes said. “We had a good talk just about where he’s at, where his game’s at. He asked me what I saw. We talked a little bit about our team game. We talked a little bit about his game. But I think he’s in a good spot. The nice thing with him right now is, when you have a discussion, I think his self-evaluation skills, it’s not like, ‘Oh, I gave up all those goals and I don’t have confidence.’ It’s like, ‘Hey, here’s some situations I didn’t like. This particular game I didn’t like. But I felt good in this game and I didn’t get an extra save when we needed to get it.’

“So I like it. He’s in a good headspace, mature about assessing where he’s at, where the game’s at. It was a really good conversation, and I’m glad that we had it because I think that’s what you want from your goalies, to come in and not be too low. Because you can look at the goals against and not winning some games here that he could have, but it’s not all bad either. I like where his head is.”

Gustavsson is scheduled to start Monday’s game at Colorado with Marc-Andre Fleury getting the nod Saturday in Music City.

Two points more important than punishing L’Heureux

Foligno said last week that there was a lineup of Wild players who wanted to fight Zachary L’Heureux, the Nashville rookie who double slew-footed Spurgeon on Dec. 31 to knock the Wild defenseman from Minnesota’s lineup. He was suspended three games, the 12th suspension between three leagues in his career.

If he plays Saturday, that’s probably still the case.

Foligno made clear Friday it’s still more important for the Wild to not be distracted by seeking vengeance.

“I don’t know if I’ve really been a part of it where you gotta get like redemption,” he said. “Where you got a guy that did something dirty and you gotta play the next game. I don’t know if I’ve been in something like that probably for a while. I don’t know. We’ll just see how it plays out.

“We gotta be smart. We can’t be worrying about that player specifically. I’m sure if something will get done or when he’s out there you just play hard against him. But we gotta focus on winning the game and beating Nashville. It’d be nice to beat these guys three in a row. So, that’s the main objective.”

Much of the Wild’s success this season has been their improved discipline over the past few years.

Hynes clearly doesn’t want a sideshow.

“We have to win a game, right?” he said. “The most important thing is making sure that we’re in the right mindset and prepared to play the game that we need to play, and I think as far as that situation is concerned, we don’t want to put ourselves in vulnerable situations. Our focus needs to be on how we’re going to win a hockey game and how we’re going to get our mind on playing strong hockey and giving ourselves the best chance to win, so we’ll have a discussion about what that means, giving us the best chance to win.

“But to me, that’s not where our mind needs to be. Our mind needs to be on playing hockey and finding a way to win the game. That’s the most important thing.”

If L’Heureux is to fight, Foligno may be out of his weight class. In that same New Year’s Eve game, he actually fought since-reassigned Ben Jones before the Spurgeon incident. With Middleton likely unable to fight because of his recently operated-on finger, Lauko may be the guy to drop the gloves if there is a scrap.

“Yeah, it’s a good thing (I’m returning) against Nashville, right?” Lauko said. “We all know what happened the last time. I think everyone in the locker room kinda feels the same way. It’s just something that comes naturally, you know? But I’m not a guy like some other guys that’s just looking to fight, but if anything happens, I’ll be happy to step in.”

(Photo: Timothy T. Ludwig / Imagn Images)



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